Texas High School Baseball Game Takes 2 Days To Play, Finally Ends After 23 Innings

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A Texas high school baseball game between Odessa and Midland began on Friday afternoon and didn't wrap up until Saturday, over 24 hours after the opening pitch took place. Weather wasn't the culprit for the long, drawn-out contest, either, the game legitimately went 23 innings.

The game between the two rival programs began around 4:30 PM on Friday at Odessa, but was ultimately suspended in the Top of the 14th inning at around 8:30 PM due to darkness. Midland held a 3-2 lead at the time, and while it looked like it would be a quick ending of the game the following day, Odessa had different plans.

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Interestingly enough, the game was actually resumed at Midland's home field at 3:00 PM on Saturday. Odessa managed to tie things up in a do-or-die moment in the bottom of the 14th frame. Little did the two teams know that this would then lead them down the road of playing another nine innings before Midland ultimately won the game in the the 23rd inning by a score of 4-3.

The 23-inning slugfest that took place over 25 and a half hours set a record for the longest game in Texas high school sports history, but somehow fell two innings shy of the American high school record for the longest game of all time.

Two games are tied for the longest in high school baseball history, with one in 1967 and one in 1975, both going 25 innings. The longest high school baseball game on record took place in Japan in 2014 when a contest went 50 innings.

The kids probably had the time of their lives playing in a game that took two full days to complete, but we also have to get a shutout to the parents for spending what was essentially two straight days at the ballpark. High school sports in Texas, especially games featuring two rivals, truly are different.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.