COPPELL – It wasn't the stinging line drive off his thigh that hurt Southlake Carroll reliever Tanner Toal. It was the dogpile on the mound two outs later, after Carroll swept its regional quarterfinal series against Coppell, 7-6.

Coppell, ranked No. 4 in the area and No. 8 in the state in Class 5A, had the tying run at third base when Toal induced a ground ball for the final out.

RICKY MOON / Special to DMN

Josh Rack (left) leaps past Coppell catcher Jonathan Walsh to score Saturday.

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Then Toal's teammates converged on top of him, showing no regard for the fact that moments earlier, Toal had collapsed in pain after fielding a ball off his leg.

"That [dogpile] hurt pretty bad, I'm not going to lie to you," Toal said. "But I'd like to have a dogpile every time."

Southlake Carroll (18-17) got back over .500 for the season after forfeiting 11 games for using an ineligible player.

But just as Carroll's record is deceiving, so was the 7-2 lead Carroll held after Shaun McPeters' three-run homer in the top of the fifth. Normally a five-run lead would put a team in control, but not against Coppell at home.

"Even when we hit the home run, I knew that wasn't going to be it," Toal said.

Southlake Carroll won Game 1 on Friday, 2-1, and had the feeling this one would come down to the wire, too.

"They're too good," Carroll coach Larry Hughes said. "They're too explosive. It's not that we relaxed. We just didn't get the big hit in the last two innings."

Coppell (30-7) battled back in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run triple by Andy Pratt.

A leadoff double by Greg Higginbotham began a two-run rally in the bottom of the seventh. But Toal was able to get the last three outs in relief of starter Ethan Cunningham.

"We'll deal with the dogpile," Hughes said. "I like the dogpile. It means you won."