Chandler
For the week: 2-0 with a tie. Wins overJones (11-1 and 11-1) and a 1-1 tie with Latta. Now 29-3-1, ranked No.2 in Class 3A and Super regional champions.
Chandler’s Lady Lions made quick work of their Super regional Thursday, beating Jones 11-1 twice.
The sweep put them back in the state tournament for the second year in a row. They’ll play Sequoyah-Tahlequah at noon on Thursday at the Softball Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Last year they reached the semifinals, where they lost to eventual state championship Lone Grove, which is competing in Class 4A this year.
“We talked to the girls at the beginning of the year and we told them ‘you’re not going to sneak up on anyone,” said Chandler coach Bryan Herring, who said that making the repeat trip to state is a greater challenge than making the first.
“‘The bull’s eye is on your back - it’s right there.’ They’re going to come gunning for you and you’re going to get everyone’s best game.
“And we did. We had some games that went extra innings and the girls fought through them all year long.”
Chandler will take a 29-3-1 record to state this year, with the “-1” coming in a Monday game against Latta, which needed a fill-in game before the Class 2A state tournament on Monday.
Chandler is the No. 2 seed in Class 3A and gets the No. 7 seed, which turned out to be Sequyoah-Tahlequah. The Lady Indians knocked off Kingston in their super regional and will go to state with a record of 32-7, which includes a 16-game winning streak.
The Lady Lions used two big innings to dispatch Jones in the first game Thursday.
Kennedy Allen keyed a seven-run fourth inning with a single that drove in Madison Cagle and Brenlee Corea and then Elli Hilgenfeld cleared the bases with a threerun double that scored pinch-runner Georgia Hulsey, Blaklei Smith and Rylee Capps ahead of her.
Gentry Garner followed with a double to drive in Hilgenfeld.
Chandler closed out the scoring in the fifth when Cagle singled to center, driving in Ruthie Capps, Corea hit a sacrifice fly to plate Hilgenfield and Allen singled again, driving in Garner and Cagle.
Hilgenfeld was 2-for-3 with three RBI, Cagle was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Garner was 2-for-3 with a run driven in.
Allen was dominant in the circle, allowing five hits in five innings pitched and striking out seven.
The second game of the best-of-three set followed a similar script, with Chandler sending eight runs home in a second-inning burst that ended any drama abut the outcome.
Allen was 3-for-4 in the second game with two doubles and two RBI and was 6-for-8 with six RBI on the day.
Hilgenfield and Smith had two hits each and Hilgenfeld and Herrmann had a pair of RBI each.
“I can’t say enough about Kennedy and Ruthie - a senior pitcher and senior catcher and being two warriors that never get an inning off,” Herring said.
“Blaklei Smith, she does a lot of bunting and slapping and the last four or five games she has really found her swing and hammered the ball. Elli Hilgenfeld and Halle Herrman both hit some balls. And Gentry Garner is our chaos starter - when she comes up, we’re like ‘start chaos.’
Dale
For the week: 1-1. Win over Moore (5-1). Loss to Howe (0-3). Now 35-4 for the year.
Howe’s Lexi Scarberry clubbed a three-run homer in the fifth inning, leading the Lady Lions to a 3-0 win over Dale in the first round of the Class 2A state tournament and derailing the DLPs’ bid for a three-peat state championship.
Howe eventually reached the state championship game before falling to Oktaha, 2-1.
Kinley Patten had a single and Brooke Sheline had a single and double for Dale’s three hits.
North Rock Creek
For the week: 0-3. Losses to Bethel (8-10) and Tecumseh (4-6 and 0-6). Now 25-9 for the year.
The Lady Cougars put up four runs in their first at-bat in the Super Regional, but their bats went cold and they didn’t score again as Tecumseh swept them, 6-4 and 6-0.
NRC did all its scoring with two outs in the first game. Laynee Joyner singled to drive in Sophie Morris and Aspyn Harder lined to right to score Izzy O’Daniel and Joyner.
Harder eventually scored on an infield error. The Lady Cougars had seven hits on the day, five in the first game and two in the second.
Morris, O’Daniel, Joyner, Harder and Madison Benson had singles in the first game and Morris and O’Daniel singled in the second game.
Prague
For the week: 0-2. Losses to Lindsay (0-2 and 1-11) Now 19-15 fort he season.
Prague closed out its season in the Super regional at Lindsay, falling twice to host Leopardettes, 2-0 and 11--1.
Hits were scarce in the first game, as both teams managed three, but Lindsay got a run in the first on a two-out single and another in the third on a two-out double.
Brinley Menefee went the distance in the circle for Prague, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out eight.
Dusti Gregory had a double and Keira Carter and Taelyr Norman had singles.
The second game was close until Lindsay racked up six runs in the seventh inning.
Menefee, a senior, went the distance in the circle