Regional slow-pitch

By News Staff on Tuesday, May 2, 2023
  • Regional slow-pitch
    Regional slow-pitch
  • Regional slow-pitch
    Regional slow-pitch
  • On Thursday, it was Dale and Prague who shifted their regionals to Firelake. The Lady Pirates, who were state runnersup last year, beat Wayne, 18-12, in the first round, then shelled Boone-Apache, 17-4, to get a return trip to the state tournament. The Lady Pirates took a 33-5 record and No. 2 ranking into the Class 3A state tournament on Wednesday, where they faced Haskell in the first round at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
    On Thursday, it was Dale and Prague who shifted their regionals to Firelake. The Lady Pirates, who were state runnersup last year, beat Wayne, 18-12, in the first round, then shelled Boone-Apache, 17-4, to get a return trip to the state tournament. The Lady Pirates took a 33-5 record and No. 2 ranking into the Class 3A state tournament on Wednesday, where they faced Haskell in the first round at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
  • Prague came from behind to beat Hinton, 107, in the first round of the Class 4A regional, then beat Hobart, 13-7, to win the trip to OKC. The Lady Devils are 29-4 and ranked No. 2 in Class 4A. They played Latta at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the state tournament.
    Prague came from behind to beat Hinton, 107, in the first round of the Class 4A regional, then beat Hobart, 13-7, to win the trip to OKC. The Lady Devils are 29-4 and ranked No. 2 in Class 4A. They played Latta at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in the first round of the state tournament.

    Above, players from Chandler and Bristow joined hands around the pitcher’s circle and repeated the Lord’s Prayer before the first of their two games on Friday. The Lady Lions won the first game, 9-3, but lost to eventual champion Tecumseh and came back to play Bristow again with a trip to the state tournament on the line. Bristow won, 13-8, getting the berth in the state championship and ending the Lady Lions’ season.

    Chandler, which had no seniors, finished with a 21-15 record and ranked No. 9 in the state.

    “They represented themselves, their school and their community well,” coach Bryan Herring said the final game.

    Left, Chandler junior Carson Jackson gets a hand on the plate to score the first run in the Lady Lions’ win over Bristow. Photo/Brian Blansett.

    Heavy rains early last week forced four regional tournaments to relocate to the Firelake softball complex, which recently had two turf fields installed. In addition to Chandler’s 5A regional, which was to be played at Tecumseh, North Rock Creek’s 5A regional moved to Firelake as well.

    The defending state champion Lady Cougars, who have made the slow-pitch state tournament all three seasons they have competed, blew out Eufaula, 25-4, in the opening round.

    Then they faced Perkins-Tryon, coached by David Griffin, father of Chance Griffin, their coach.

    The two teams are no strangers, having met in last year’s state finals, but this meeting had a bittersweet overtone because the senior Griffin is retiring.

    The No. 2 Lady Cougars put sentimentality aside and rung up a 12-10 victory to get the state tournament spot. Perkins lost to Muldrow in the elimination game that followed.

    “It was one of those games where we had to grind it out,” Chance Griffin said after the game. “We’re pretty hungry this year.

    “We’re not satisfied with winning it once. We have a goal of winning it again. It’s been a very special year with the wins that we’ve had and the time we’ve spent with each other. This is a very special group.”

    NRC took on Dickson Tuesday in the state tournament at Hall of Fame Stadium. Because the tournament ended after our press deadline, photos and coverage of the tournament will be in next week’s edition.

    Pictured at left are the Lady Cougars with their regional championship trophy.