Dale’s High School baseball team has captured its second state championship under the guidance of Coach Eddie Jeffcoat, defeating Silo 18-11 in the finals played at Bricktown Ball Park in Oklahoma City.
“It’s pretty special, it feels great,” Jeffcoat said, noting, “especially when nobody really gave us a chance. To win it when no one expects you to is pretty special,” he reiterated.
The Pirates were ranked eighth going into the state tournament. “Silo was No. 1, Oktaha was No. 2 and Rattan was No. 3. We beat Rattan in the first game of the tournament and defeated Silo for the championship,” Jeffcoat added.
Rattan and Silo had defeated Dale earlier in the season. Silo beat the Pirates in the second game of the Regionals that Silo had hosted the previous week.
The veteran head coach, who guided the Pirates to their second state championship since 2019, pointed out, “It was a full team effort. Dayton (Forsythe) pitched the first two innings and Casen (Richardson) who had pitched the day before, came in and pitched the final five,” he said.
“A bunch of guys stepped up through the whole tournament from top to bottom,” the elated Jeffcoat continued.
Forsythe and Richardson, both juniors, combined to limit Silo to nine hits as the Pirates defeated their long-time rivals.
In 2019, the Pirates also claimed the state title 4-3 over Silo on the same field.
Silo was ranked No. 1 that year as well. Forsythe was the winning hurler for Dale this time.
The Pirates pounded out 14 hits against Silo on their way to the title.
After falling behind 1-0 after one inning, Dale scored eight runs in the top of the second and never trailed again.
They scored two more in the third, one run each in the fourth and fifth before scoring six more in the sixth to build an 18-3 lead before giving up seven to Silo in their half of the sixth.
Silo scored a single run in the bottom of the seventh.
The Pirates won their quarterfinal contest in the state tourney 6-3 over Rattan. Senior JB Leaver got the win on the mound.
In the semi-finals, the Pirates run-ruled Byng 12-2 in 5½ innings with Richardson earning the pitching win.
Dale banged out nine hits while Richardson along with Cade Dickinson and Jack Rooker allowed Byng only a pair of hits in that semi-final contest.
The Pirates finished the season with an overall record of 24-10.