Poteau wins district opener with pitching, defense
Emma Hackler measured up in her first big pitching performance while also producing at the plate in Poteau’s 4-1 win against Muldrow at home on Thursday in its District 4A-8 opener.
“That’s huge from our freshman again. Another big outing. She threw the full seven, and she was hurting. She hurt herself on the mound. She hurt herself here again,” Poteau head coach Ryan Dill said, referring to Hackler’s tag on a Muldrow runner at third base in the top of the fifth inning. “She’s not going to show it, though. She’s super tough. It was a big win for us.”
After Emery Lomon led off with a walk, Hackler hit a two-run home run in the first inning.
Kennedy Cox had Poteau’s other hit. Lomon reached base three times — on a walk, an error and a fielder’s choice.
“We had some hardhit balls right at them. We definitely got to improve at the plate. I was on edge a little bit with us not swinging it like I thought we should have swung it,” Poteau head coach Ryan Dill said.
In the fourth inning, Poteau took advantage of three Muldrow errors while scoring two runs. After reaching base on an error to lead off the inning, Lomon scored on a sacrifice fly by Parker Patterson. Hackler reached base on an error and scored when Muldrow’s rightfielder dropped a fly ball hit by Briley Bowman.
“We were aggressive on the bases,” Dill said.
Hackler allowed five hits and two walks while throwing seven strikeouts. Of her 105 pitches, 69 were strikes (65.7 percent).
“I’m super proud of her. Parker does a great job behind the plate. She’s great for her to throw to,” Dill said. “They hit some balls hard at us, and we fielded it. We had some errors, but cleaned it up late.”
Poteau played Red Oak and Antlers in the Wilburton Festival on Friday.
Poteau returns to district play on Monday, visiting Idabel in a doubleheader starting at 4:30 p.m. before returning home to play Broken Bow on Tuesday with the varsity game scheduled for 6:30 p.m.