Red Oak advances to the title game
Red Oak senior Morgan Crenshaw didn’t mind the maneuvering.
He started Friday at shortstop. Then he relieved starter Corbin Matlock — who went to right field — in the second. Then they switched back.
And that continued throughout the five innings.
Welcome to the new world of a pitch-count rule.
Class B No. 1 Red Oak took advantage of it in a 12-2 five-inning run-rule of No. 4 Roff at Dolese Park to advance to Saturday’s state championship game.
It used the same two pitchers three times apiece.
Matlock threw 65 pitches. Crenshaw threw 29 a day after throwing 13 and is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Saturday against No. 2 Leedey at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
“It is kinda tough coming in, but if I’m throwing strikes it’s not real tough,” Crenshaw said. “You’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do to help your team win.”
Red Oak coach Trey Booth doesn’t like the new rule, which requires at least a full day of rest if a pitcher throws more than 35 pitches. So, he worked around it for a secondstraight day to utilize his ace.
“Before, you’re talking about innings,” Booth said. “Now it’s about pitches. I don’t agree with the rule. Put that in bold print. But it is what it is. It’s the society we live in today. Everybody gets a trophy.”
Each time Crenshaw entered, he inherited multiple runners in scoring position. He allowed only one runner to score.
Crenshaw hit a threerun homer, reached base in all four plate appearances and scored each time. Slugger Cody Muncy also hit a two-run homer, his 20th of the season.
“We’ve been driving the ball like crazy, and that’s helped our pitching like crazy,” Crenshaw said.
Leedey 8, Lookeba-Sickles 1
Christopher Goldsten was trying to control his nerves in pregame. The way his arm felt certainly helped.
Then before he even took the mound, Leedey had a three-run lead.
“I settled in,” Goldtsen said.
The right-handed junior looked calm and overpowering as he limited fall champion and third-ranked Lookeba-Sickles to just one hit and four runs over seven innings.
“He’s been that way all year,” first-year Leedey coach Bryan Shoaf said. “He’s just gutty. He’s not going to give in.”
Leedey is in search of its first spring title since 1975.
Goldsten (9-1) struck out 11, including the side in the first inning despite allowing a run.