Mustang tops Westmoore for first title in 35 years

Nearly every day Mustang players stopped and looked at the sign below the scoreboard.

The year 1982 was displayed prominently, signaling the last time Mustang won a state baseball title. Players saw it and wondered when a new year would be added.

“Everybody comes in and everybody’s embarrassed from it,” Mustang freshman pitcher Dax Fulton said.

That feeling officially passed Saturday afternoon.

Red-hot Mustang rallied past district rival Westmoore for a 10-4 victory in the Class 6A state championship game at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark to end a 35-year drought.

“We’ve been pushing for (a new sign) for a while,” Mustang senior Seth Selby said. “That was a long time ago.”

To get there, the Broncos (28-12) closed the year with nine straight wins. In the state tournament for the first time in 16 years, they knocked off perennial power Owasso in the state quarterfinals and then took down rival Yukon in the semifinals.

Then they turned to Fulton, a tall, lefthanded freshman on the mound against the Jaguars, a team they split a two-game district series with in late March.

He initially struggled along with his teammates. Nerves were an issue as Westmoore sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning and took a 3-0 lead behind run-scoring hits from Jace Bohrofen and Eric Gutierrez.

Fulton, however, recovered. He allowed just one run, two hits and four baserunners over the final six innings.

“He didn’t have a bad first inning, really, if you think about it,” Mustang first-year coach Keanon Simon said. “But he got stronger as the game went on.”

Mustang’s offense came alive behind Selby.

He drove in five runs and went 3 for 4. He had two-run singles in the Broncos’ three-run fourth to tie the game at 4 and in the five-run seventh to seal the game.

“I was just seeing the ball well,” Selby said. “I was ready.”

Mustang’s Joey Pena also had the go-ahead hit with a single in the fifth.

By that time, Mustang’s momentum was unstoppable. It blew open the game in the seventh.

Plans started forming to put up a new display under the scoreboard in the near future.

“It’s going to be nice having a new sign,” Selby said.