Pocola, Caddo capture state championships
The slowpitch softball state tournaments for Classes 3A-A were held Tuesday at the USA Hall of Fame Stadium. Here is a quick look at the late championship games.
Class 3A: Pocola 9, Morrison 3
Kylee Smith had everything going for her on Tuesday night.
The junior from Pocola had already tallied two hits on the day.
But one more swing with runners in scoring position? It couldn’t hurt.
Smith hit an RBI double to center field to score Allyssa Parker in the sixth inning. It was an insurance run as Pocola did most of its damage in the first two innings but Pocola couldn’t be too sure battling the defending state champion. That title now belongs to Pocola. In the state championship game that featured the first and second seeds, Pocola took down Morrison 9-3 to win the Class 3A state championship, its third slowpitch title and first since 2007. Pocola won the Class 2A girls basketball state championship in March for the first time since 2008.
“These girls have been through a gauntlet with fastpitch, winning state in basketball, they are a playoff veteran team and it showed today,” Pocola coach Eddie Combs said. “To beat the defending state champs with the offensive lineup that they got, giving up just three runs, I couldn’t be more happy.”
Pocola stormed to an 8-0 lead, plating four runs in each of the first and second innings. And while the bats were going, Pocola’s defense was playing just as well.
Morrison didn’t score until the fifth inning. Morrison’s Audrey Warriner hit an RBI single to right field to get it started. Kelli Veit followed with an RBI single to center field and Paris Warriner turned in an RBI double.
The three Morrison runs were all it was able to muster.
“This season we really learned how to just face adversity and work together as a team,” Parker said, “and keep our composure through everything and I think that really showed out here today.”
Class 2A: Caddo 18, Ripley 8
Jaycie Nichols didn’t know where she was on the field.
But as the ball dropped just at the fence with the bases loaded, the freshman centerfielder didn’t panic.
Instead, Nichols fired the ball from the wall to short stop Kadey Lee McKay, who then threw it home where catcher Anna Jo Adair tagged out the runner to maintain Caddo’s one-run lead. From there, Caddo seized a surmountable advantage that Ripley could not recover from.
Caddo run-ruled Ripley 18-8 in six innings to win its first slowpitch state championship. Caddo won its first fastpitch state championship last fall and paired it with another one on the year.
“There’s no better feeling, especially doing it two years,” Jaycie said. “This team is so close. Everything we do together is just like family.”
Caddo fell behind Ripley 5-1 after two innings but the group didn’t lose hope. And it stormed back in the third and fourth innings to take the lead. Both freshmen Jaycie and Jordyn Nichols hit home runs in the innings to help lead the charge.
“They’re just fierce competitors that does not like to lose,” Caddo coach Dustin McKay said of the Bruins. “There’s a bunch of girls that are going to have a chance to go to the next level and play.”
Ripley fought back to plate two runners and load the bases in the fourth inning. But after the final out, Caddo knocked in 10 runs in the sixth inning to take a commanding lead en route to its second state championship in the same school year.
“This bunch is something special,” McKay said. “They’re just so tight and the best of friends and we hope that everything continues. Can’t say enough about the whole bunch.”