Edmond Memorial, Piedmont capture state titles
Ryley Watkins wasn’t nervous at all. Even though the bases were loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning, the senior from Edmond Memorial was actually excited as she stepped to the plate with the state championship on the line.
“This is going to be the last one so might as well make it count,” Watkins thought. “We still had an out to work with and I was confident that if I didn’t do it, somebody behind me would.”
Watkins didn’t need anybody else. She did what she had dreamed of doing since her freshman year of high school.
With the bases loaded, Watkins smashed an RBI single to left field bringing home Kensington Perrotti to lift Edmond Memorial past Broken Arrow 1-0 for the Class 6A title Saturday at the USA Softball Hall of Fame complex. Memorial won its fourth fastpitch state championship and first since 2019.
The Bulldogs found the teary-eyed Watkins as she rounded second base and tackled her in celebration.
“She’s a senior, she’s not going on to play in college, she’s going to remember that for forever,” first-year Edmond Memorial coach Kayla Carlsward said of Watkins.
With the performance of Edmond Memorial freshman Keegan Baker and Broken Arrow’s Adison Norman, the two teams were locked in a pitcher’s duel for the first six innings of the game. Each time Broken Arrow looked like it was going to break through, Edmond Memorial would shut it down. In the fifth inning, Broken Arrow’s Maysie Childers had the Tigers first hit of the game and then two walks loaded the bases with one out. But when Broken Arrow hit a ground ball, the runner at third didn’t move. Edmond Memorial third baseman Beth Damon tagged out both runners.
“She is definitely the one we want with the ball in her hands in a sticky situation like that,” Carlsward said of Damon. “She’s a very experienced player, she knows how to hold her composure, and stay calm in crazy situations so we couldn’t have asked for it to be hit to a better person.”
In the top of the seventh, Broken Arrow loaded the bases again after an error and two consecutive walks with two outs. Carlsward wasn’t going to go away from Baker, who had just thrown a onehitter in the semifinal the night before. Baker got a ground ball and the Bulldogs made it out of the side.
“Just get the ball in play,” Baker thought. “Because the defense is going to work behind me, they can get an out.”
In the bottom of the seventh, Perrotti singled to left, then Baker battled through a nine-pitch at-bat that led to a walk. Lillie Smith earned a walk one batter afterward, which brought Watkins to the plate to win the game.
“Whenever I was a freshman, that was the best feeling I ever experienced,” Watkins said of winning a state championship. “And now that I get to feel it one more time, it’s just crazy.”
Class 5A: Piedmont 5, Coweta 3
Aubrey Pyle knew it would be trouble when she slapped a ground ball to third base.
With two runners on base in a tie game with two outs, the senior catcher from Piedmont knew she had to make it to first.
“I am the slowest person on the team,” Pyle said, “and I was going, ‘crap, don’t mess this up.’”
Pyle moved quickly enough to cause an errant throw from third. As she stepped on first and the ball sailed by her, two more runners scored for Piedmont. The two runs were a part of a three-run surge in the sixth inning to give Piedmont its first lead of the game. The Wildcats never gave it back. With a big sixth inning, Piedmont came from behind to top Coweta 5-3 for its second consecutive fastpitch state championship. The championship caps a 40-3 season for No. 1 ranked Piedmont. The Wildcats did not lose to a Class 5A opponent all year en route to its third title in four years.
“We felt comfortable we would have our inning,” Piedmont coach Keith Coleman said. “If we kept fighting and plugging along, we would have our chance.”
The Class 5A rematch from last year featured a big momentum shift in the later innings. But it started with a surge from Coweta.
The Tigers opened the first two innings, storming to a 3-0 lead as Kayley Iott, Sierra Soto and Chaney Helton knocked in runs. But the three runs were all Coweta would muster as Piedmont’s junior pitcher, Payten Schibbelhute, found her rhythm.
“I knew my team could come back, we were good at coming back,” Schibbelhute said. “If I folded it wasn’t going to be a good turnout. I just told myself to keep trying and keep going.”
As Schibbelhute shut out Coweta, the Wildcats added five combined runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Paislee Clark knocked in Addison Cassady in the fourth, Tayvin Davis hit in Peyton Gray in the fifth and Gray started the sixth-inning rally with an RBI single to score Brooke Butler.
Piedmont took down Duncan 14-2 in the quarterfinal, Carl Albert 5-0 in the semifinal before securing the title.
“We got kids that are super tough,” Coleman said. “They know how to fight, they know how to win, they know how to never give in and that’s how that happens.”