The Durant Lady Lions’ quest for an 11th straight trip to the Class 5A fastpitch state tournament came up short but Silo continued its run in 3A by punching its state ticket for a ninth year in a row last week.
Calera’s baseball season also ended in the state tournament with a 3-1 opening round loss to Tushka.
Durant Softball
Coach Jimmie Wyrick’s squad bounced back from an 5-3 opening round loss to eliminate the Lady Chieftains by their own 5-3 victory.
That was the end of the line, however, for the Lady Lions as they dropped an 11-1 verdict to a strong Pryor squad on the road.
Durant had five hits in the first round regional contest, rallying to tie the game at 3-3 in the fifth, but five defensive errors proved costly as two of the Sapulpa runs were unearned.
Rachel Spencer tallied two hits, including a home run, to help try to lead the Lady Lions back. Kenzee Petty also contributed a single and double.
In their regional triumph, it was nearly a duplicate tied 3-3 after five innings before Durant came through in the final two frames to stave off elimination.
The Lady Lions picked up singles from Petty and Korbyn Robinson to plate a sixth inning tally after a free pass and Sapulpa error. Raelynn Clark was the catalyst for the final run as she doubled and scored on a Lady Chieftain two-out miscue.
Emma Sherrer went the distance in the pitching circle, yielding three runs on five hits while striking out four and walking three.
Pryor erupted early and often on the way to the regional title victory as Durant committed five errors and notched just two hits, both of which came from Addi Pratt, who allowed just two earned runs on four hits in four innings but suffered the pitching loss.
Silo Softball
The Lady Rebels blasted their way to a 14-1 win over Bethel in the super regional opener and then finished it off with a 4-0 triumph in game two.
Sophomore Trinity Ford was the offensive stalwart in the first game, blasting a pair of home runs along with a single while driving in a whopping seven runs.
Connie Tubby contributed a home run, single and knocked in four runs as well. Dylan Paddock also tallied two hits with Timber Hensley, Bree Ginn and Abi Cordell pitching in one apiece. Ginn drove in two.
Hensley was the pitching benefactor, allowing just one run and five hits over four innings for the victory. Brylee Smothers tossed in one frame of scoreless relief.
The nightcap was more of a pitcher’s duel until the fifth when Silo exploded with three runs to take control.
Kamrey Hendricks singled and scored one batter later on Cache Atwood’s double to left. They manufactured two more runs with Tubby driving in one on a single.
Ford opened the sixth with a double and came around to score the final run of the game.
Hensley notched the complete game shutout in which she scattered six hits and struck out eight.
Calera Baseball
The Calera Bulldogs had a massive 8-2 edge in hits but after a run in the first inning could never get any runs across when they had opportunities.
Logan Bumgarner led off the game with a single and came around to score after a walk, error and Talon Rose ground out for a 1-0 advantage.
Tushka manufactured a run of its own in the bottom of the frame and it settled into a pitcher’s duel from there with the Tigers’ pushed across an unearned run after a Calera error in the third to take the lead for good.
Bumgarner allowed just one hit over five and onethird innings and struck out nine along with five walks but was tagged with the mound loss.
On the offensive side, Bumgarner and Darren Johnson notched two hits each for the Bulldogs. Hazyn Applegate added a double with singles coming from Zach Craige, Jaron Varner and Cody Langley as Calera ended at 16-12 on the year.
