It was a big week for the Colbert Leopard baseball team as they continued to peak heading toward the Class 2A playoffs with three solid wins.
The Leopards edged Coalgate, 7-6, dropped Kingston by a 5-1 count and then blasted Konawa, 10-0, while dodging the weather.
Isaiah Lopez doubled in a run in the bottom of the ninth to give Colbert the walkoff triumph against Coalgate after the teams had battled scoreless for three full frames.
Brett Parsons, Eric Hokett and Kaden Neill also doubled with Canon Marr chipping in two hits. Marr also picked up the pitching win with four frames of scoreless one-hit relief in which he struck out eight.
The Leopards got off to a fast start against Kingston with five first inning runs and then rode the stellar pitching of Parsons, who allowed just one unearned run on one hit through six stanzas on the mound.
Remington Graham had a big day at the plate with three hits, including a double. Marr and Hudson Brigman also had two hits.
Graham tossed a perfect game in a four-inning run rule against Konawa as he fanned nine batters. Neill drove in three and had a pair of doubles in leading the offensive charge.
Calera Baseball
The Bulldogs notched two wins in three games at the power-packed Dibble Festival last week.
Calera smoked Coalgate, 11-3, in the opener before a narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of top-ranked Dale. They rebounded to dispatch Cashion by a 4-3 count.
It took awhile for the Bulldogs to pull away from Coalgate, but once they did the avalanche was on as they plated four runs in the fourth and five in the sixth.
Jaron Varner belted a homer as part of his three hits and drove in three as well. Zaiden Craige also chipped in three hits with one RBI as Hazyn Applegate and Talon Rose each had two hits.
Rose twirled a complete game on the mound, yielding two earned runs on three hits with six strikeouts and five walks.
Calera rallied from a 1-0 deficit to tie Dale, cashing in a pair of hit batters and a Pirate error. Dale answered with a two-out hit in the bottom of the stanza to push across what proved to be the game winner.
Gavin Chaffin turned in a stellar outing on the mound, holding Dale to just one earned run while scattering seven hits. He also struck out three and walked three. He also had one of the Bulldogs’ two hits along with Varner.
A four-run rally by Calera in the final inning against Cashion helped erase a 3-0 deficit. Craige singled home one of the runs with Applegate knocking two with a hit of his own.
That flurry was just the momentum that starting hurler Logan Bumgarner needed as he finished it off for the pitching triumph, allowing three runs on eight to go with five strikeouts and one walk. Applegate ended with two of the Bulldogs’ six hits.
