Although it was the closest of any of their slow pitch state championships, last week’s fourth straight Class 3A crown was just as special to say the least for the Caddo Lady Bruins who tied state history in the process.
The Caddo seniors became just the second group in Oklahoma high school history to never lose a state softball game and win eight state titles (four fastpitch, four slow pitch). Davenport is the only other school to accomplish that feat from the fall of 2000 to the spring of 2004.
In the 5-3 title game victory over Arapaho, the Lady Bruin were in an early 3-0 hole before rallying for the history-making title at the Firelake Softball Complex in Shawnee.
“I never would have dreamed or imagined that this was even a reachable or attainable goal, but it’s just a testament to how hard these girls work,” said head coach Dustin McKay. “This is a bunch I wouldn’t trade for anything. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The top-ranked Lady Bruins smacked Wister, 13-3, in the opening round and Hydro-Eakly, 11-1, in the semifinals for a pair of run rules to set up another date in the state title contest.
Against Wister, they spotted the visitors a 1-0 edge before erupting with the five tallies in the bottom of the first stanza and never looked back. Rylan Peevyhouse, Jordyn Nichols, Presley Beck, Brylee Daniel and Lyndee Harless all strung together one-out hits to ignite the charge. Anna Jo Adair also drove in a run with a single.
Jaycie Nichols got in on the scoring in the second frame by blasting a solo home run over the rightfield fence and they added four more in the third inning thanks to singles from Kayden Cowan, Kayden Prince and Peevyhouse sandwiched around a Wister two-out error.
Caddo finished with 16 hits in the opener led by three apiece from Jordyn Nichols and Beck while every batter in the starting lineup had at least one hit.
The story was much the same against Hydro-Eakly as Caddo built a 5-0 advantage after three innings before tallying two runs in each of the final three stanzas.
Jordyn Nichols’ RBI triple highlighted a two-run burst in the first frame while Beck had the key blow in the third with a three-run homer, the first of her two roundtrippers in the contest.
Beck paced the offensive assault with three hits and drove in five runs while Jordyn Nichols added three hits and two RBI. Jaycie Nichols, Daniel and Logan Busby pitched in two hits apiece.
Third-ranked Arapaho grabbed the early momentum in the championship, pushing across three runs off four hits and a Lady Bruin error in the top of the first inning. That advantage was short-lived, however, as Arapaho managed only four hits the rest of the way.
Caddo got two of the runs back almost immediately as Peevyhouse cranked a tworun homer to left. They tied it on a Harless groundout four batters later and took the lead for good on another RBI from Cowan.
Jordyn Nichols singled home another run in the second, which proved to be the final tally for either team in the game.
Busby posted a team-high three hits with a pair from Beck and one each by Peevyhouse and Jordyn Nichols.
