The quest for a fifth straight fastpitch state championship came up just a bit short for the Caddo Lady Bruins as they finished as Class A state runner- up last weekend.
Caddo stopped Waukomis, 6-0, in the state opener and then outlasted Hominy, 1-0, in a 16-inning semifinal marathon. In the title tilt, Arapaho jumped out to an early advantage and then held off the Lady Bruins by a 5-3 count to snap Caddo’s incredible 14game fastpitch state winning streak.
Facing upset-minded Waukomis in the first outing, the Lady Bruins broke on top with a first inning tally after opening hits from Braylee Malone and Brylee Daniel.
Caddo broke things open with three runs in the third sparked by a Daniel run-scoring triple. Gage Vaughn and Kayden Cowan also contributed key singles to help lead to tallies.
That was plenty of run support for Harlee Taylor, who pitched a complete game fivehit shutout, striking out three and walking one.
Daniel finished with three hits, including a triple, and ended with two driven in. Malone, Vaughn, Cowan and Kiersyn Powell chipped in one hit each.
Taylor was phenomenal in the pitching circle during the semifinals, recording all 16 innings on a whopping 184 pitches. She scattered just seven hits, struck out 11 and walked a pair.
The Lady Bruins posted 11 hits in the contest, but scoring was slowed thanks to 18 strikeouts against a tremendous Hominy pitcher. They finally found the plate in the 16th by cashing in a pair of errors.
Presley Beck reached on a one-out error, Vaughn followed with a single and Laynie Busby hit a two-out ground ball that pushed across the lone run of the game.
Vaughn paced the offense for Caddo with a pair of doubles and a single with Beck and Busby tossing in two hits apiece. Malone and Cowan each added a double with Powell and Brilee Tyson contributing one single each.
Arapaho held a 4-0 edge through five innings of the championship tilt when the Lady Bruins began their rally.
Coach Dustin McKay’s club posted its first run on a single by Cowan but left the bases loaded. They had one final chance in the seventh following an Arapaho tally in the top of the frame made it 5-1.
An error and singles from Tyson and Malone narrowed the gap to three runs and a fielder’s choice RBI off the bat of Beck plated another but that’s as close as Caddo got.
Cowan totaled a pair of hits, including a double, with Malone chipping in two singles. Tyson had the other Caddo hit.
Silo Softball
The Lady Rebels punched their ticket for a 10th straight fastpitch state appearance with a Class 3A Super Regional sweep of Westville.
Silo fired a 5-0 shutout in the opener and then doubled up the Yellowjackets by a 10-5 count to improve to 35-6 on the season.
Junior Kostina Tubby twirled a three-hit complete game in the opening blanking while striking out six and walking three.
The Lady Rebels racked up 12 hits, getting on the scoreboard for the first time in the third stanza when Connie Tubby broke the ice with a two-run homer.
They plated two more in the fifth inning following consecutive hits from Kostina Tubby, Connie Tubby and Neely House. A two-out run-scoring single from House in the sixth accounted for the final tally.
Connie Tubby led the charge with three hits, Kostina Tubby and House tacked on two each with one apiece by Kamrey Hendricks, Trinity Ford, Maddix Sander, Jayci Webb and Dylan Paddock.
Game two was more of an offensive showcase as Silo exploded for seven runs in the third inning and never looked back. Connie Tubby notched three of the team’s 12 hits and drove in two. Hendricks, Ford, Webb and Paddock all added two hits with Sander accounting for the final hit.
