Silo, Calera and Colbert each captured Class 2A baseball regional championships at home last week to advance to the state tournament this weekend in the Oklahoma City area.
It was a twinbill shutout for defending fall champ Silo as the Rebels advanced to state for a 14th straight fall with 2-0 and 12-0 romps over Riverside.
Calera added a pair of blankings as well in 12-0 and 10-0 wins over Howe to reach the state tournament for the second consecutive fall and third overall.
Colbert, meanwhile, was forced to an if necessary third game in its best-of-three series with Oktaha, dropping the opener 4-2. The Leopards rebounded to forge 6-4 and 12-0 triumphs and punch its fall state ticket for the first time since 2012 and seventh overall trip.
Silo Regional
Pitching continued to lead the charge for the Rebels, who yielded a grand total of 35 runs on the season while riding a 25-2 record into the state event.
In the regional opener junior Aiden McCarty dazzled once again with a one-hit complete game shutout performance on the mound in which he struck out seven and walked only one.
McCarty also accounted for the only runs of the game with a two-run single in the third stanza. McCarty and Jacob Wright posted two hits apiece.
The Rebels once again tallied four hits in the second game but capitalized on 14 free passes to pull away for the victory. Sander, Ty Hatley and Cord Standridge each produced one hit and drove in a pair.
Nolan Northcott went the distance on the mounds, allowing only two hits to the Braves with three strikeouts and one walk.
Calera Regional
The Bulldogs capitalized on a stellar one-hit pitching showing from Zaiden Craige in the game one run rule triumph.
Calera pushed across two runs in the first stanza and five tallies in both the second and third innings to end it early thanks to eight hits and four Howe errors.
Jaron Varner belted a tworun home run that put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard and it was run-scoring doubles by Lex Carlton and Hoff Weil along with a Logan Bumgarner two RBI blast to left that keyed that broke things open a frame later.
Bumgarner finished with two hits and knocked in three with Varner adding two hits and two batted in.
Game two was a pitching gem from Bumgarner, who twirled a two-hit shutout as the Bulldogs scored in each frame once more.
Weil belted a home run as part of his two hits and knocked in a pair of runs. Demarcus Dunn tallied two hits and two RBI with Varner also contributing two hits, one of which was a homer.
Colbert Regional
A late rally came up short for the Leopards despite outhitting Oktaha by a 9-5 count in game two, forcing Coach Zach Crabtree’s club into a pair of must-win situations.
Trevor Jackson scored both the Colbert runs as he blasted a home run and double as part of his game-high three hits.
The Leopards stave off elimination by holding off a late Tiger rally in the game two nightcap. Lopez fired five strong frames, scattering nine hits with six strikeouts and six walks to earn the pitching win. Tucker Shelds and Brett Parsons combined for two frames of relief with Parsons posting the save in notching a strikeout for the final out of the game.
Jackson contributed two hits, including a double, scored twice and drove in a run. Eric Hokett also had two hits with Kaden Neill adding one and three RBI.
The winner-take-all finale was all Colbert as the Leopards scored at least once in every inning en route to the five-inning run rule decision.
Parsons tossed a stellar fiveinning shutout, yielding only two hits with five strikeouts along the way.
It was another big game at the plate for Jackson, who ended with two hits, including a home run, and drove in five runs. Reese checked in with two singles and a double with Parsons helping his cause with four batted in off a pair of hits.
