Published: May 05, 2008 11:15 am            

Over and out

Ada eliminated from Class 5A Regional

Ada — The Ada Cougars never saw this coming.

After struggling to score against Skiatook ace Jack Crain in a 6-1 loss to the Bulldogs in an early winner’s bracket game, Durant ace Max White dominated Ada for most of the contest as the rival Lions eliminated a stunned Cougar club from postseason play with a tense 6-3 victory in the Class 5A Regional Tournament nightcap.

Host Ada finished the season at 22-14 and now must watch Durant and Skiatook battle for a regional championship and a berth in next week’s Class 5A State Tournament today at 4 p.m. at Cougar Field.

“We battled hard, things just didn’t quite go the way we thought,” said Ada head coach Ronny Johns. “We had a good year. We had over 20 wins. We did some good things.”

Ada was done in by a pair of clutch home runs in both losses. Skiatook’s Dagan Webb hit a wind-aided three-run blast to cap a five-run Skiatook surge in the top of the third in the first regional contest of the day and then Durant catcher Geoff Ashby hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the second in Game 2 that staked his team to an early 2-0 lead.

“Both Skiatook and Durant got a couple of timely home runs. That kind of did us in,” Johns said.

Skiatook 6, Ada 1

The Bulldogs (16-17) got a cheap run off Cougar ace Dillon Phillips in the top of the first when Jack Gaul led off the game with a single, went to second on a bunt single by J.T. Lynn and advanced to third on a throwing error. Phillips then got Coby Blevins to ground into a double play, but Gaul scored to give Skiatook a 1-0 lead.

Ada answered in the bottom of the first when Keifer Truett blasted a double off the left field wall and raced home on a clutch, two-out single to left by Spencer Penrod that knotted the score at 1-1.

But Phillips, who clearly didn’t have his best stuff, gave up four hits in the bottom of the third during Skiatook’s game-changing volley.

Justin Binkley started the inning with an infield single and after a sacrifice bunt by Braden Bryant — who nearly beat Phillips to first for another hit — Jake Gaul walked. It looked like Phillips and company may get out of the jam after Lynn popped up to first baseman Parker Patton for the second out, but Skiatook got back-to-back RBI singles by Blevins and Jake Steel before Webb hit his big bomb to put the Bulldogs in front 6-1.

Crain did the rest for Skiatook, allowing just four Ada hits over the final six innings (after the Cougars got three in the first). Ada got runners at first and second in the third, fifth and sixth innings but stranded them all.

“The kids were disappointed after the first game. They thought they should have scored more runs,” Johns said.

Ada reliever Keifer Truett gave Ada a chance to rally by pitching four scoreless innings of relief. He struck out four and allowed just three hits (including two infield singles) during his time on the mound. Truett was also the only Ada player to register more than one hit in the contest, finishing 2-for-3. Brendan Barr went 1-for-2 with two walks while Penrod also finished 1-for-2.

Gaul and Blevins had two hits each for the Bulldogs. Crain struck out seven in his impressive, complete-game outing.

Durant 6, Ada 3

White — who (along with big brother Bo White) has been a nemesis for Ada athletes during his Durant career — was in rare form for the Lions (18-17) in this elimination game. He struck out 13 and scattered three hits in the complete-game outing.

“Skiatook is playing well and then you have to beat Max and he’s a good pitcher. We knew he was going to be tough,” Johns said. “I thought we’d score a few more runs off the first kid and with Max, we knew we’d have to fight and claw for any runs we could get off him.”

Ashby’s home run off Truett — who started the game after pitching the four inning against Skiatook — gave Durant the early 2-0 lead. The Lions added another unearned run in the third (despite Truett striking out the side) thanks to a pair of Ada errors to put Ada in a 3-0 hole.

White carried a no-hitter into the fourth but after Penrod reached on an error and Patton walked, Jesse Cashman and Caleb Caudle — batting eight and ninth in the Ada lineup — hit back-to-back RBI singles to slice the Durant lead to 3-2.

In one of the game’s most thrilling moments senior Riley Keith had an epic battle with White during a tense at-bat with one out in the top of the fifth. Finally, after fouling off six two-strike pitches, Riley blasted White’s 12th pitch of the at-bat over the left field wall for a dramatic, game-tying home run that made it 3-3.

“Riley had a great at-bat. He just unleashed on one. That was a great battle between two guys that were going after each other. It was fun to watch,” Johns said.

But the magic moment was short-lived as Durant put together another rally off a tiring Truett — who started his ninth inning of the day — in the bottom of the fifth. Truett would throw over 130 pitches combined in the two regional contests.

“Keifer had a great day today on the mound. I made the mistake of leaving him in one inning too long and that was my fault. His pitch count was up and that’s my bad,” Johns said.

Spencer Stephens beat out an infield single and Josh Brown and Max White drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. After Tyler Carter — who shut down Durant for six innings during a meeting between the two teams earlier this spring — got four-hole hitter Travis Caraway to hit a weak ground ball to second against a drawn-in Ada infield. But Brendan Barr’s one-hop throw to home wasn’t in time to get the Durant runner, putting the Lions ahead 4-3.

Another Durant run scored when Carter got Brandon Ritter to ground into a double play and then he ended the inning by striking out Collin Mullins to prevent further damage.

The Lions added an error-aided, insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Carter walked Brown with the bases loaded. But he left them loaded by striking out White and Caraway, easily Durant’s top two hitters.

“I’m proud of our kids. I’m proud of our seniors (Keith, Walls, Penrod, Patton and Phillips), the way they fought and got after it,” Johns said. “They all played hard and got after it and that’s all we can ask. I’m really proud of all of them, all my players. We improved so much from the start of the season.”

        

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