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Bo Hall/The News-Democrat
Eagles sharp in win over Ardmore j-v
WAURIKA — Although Waurika was limited to three hits, the Eagles came up with them at the right time Thursday, and got some solid pitching from Gil Griffin and Sean Hall in a 3-1 victory over Ardmore’s junior varsity team.
Griffin helped his own cause by driving in two runs and the Eagles produced a pair of decisive tallies in the third inning, helping boost their record to 3-2 for the season.
“It was a good baseball game — we played a lot better than we did against Ringling (on March 2),” head coach Everett Hodges said, after WHS emerged with a win in a contest with the j-v players in Ardmore’s Class 5A program.
“We made plays, including a huge diving catch by Nathan Howard on a fly ball in center field that could have hurt us in the middle of the game,” Hodges said. “We got clutch hits, and Gil pitched well and Sean finished it up, just like you want things to happen.”
The Eagles already had a 1-0 lead when they came in to bat in the bottom half of the third inning. Freshman Cameron Bloodworth opened the inning with a double and stole third, before Howard and Hall both walked to load the bases. Griffin then produced the final runs with a two-run single.
The young Tigers came back to score their only run in the top of the fourth and also threatened in the top of the fifth, when Griffin walked the first two batters. However, Hall came on in relief, and although he gave up a run-scoring single that narrowed the margin to 3-1, the senior fanned Ardmore’s final batter to close the book on a win.
Griffin gave up just two hits, struck out five, walked five and hit one batter in getting the victory. Hall registered a save by quelling the threat in the fifth.
The Eagles played “small ball” to take a lead they never relinquished in the bottom of the first. Howard led-off with a single and stole second and third, before scoring on a sacrifice bunt by Griffin.
The Eagles, with a line-up mix of young players and veterans, captured the j-v game of the doubleheader by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the fifth.
Ardmore had used a run in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 8-all, before Taylor Fuller led off the bottom of the inning with a single and stole second. He became the winning run, when Steven Driggers stroked an infield single and Fuller was able to score on an errant throw by Ardmore’s shortstop.
It was a wild game throughout, as both teams generated lots of offense. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but the Eagles came back with a pair of runs on RBI-singles from Hall and Griffin.
In the second, Ardmore scored three runs to open a 4-2 edge, but WHS replied with a three-run burst of its own in the bottom of the inning. Winning pitcher Gage Pittman provided a run-scoring double and the Eagles used three hit batters and two walks to create two more tallies and a 5-4 lead.
After a scoreless third inning, both clubs also had three-run flurries in the fourth frame. The Tigers regrouped to take a 7-5 lead, but it lasted only until the Eagles batted in the bottom of the inning. Three walks and singles by Griffin and Levi Henderson pushed WHS back in front, 8-7.
In addition to getting the win on the mound, Pittman paced WHS’ nine-hit offense with a double and single. Griffin and Henderson added two singles each.
In their home debut, things started off badly for the Eagles and never got better, as they dropped a run-rule decision to their county rivals.
Pitcher Griffin appeared to be cruising through the first inning. The righthander registered a pair of outs, but a solo home run by third hitter Dakota Zachary gave the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead.
Ringling was still in front going into the top of the third, when the bottom completely unraveled for the Eagles. The Devils took advantage of three errors, two walks, a triple by Cole Lockwood, a double by Cody Barnes and a single by Brandon Faulkner to score five unearned runs and open a 6-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, the Blue Devils came back for more — four more, in fact. Picking on Griffin and reliever Fuller, RHS jacked the score to 10-0, thanks to a pair of walks, doubles by Barrett Butler and Faulkner, and a single by Zachary.
Waurika narrowed the margin to 10-1 in the bottom of the fourth, getting a single from Henderson and a run-scoring double from Hall. But the Devils upped their advantage to 11-1 in the top of the fifth.
Waurika trimmed the final score to 11-2 in the bottom of the fifth, when Bloodworth was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Howard, took third on Driggers’ single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Griffin.
Griffin got the loss, working three full innings, in which he gave up 10 runs, six of them earned. He surrendered seven hits, walked six and struck out four. In two innings of relief, Fuller gave up one run and two hits, striking out four and walking one.
Griffin and Bobby Harris each added a single to WHS’ five-hit offense.
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