No. 1 Deer Creek stops Ada

David Seeley Guest Sports Writer Ada Evening News

Edmond — The 16th-ranked Ada Cougars got their shot at No. 1 Friday afternoon in the championship game of the Class 5A Regional Tournament. But like the top-ranked Deer Creek-Edmond Antlers had done 31 of their previous 35 games, they showed for the 32nd time why they are No. 1.

The Antlers scored in six of the seven innings, and used the stellar pitching of ace Cale Coshow, to down the Cougars 9-1 to win the regional title — and advance to next weekend’s Class 5A State Tournament in the Tulsa metropolitan area.

“Deer Creek is No. 1 for a reason,” Ada coach Ronny Johns said. “They’re really good. You just have to tip your hat to them.”

The Cougars end the season at 14-21.

The Cougars went back to their pitcher who had gotten half of their wins on the season — Tyler Carter, who pitched five innings just 24 hours earlier against Noble. While Carter struck out eight batters, scattered four hits and gave up no runs in five innings pitched Thursday afternoon against Noble, it wasn’t quite that way for the senior pitcher in Friday’s title game.

In 4.1 innings, Carter (7-5) gave up six runs on eight hits with four strikeouts. Cale Russell pitched the final 2.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits with two Ks.

“I really thought that Tyler and Cale threw their guts out,” Johns said.

The Antlers (32-4) got their first run in the opening inning as Coshow’s sacrifice fly scored Brian Anderson to make it 1-0.

An RBI groundout by Zach King and a two-out, RBI double by Connor Patterson in the second inning increased the Deer Creek-Edmond lead to 3-0 after two innings.

After a scoreless third inning (the only frame in which the Antlers did not score), Deer Creek got two runs in the fourth. The first run scored on Patterson’s groundout as King raced around the bases to score all the way from second base on the play to make it 4-0. An infield single by Andrew Harlan put Deer Creek on top 5-0 after four innings.

King’s RBI double with one out in the fifth inning chased Carter from the mound, and produced the Antlers’ sixth run for a 6-0 lead after five innings.

The final run for the Cougars on the season came in the bottom of the inning as a two-out rally was capped by Dillon Bolin’s RBI double down the third-base line to score Ryan Kinder to cut the deficit to 6-1 after five innings. But Ada could get no closer.

In the sixth inning, the Antlers responded with a two-run frame as a two-out, two-RBI double by Ross Stracke made it 8-1. Coshow’s second sacrifice fly of the game in the seventh inning upped the lead to 9-1.

Except for the fifth-inning, two-out Ada rally, Coshow (9-1) dominated the Cougars as he struck out 11 batters in getting the complete-game victory and only allowed three hits and a run. Prior to the fifth-inning, RBI double by Bolin, Ada had only two baserunners get aboard — a one-out, first-inning walk by Coshow to Kobi Cupps and a two-out Deer Creek error in the fourth inning that allowed Mark Byers to reach first base. In between, Coshow set down 10 Cougars in a row. After Bolin’s RBI double in the fifth inning, Coshow retired seven of the final eight batters faced — with only a lead-off single (IN WHAT INNING) by Caleb Balch the only blemish in that stretch.

“We battled, but we just couldn’t get anything going off him,” Johns said.

But while the season ended for the Cougars, Johns most definitely calls the 2010 campaign a successful one. The Cougars garnered more wins (14) than in 2009 (12) as well as getting to the regional-tournament title game as opposed to getting eliminated on the first day of the 2009 Class 5A Regional Tournament last year in Coweta.

“I’m really proud of our kids,” he said. “We had a good year. From year to year, you always look for improvement, and we did that. We won more games this year than we did last year. We advanced into the playoffs farther than we did last year. I’m proud of our seniors (Carter, Cupps, Byers and Alex Winton). They gave us everything they had, and I really appreciate their efforts.”

For the game, King was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in, Patterson was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored, Bennett Aduddell was 2-for-4 with two runs scored, Coshow aided his own cause with a 1-for-2 outing with two sacrifice flies and Harlan was 1-for-1 with an RBI for the Antlers.

In defeat, Bolin was 1-for-3 with an RBI, Balch was 1-for-3 and Easton Pingleton was 1-for-3 for the Cougars.

Ada blanks Noble, stays alive

David Seeley Guest Sports Writer Ada Evening News

Edmond — All teams like opportunities to play the top-ranked squad in their class. The Ada Cougars will have that opportunity — and they hope to have that opportunity twice.

Thursday at the Class 5A Regional Tournament, the 16th-ranked Cougars stayed alive with an 8-0 win over the Noble Bears — who beat them 7-5 in a first-round matchup on Wednesday. The win, coupled with No. 1 Deer Creek-Edmond’s 15-0, five-inning, run-rule victory over the Bears in the first game of the day, meant the Cougars were to meet the top-ranked team for a trip to the state tournament at 4:30 this afternoon. If Ada upsets the Antlers (31-4), the two teams will play an if-necessary game at 6:30 tonight.

“We go battle No. 1,” Ada coach Ronny Johns said. “I told the kids you have to go beat the best sometimes, it doesn’t make any difference whether it’s in the regional or the state tournament. You have to play the best, and beat the best. We’ll come out and compete, and battle, (this afternoon). We WILL battle.”

The Cougars got starting pitcher Tyler Carter all the runs he needed in the second inning. With the game scoreless, a two-RBI single by Easton Pingleton and a three-run home run by Cale Russell, his sixth homer of the season, gave Ada (14-20) a 5-0 lead after two innings.

An RBI fielder’s choice by Carter and a wild pitch produced two more runs for a 7-0 advantage in the fourth inning.

A fifth-inning, one-out, RBI single by Pingleton upped the lead to 8-0, which was more than enough run support for Carter, and reliever Mark Byers.

Carter (7-4) struck out eight batters in five innings, and got out of two major jams. He got out of a second-and-third situation with one out in the second inning by getting two straight strikeouts to end the frame. In the fourth inning, the Bears (11-23) had runners at the corners with two outs, but Carter induced a groundout to second base to end that threat.

Carter also got out of a threat in the fifth inning. After an error and a wild pitch put Noble baserunner Josh Long at second base, Carter fanned the next three batters to end that Noble scoring opportunity.

Byers, who pitched the final two innings, got out of a little jam himself. With one out, Alex Kigler doubled, and went to third on a groundout by John Whitlock with two outs. But Byers got the next batter to fly out to center field to end the inning. Byers then retired the side in order in the seventh — with the last two outs coming on his only strikeouts of the game.

“Both pitchers worked well,” Johns said. “We also scored some runs. We had a big inning early, and that kind of got us going a little bit. So, we live to see another day. They bounced back well (from Wednesday’s loss to Noble). They actually shook it off pretty well (Wednesday) night, and bounced back nicely against Capitol Hill. I wasn’t really worried about their attitudes, or be ready to play because I knew they would be. We’ll get after it (this afternoon).”

Russell was 1-for-4 with three runs batted in with two runs scored, Pingleton was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored and Ryan Kinder was 2-for-3 with a run scored for Ada.

In defeat, Whitlock and Blake Lee were 2-for-3 for Noble. Blake Carter suffered the loss for the Bears, despite striking out five batters in seven innings.

Cougs Open Regional Play May 5th

Tournament Schedule

All Games Played At Deer Creek High School

Wednesday, May 5th

Game 1:  Deer Creek vs. Capitol Hill     1:30 p.m.

Game 2:  Ada vs. Noble                      4:00 p.m.

Game 3:  Loser 1 vs. Loser 2               6:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 6th

Game 4:  Winner 1 vs. Winner 2           4:00 p.m.

   Game 5:  Winner 3 vs. Loser 4              6:30 p.m.

Friday, May 6th

Game 6:  Winner 4 vs. Winner 5            4:00 p.m.

Game 7:  If Necessary                          6:30 p.m.

Ada cages Bears on Senior Night

Cougars will see Noble again at next week's 5A Regional in Edmond

Jeff Cali Sports Editor Ada Evening News

Ada — Tyler Carter walked the first Noble batter he faced Tuesday during Senior Night at Cougar Field.

Then, Tyler Carter got serious.

Carter didn’t walk another batter, worked around the only two hits he surrendered in the top of the fourth and struck out 12 in six innings to help the Cougar cruise past the Bears 9-1.

Ada improved to 12-18 on the year while Noble stumbled to 10-20.

Ada head coach Ronny Johns was happy to see his four seniors — Carter, Mark Byers, Alex Winton and Kobi Cupps — win their last game at Cougar Field.

“It’s always good to win on Senior Night. It’s good to see those guys win their final home game. Those are four guys that have worked really hard for four years, and have down a good job for us,” Johns said.

Noble scored a run without the aid of a hit in top of the third inning (thanks to two of three Ada errors on the evening) and grabbed the early 1-0 advantage.

Ada answered in the bottom half of the third. Ryan Kinder and Easton Pingleton led off with back-to-back singles (Pingleton’s coming after two failed sacrifice bunt attempts put him behind in the count). Kinder scored from third on a passed ball and Pingleton was plated on an RBI double by Dillon Bolin. With one out and Bolin on third, Cale Russell lined out to left field. Bolin started toward home, hesitated, and then tried to beat the throw but Noble outfielder Bernard Rabbitt gunned him down, leaving Ada with a 2-1 lead.

The Cougars used a big six-run volley in the bottom of the fourth (thanks in part to three Noble errors) to break the game open. Winton and Kinder hit consecutive RBI singles to get the Ada surge going and Cupps later belted a three-run, two-out double that got over Rabbitt’s head in left. Russell followed with a run-scoring hit to push the Ada lead to 8-1.

Ada finally ended the game via the run-rule with an error-aided run in the bottom of the sixth.

The Cougars got nine hits by seven different players in the contest. Carter and Kinder both had two hits to lead the pack while Pingleton scored three runs.

When the Bears got their only hits of the game in the fourth, they had runners at first and second with one out. After a Carter K, Rabbitt reached base on an errant throw that got away from Russell at first base. The Ada first baseman recovered the ball quickly enough, however, to throw a strike to catcher Byers, who tagged Alex Kigler — who tried to score all the way from second on the play — out at the plate to end that threat.

Ada travels to Sulphur on Monday before heading to Edmond for Class 5A Regional Tournament play — to be hosted by Deer Creek High School — Wednesday afternoon.

The top-ranked Antlers will face Capitol Hill at 1:30 p.m. with Ada battling the same Noble Bears squad it handled Thursday night in a 4 p.m., first-round contest. The two losers will then square off at 6:30 p.m. in an elimination game.

A winner’s bracket game is set for 4 p.m. Thursday with another do-or-die contest taking place at 6:30 p.m.

The championship and if-necessary contests are set for 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. next Friday.

“You’re going to have to play good ones at some point anyway. The way 5A is, your going to have a tough draw no matter where you go. We’ll go up there and compete and get after them,” Johns said of having to tangle with the No. 1 team in the state at regionals.

Johns realizes it will be an uphill battle to get past Deer Creek and earn a spot in the 5A State Tournament, but said his players and coaching staff are preparing to grab the bull by the horns ... or in this case, Antlers.

“I think our kids are looking forward to that challenge,” he said. “Deer Creek is a good club, but it’s going to be fun to go up and compete. You never know what might happen.”

Ada blanks No. 1 Weatherford

Carter fans 13 in victory

Bob Forrest Guest Sports Writer Ada Evening News

Ada — SHAWNEE — Ada ace Tyler Carter is never going to scare anybody with his fastball. But his change-up and breaking pitches seemed to make Weatherford’s bats afraid in the Cougars’ rain-delayed pool-play finale of the Bill Tipton VI Tournament Friday at Ed Skelton Field.

Carter, eight days removed from a two-hit gem in a 2-1 victory over Class 5A No. 10 Lawton MacArthur in Ada’s last game before the final day of pool play action and last Saturday’s championship round were washed away, held Class 4A’s No. 1 team to seven singles Friday in a 5-0 victory that evened the Cougars’ tournament record at 2-2.

“My offspeed stuff is really starting to work for me,” Carter said after striking out 13 Eagles to improve to 5-3 this spring. “My change-up has been good all year, but the curve ball has really been breaking the last couple of games.”

Weatherford (24-3) had baserunners in five of seven innings and mounted its biggest threat in the seventh, loading the bases with one out on a walk to nine-hole hitter Nate Hunt (the first issued by Carter since the first inning) and back-to-back singles by Ryan Wilson and Trevor Beiland.

Three-hole hitter Jake Barrios jumped ahead in the count 1-0 and hit Carter’s next pitch (his 118th of the game) on the nose — but right at Ada shortstop Easton Pingleton, who caught the liner and fired to first to retire Beiland and complete a game-ending 6-3 double play.

“Tyler competes and battles every time out,” Ada coach Ronny Johns said after watching his club improve to 10-16 on the season. “He’s got a live arm, and he can throw a lot of pitches.”

Carter, who needed just 98 pitches to dispose of Lawton Mac, threw 63 in the first three innings Friday and worked out of a jam in each inning.

Barrios beat out an infield hit on a routine ground ball to Pingleton in the first and moved to second on a walk to Dillon Overton before Carter retired Jacoby Smith on a hot shot back to the mound. In the second, Blaine Boyd reached on the only Ada error of the game leading off the inning, and the Eagles loaded the bases on two-out singles by Hunt and Wilson before Carter struck out Beiland for the second time in the game to run his strikeout total to five through the first two innings.

Carter struck out Barrios leading off the third, and after Overton singled, Smith fanned on a nasty change-up. Overton stole second two pitches later, but Carter struck out Boyd — and the side for the second straight inning — to end the threat.

Ada’s offense, meanwhile, gave the little lefthander — who now has 94 strikeouts this season — all the run support he needed with two runs in each of the first two innings.

Cale Russell, who hit his first two home runs of the season in Ada’s second and third pool play contests (a loss to Shawnee and the win over Lawton Mac), followed a one-out single by Kobi Cupps in the first inning with his third homer in as many games — a line drive to left-center off Weatherford starter Luke Sandoval — to put the Cougars up 2-0.

“The kids told (Russell) after the home run that every time he bats the rest of the season to imagine he’s in Shawnee,” Johns said. “He likes hitting in this ballpark.”

In the Ada second, Caleb Balch led off with a fly-ball double to left-center, moved to third on a one-out single by Ryan Kinder and scored on Pingleton’s first-pitch single to center. Kinder moved to second on Pingleton’s hit and scored Ada’s fourth run on Cupps’ two-out, line-drive single to right.

Carter pitched his only two perfect innings of the game in the fourth and fifth while adding three more strikeouts to his total, and the Cougars scored their final run in the bottom of the fifth. Dillon Bolin hit a fly ball to the base of the wall in left for a leadoff double, advanced to third on Cupps’ sacrifice bunt and scored on a clutch two-out single to right by clean-up hitter Mark Byers.

Although Carter surrendered a two-out, fly-ball single in the sixth that Bolin, the Ada right fielder, appeared to lose in the sun, he ended the inning in style, pouncing on Luke Stark’s tapper to the left side, then whirling and throwing what might have been his best fastball of the game to Russell at first.

“It was a good day,” Johns said. “The kids played with a lot of energy. It was a good game for everybody.

“We had a stretch of about three weeks where we were playing five days a week, so I wasn’t necessarily sorry for the layoff,” he added.  “We got to work on some things this week, and I think the practice time did us some good.”

Seven of the nine hitters in the Ada lineup had at least one hit with a run scored and/or an RBI, with Cupps finishing the day 2-for-2 to pace an eight-hit attack. Every hitter in the Weatherford lineup except Overton and Hunt struck out at least once, with Wilson — who struck out leading off the game — finishing 2-for-4.