THS PUNCHES TICKET TO STATE TOURNAMENT

Battling back from difficult situations hasn’t been an issue for Tahlequah on the softball field in 2017. The Lady Tigers went through enough hardship in July with the death of former head coach Matt Davis. On Thursday, just like back in July, they had to find a way to overcome. And then they had to overcome again. Coweta was the only thing standing between them and the program’s first state tournament berth since 2013. But Tahlequah found a way, and it had to do so after a 4-2 setback in its first attempt at a regional crown Thursday in Tahlequah. Climbing back from an immediate 2-0 deficit in Thursday’s nightcap and winner-take-all contest wasn’t a problem either. The Lady Tigers scored four runs in the second inning to take the lead for good and went on clinch a spot in next week’s Class 5A State Tournament with an 8-3 win, their 30th of the season. THS interim head coach Matt Cloud reflected on the season as a whole and Davis after both an emotional and joyful victory. “Matt worked really hard with this team,” he said following a long pause with tears in his eyes. “He knew he was going to be sick this season and he said, ‘You get them to the state tournament and I’ll be there.’ In the seventh inning it just kind of hit me because I look up every day and just expect him to show up. “The kids are resilient. It’s great for the program to do this. These kids have been through so damn much. It’s crazy what they’ve dealt with. No 16, 17 or 18-year old should have to deal with a coach dying, especially a young coach. “It’s been an emotional year. I think a lot about it every day. I think about Matt every day. It’s great for these girls. They could have folded. They could’ve been 18-18 and everybody would’ve understood why. But they came to work every day, even when the chips were down a little bit. I just wish Matt got the fruits of his labor. We won’t ever get that back, but I’m super proud of the kids.” The four-run second inning was a season-defining moment for the Lady Tigers when not much was going right after Coweta took a 2-0 lead right off the bat in the first. Bailey Wright and Hailey Sams led off with back-to-back singles, and Sierra Smith walked to load the bases, setting the table for an RBI-single from Meg Wynn, an RBI-groundout by Ryann Ferguson and then a run-scoring single from Kennedy Davis to center field. Smith scored the inning’s third run on a wild pitch. “It was awesome to come back like that, and it was so big for us,” Davis said. “We wouldn’t have won without it. I just did my job and did what had to be done. I wasn’t trying to hit it over the fence, I was just trying to move the runners around.” “I thought we could be in trouble if we didn’t get something going,” Cloud said. “Momentum is a hard thing to stop. I told the girls to just stay with the process. We did that and found a way to come through with a big inning.” Starting pitcher Lanie Sanders held her ground after a rocky start where she allowed three runs over the first two innings. Sanders went on to throw five straight scoreless innings to help send Tahlequah on its way. “I knew we were going to get hits eventually because I have confidence in my team,” Sanders said. “My drop and my curve started working well for me.” The Lady Tigers put the game out of reach with another four-run inning, this time in the sixth to give Sanders more of a cushion to work with. Wynn drove in her second run with an RBI-single to right that brought across Wright, Smith crossed home plate on a throwing error, Davis plated courtesy runner Emma Akin with a sacrifice fly, and Emily Sampson lined a double to the right-center field gap to bring in Ferguson. With the loss of her father, the win was especially important for Davis. “It’s been a rough year,” she said. “I didn’t even know if I was going to play at the beginning of the year after everything happened. Just to be in this position right now is awesome. I’m so glad I stuck around, and these girls stuck with me. We just played our butts off, that’s what it comes down to.” Sanders allowed just three hits over the final five innings after giving up three in the opening frame alone. She finished with one strikeout and assisted the final out on a ground ball back to the circle. “We did this for Coach Davis,” Sanders said. “I know he would be proud of us right now, and that was our main goal was to make him proud this season.” Wynn went on to lead Tahlequah with two hits. The Lady Tigers finished with nine as a team. They had four hits in the four-run second and three when they added four more runs during the sixth. In the 4-2 loss earlier Thursday, Tahlequah scored the game’s first run in the first inning on an RBI-single by Wright that pushed across courtesy runner Morgan Wofford. Wright also smacked a two-out solo home run to center field during the fifth for the Lady Tigers’ other run. “With what we’ve been through, it could have been very easy for us to give up on everything,” Wright said. “For us to be going to the state tournament, it’s pretty overwhelming. To be here as a senior, it’s pretty awesome because it’s been awhile since Tahlequah has made it.” State tournament pairings will be announced Monday.

THS PUNCHES TICKET TO STATE TOURNAMENT

Photo Credit: Byron Beers

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