In a game that did not start until 11 p.m. Thursday, the Okarche Warriors took down the second-ranked Wister Wildcats 5-0 to advance in the state tournament. The game ended about 12:40 a.m. Friday at Edmond Memorial High School.
A powerful pitching performance from Easton Roby, and key defensive plays by third baseman Brett Carnott and left fielder Cody Endres turned away any hopes for a Wildcats rally.
With the win, the district will not have school Friday so fans can cheer at the Friday game.
Okarche faced Rattan at 1:30 p.m. Friday. (Rattan won the tournament Saturday 4-1 over Silo.)
The Warriors’ first game of the tournament Thursday had been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. But overnight rains left the field soggy and games were delayed.
How they won after midnight
Okarche finally took the field as the home team with Easton Roby on the mound. Roby would hurl a two-hit game. The first two batters went down to strikes and the third out was made when a shot down the third base line was backhanded by Brett Carnott who twirled around to throw to first for the out.
Colin Hendrickson had a leadoff bunt and was safe at first. The bases were loaded quickly and Carnott drove in two runs for the early lead with a ground single.
Jett Mueggenborg’s RBI fly ball to right field made the score 3-0 at the end of the first inning.
Roby continued to dominate on the mound, striking out two more batters.
Left fielder Cody Endres misplayed a deep fly that turned into a double for Wister, But two more athletic snares of groundballs by Carnott at third base ended any threats from Wister.
In the bottom of the fifth, Okarche took a 5-0 lead as Luke Hill and Hendrickson scored.
Okarche fans pack the stands
It looked like half of Okarche was at the game at midnight against Wister.
Students wore gold cowboy hats and purple shirts in support of the hometown heroes.
Earlier in the day, students and staff cheered at a pep rally with cheerleaders and the band to send off the team at Okarche High School Thursday morning.
Okarche Public Schools Superintendent Josh Sumrall wore a purple state tournament baseball T-shirt. The school sold T-shirts ahead of the game for the district that does not field a football team in fall but baseball is big.
“I’ve been in football schools so this is like Friday night football, late night, fall weather,” Sumrall said before the first pitch with Wister. “It good with community support here. We have a lot of people from Okarche here. The community is always supportive in whatever events the students are performing or competing in and doing well. We are very fortunate to make the state tournament and I know the rain pushed the game times back tonight but there is a lot of support from the Okarche community so we thank everyone for coming out.”
The T-shirt sales help raise funds for the team. Over 200 T-shirts had sold before the Wister game.
“We’ve had a really good fall and I expect a high level from our guys and to go out there and do our best,” Sumrall said, still waiting for the first pitch at 10:35 p.m. Thursday.
One student fan and a family member of the team, Erica Hammons, 16, a junior at Okarche, walked into the stadium wearing her brother Jacob’s jersey. She had gold and purple face paint and gold chains. Katy Creswell walked in with Erica. Parents Chris and Jennifer Hammons were right behind them.
Jennifer Hammons said she was up a bit past her bedtime.
“Warriors are gonna win,” Jennifer Hammons said. “We’re ready.”
The Warriors’ Ethan Kirby, #5, the second baseman, mingled with fans before the game in the stands.
He waited out the delay with the team after getting to go out to dinner in Okarche before heading to Edmond.
“This is crazy you know. In an A school you never see anything like this. There are so many people. This is a great environment,” Kirby said.
The late hour did not bother him.
“You know in a game like this under the lights, you just can’t wish for anything more,” Kirby said.
Sumrall posted Thursday on Facebook.
“As you know, our high school baseball team is playing in the state tournament starting this Thursday. Our game on Thursday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. School will be in normal session on Thursday. Friday’s semifinal game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. In the event that we play on Friday, we will not have school on Friday in order to allow students and staff to attend. In the event we do not play on Friday, we will be in school as normal,” Sumrall posted on the school’s Facebook page.
Okarche entered the tournament with a 25-4 record and improved to 26-4 with the win over Wister in the single-elimination tournament.
Oktaha is the top ranked team in the state with a 31-1 record after defeating Preston. Oktaha beat Okarche Sept. 28 at regionals 7-4, but the game was tied late. Okarche was regional runner-up at the Oktaha regional.
Read The Okarche Warrior and follow okarchewarrior.com for updates to baseball tournament results.
