Bridge Creek spoils KHS regional bid

Kingfisher’s monumental softball season was put to a disappointing halt early Saturday evening.

Bridge Creek staved off elimination with back-toback wins over the Lady Jackets to win a best-of-three bi-district series in Kingfisher.

After KHS won the opener 4-2, the Lady Bobcats earned wins of 9-3 and 14-10 to advance to a Class 4A regional tournament later this week.

“I really felt like we could have won either one,” said KHS head coach Danny Green of the two losses.

KHS had a combined nine errors in the two defeats as only 13 of Bridge Creek’s runs in those games were earned.

“It seemed like we started worrying about losing instead of trying to win,” Green said.

KHS finishes its season with a 25-12 record and was hosting a bi-district for the first time.

It also got off to a shaky start as Bridge Creek scored twice in the top of the first in the series opener.

Still down 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Jackets finally broke through when Brittany Willson delivered a twoout, three-run triple to give her team the lead.

Kaycee Karcher added to it with an RBI double in the fifth.

Two walks and a single allowed Bridge Creek to load the bases in the seventh, but Olivia Wilcox worked a strikeout to end the game.

After surrendering the early runs, Wilcox was stingy the rest of the way.

She only gave up seven hits while striking out four.

Bridge Creek was the home team in the second game and struck first with a run in the bottom half of the opening frame.

Willson tied it with an RBI single in the second, but errors soon became Kingfisher’s enemy.

The Lady Jackets committed two of them in each the second and fourth innings during which Bridge Creek posted four runs.

The visitors picked up three more runs in the fifth due in part to another KHS error.

The Lady Jackets couldn’t keep up.

Jodie Hill belted a solo homer in the fifth and Emma Lukasek’s groundout in the sixth pushed home a run, but that’s all the offense KHS could muster.

Kingfisher had nine hits in the game, but only Hill, with two, had multiple hits.

That put the season on the line for both teams in the third and decisive game.

This time it was the Lady Jackets who got out of the gate quickly.

They had three hits in the top of the first, including back-to-back RBI singles from Mya Dewberry and Lukasek to stake claim to a 3-0 lead.

Karcher delivered an RBI triple in the second, her second extra-base hit of the game.

Willson’s hot bat continued in the game as she slapped a run-scoring single in the third for a 5-2 lead.

But that’s when Bridge Creek began to take back control.

The Lady Bobcats tied it with three runs in the third and took a brief 6-5 lead after four innings.

KHS showed some life in the fifth when Lukasek doubled and scored on Willson’s single as part of a four-run frame.

Karcher and Emily Dick also had RBIs in the inning.

But Bridge Creek answered with a seven-run fifth. It included five hits, two walks and an error.

Willson managed another RBI single in the sixth inning, but KHS couldn’t catch up.

Willson was 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs and a run scored.

Dewberry and Lukasek were both 3 for 4 with an RBI and run each.

Karcher had two hits and 2 RBIs while Wilcox was 1 for 4 with a run scored.

Mia Farrell scored twice while collecting a hit.

KHS had 14 hits in the game, but also had four errors.

The Lady Bobcats countered with 17 hits. Ten of the runs were earned.

The Lady Jackets’ season ended with a 25-15 record.

“Despite the disappointing end, we accomplished a lot this year,” Green said.

It was the most wins for Kingfisher in Green’s five seasons and the Lady Jackets also won the Tri-County Conference.

“Both of those things are huge for our program now and moving forward,” Green said.

It was the last appearance for Farrell, Karcher and Wilcox, who Green said “set the tone for our team both on and off the field.”

“From the first day of practice on July 15 all the way to the end, I felt they were focused and working to improve each day,” Green said. “It will be very difficult to replace our seniors starting with Olivia in the circle and continuing with the leadership of Mia and Kaycee.”