KHS manages district split with Bethany

One strike.

That’s what separated Kingfisher from a potential sweep Tuesday in its District 4A-1 doubleheader against visiting Bethany.

Unfortunately for the Lady Jackets, Lillie Mathers wouldn’t fall prey to that final strike.

Instead, the Bethany centerfielder dropped a perfectly placed single into shallow centerfield to bring home teammate Jayden Barger to tie up KHS in the top of the seventh inning of the opener.

The Lady Bronchos then tacked on two more runs and escaped the first game with a 4-2 victory.

KHS exacted some revenge in the nightcap with an 8-6 victory, this time denying the Bethany comeback.

The Lady Jackets (2-1 overall, 1-1 in district) were ahead in the first game of the night despite having just one hit.

That’s because Olivia Wilcox was nearly as stingy in the circle against the Lady Bronchos.

She held Bethany scoreless - and to just three hits - through five innings.

The visitors were able to string together three hits to plate a run in the top of the sixth.

Kingfisher was able to answer in the bottom half of the inning by taking advantage of some Bethany miscues.

Natalie Dick and Wilcox reached on back-toback errors with one out.

Dick eventually crossed home on Mya Dewberry’s RBI groundout.

With Emma Lukasek at the plate, Addyson O’Dell, a courtesy runner for Wilcox, scored on a wild pitch for the 2-1 lead.

Wilcox quickly retired the first two Bethany batters in the top of the seventh, but Barger reached with a triple that just got passed the diving Mia Farrell in centerfield.

That was the first of four Bethany hits in the seventh.

It was Barger who shut down KHS from Bethany’s circle for much of the game.

She threw six innings, struck out five and surrendered just one hit.

Kailey Belknap pitched the seventh and retired KHS in order.

Wilcox took the loss. She gave up 10 hits with seven coming in the final two innings.

The senior struck out seven and only walked one. Two of the runs were earned.

The Lady Jackets trailed 2-1 after four innings of the final game, but scored seven straight runs for a commanding lead.

After being limited to one run through the first four frames, KHS scratched together three in each of its next two trips to the plate.

O’Dell led off the fifth with a single and tied the game when she scored on Kaycee Karcher’s double, her third hit of the game.

Karcher later made it 4-2 when she scored on Wilcox’s RBI groundout.

O’Dell had an RBI single and scored on Mia Farrell’s triple as part of a three-run sixth.

Farrell, who also scored in the fifth, gave KHS a five-run cushion when she scored on a wild pitch.

Wilcox doubled and scored in the top of the seventh for the 8-2 edge.

Dick had limited Bethany to seven hits and two earned runs to that point before eventually running into trouble in the seventh.

Three hits and an error led to four Bethany runs before Wilcox entered to record the final two outs.

Dick earned the win with 6 1/3 innings of work. She struck out two and didn’t walk a batter.

Karcher was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

Wilcox and O’Dell had two hits apiece. O’Dell scored twice and Wilcox once while Farrell had two runs and an RBI to go with her hit.