‘Cats bats too much for Am-Po
Cashion overcomes errors, dominates at plate to advance at 2A state baseball
CASHION PLAYERS congratulate Landon LaGasse (1) after he belted a home run in the sixth inning. [Photo by Brad Stone/www.bestone. shootproof.com]
CASHION CATCHER Nick Nabavi tags out Amber-Pocasset’s Ethan Herrera in a play at the plate during the third inning of the Wildcats’ 15-6 win in the Class 2A quarterfinals. The out came on a throw from Gavin Phippen in left field. [Photo by Brad Stone/
Seven errors weren’t enough to keep Cashion from winning a baseball state tournament game for just the third time in program history.
The sixth-ranked Wildcats overcame the miscues Thursday thanks to a ninerun explosion in the sixth inning. That helped give them a 15-6 victory over No. 5 Amber-Pocasset in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A state tournament at Dolese Park in Oklahoma City.
The victory advanced Cashion to Friday’s semifinals (the conclusion was after press time) against top-ranked, undefeated and defending state champion Silo.
The Rebels beat Cashion in last year’s quarterfinal round.
The Wildcats appeared poised to handle Am-Po after plating four runs in the top of the third inning.
Gavin Phippen led off the inning with a double and scored when Hunter Gibson followed with an RBI single.
With two outs, Preston Cotter slapped his own RBI single before freshman Carson Gump pushed home two more runs with his hit.
Gump wasn’t in the starting lineup, but was forced into action when Joey Wilson was ejected in the second inning after running over Amber-Pocasset’s Jared Jones in a play at third base.
The suddenness didn’t bother Gump, who was 2 for 4 and had a team-high 3 RBIs in the game.
Cashion starter Cooper Frazee was cruising through three innings as he’d allowed just two hits and no runs.
That changed in the fourth.
While the Panthers added only one hit to their total, they did push home three runs thanks to three Cashion errors.
The Wildcats got two of those runs back in the fifth as Derek Sheline reached on error to score Cotter and then Phippen’s second double of the game scored Nick Nabavi.
Am-Po was able to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a pair of Cashion errors.
Jones’ sacrifice fly scored a run then Braden Bingham’s two-run double knotted the game up at 6-6.
The momentum stopped there for the Panthers.
Ben Harman and Landon LaGasse led off the sixth with back-to-back walks.
Frazee then laid down a perfectly-placed bunt to move the runners. Frazee earned a single for his bunt, but an errant throw by the third baseman allowed Harman and LaGasse to score.
Frazee was pushed home by Cotter’s double then Cotter scored when Gump followed him with a double.
Cashion was up 10-6 and managed to load the bases with two outs.
Harman plated two runs with his double to left field. A throwing error by the Panthers’ catcher sent the ball back to the outfield, allowing Hunter Gibson and Harman to score on the play.
LaGasse added to the damage with a solo home run over the left field wall for the nine-run lead.
Frazee lasted 5 2/3 innings.
He surrendered five hits while striking out seven batters. None of the six runs was earned.
Harman closed out the final 1 1/3 innings.
He struck out a pair of batters and walked one without surrendering a hit.
Cashion had 14 hits in the game.
Frazee, Cotter, Gump, Phippen and Gibson had two apiece.
LaGasse, Cotter and Harman each scored.
Cashion’s other state tournament wins came in 2013 (3-1 over Binger-Oney in Class A) and 1986 (4-2 over Navajo in Class A).