CLOSE CALL

A dramatic victory capped the first day of action Thursday in the Highway 33 Classic softball tournament in Kingfisher.

Katey Brickman scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Lady Jackets to a 5-4 victory over Watonga.

The win was Kingfisher’s second of the day as it started with an 8-4 doubling up of Clinton.

KHS improved its overall record to 7-4 entering the second day of pool play Friday (that action took place after press time).

The Lady Jackets are the tournament’s defending champs, but were taken to the wire by Watonga.

Due to time constraints, the seventh inning was actually an extra frame, meaning a runner begins at second base.

Olivia Wilcox pitched KHS out of that jam in the top half of the seventh and Brickman began the bottom of the frame halfway to home.

She was bunted to third by Mia Farrell.

In order to make the force-out an option at every base, Watonga opted to intentionally walk Loren Ballard and Kaycee Karcher.

That brought Wilcox to the plate with the bases loaded.

“We were looking to squeeze (bunt) Katey home with Olivia,” KHS coach Danny Green said.

However, the wild pitch negated that as Brickman was able to slide home to end the game.

Karcher drove in two runs in the game, including an RBI groundout in the fifth to score Farrell and give her team a 4-3 lead.

However, Watonga posted two runs in the top of the sixth to grab back the lead.

KHS was able to answer when Macy McCully led off the sixth with a walk and eventually scored on Mya Dewberry’s one-out double.

That run forced the extra inning.

Farrell had two of Kingfisher’s five hits.

Wilcox gave up eight hits and struck out seven. Only two of Watonga’s runs were earned.

Dramatics weren’t needed in the opener as Kingfisher posted five first-inning runs against the Lady Reds.

Three walks, three hits and big Clinton error led to the runs.

Natalie Dick gave KHS its first run with a bases-loaded walk. Dewberry followed her with a two-run double.

She and Dick scored when Emma Lukasek reached on an error for the 5-0 lead.

KHS added three more runs in the second when Dick came through with a run-scoring single and Dewberry picked up two more RBIs with her hit.

Dewberry was 2 for 4 with 4 RBIs.

Dick had 2 RBIs and two runs scored.

Wilcox had two hits and also got the win.

She struck out six and gave up six hits over five innings. Two of the four runs were earned.

The tournament schedule printed in Wednesday’s edition was forced to be changed Thursday when Hennessey dropped out of the tournament.

That also eliminated Kingfisher’s JV from the tournament, which allowed for two four-team pools.

KHS and Chisholm were the only two teams to escape Day 1 without a loss.

The two teams have played for the last two tournament titles, splitting them.

Chisholm defeated Anadarko (5-0) and OKC Broncos (5-2) in its games.

Other games in that pool saw Dibble beat Anadarko 2-1 and the Broncos beat Dibble 7-0.

In Kingfisher’s pool, Ft. Cobb-Broxton defeated Clinton 5-0 and Watonga knocked off Ft. Cobb 3-1.