‘Best I’ve Ever Been Around’

Over the years – over the decades – Kris Webb and Kevin Farr have seen “some dudes” on the diamond.

Farr has been involved with summer baseball for 30 years, the last 20-plus with the Woodward Travelers.

Webb is a Travelers alum. Now the Vici head baseball coach, Webb also skippers the Enid Majors baseball team in the summers.

The list of Travelers alumni who have gone on to college and pro careers is as impressive as it is long.

Farr and Webb have either played with, coached or witnessed some fantastic catchers in their day.

Then they came across Ian Daugherty.

As Derek Daugherty entered the men’s room during a break at the 2021 Edward Jones Classic baseball tournament in Kingfisher, he saw Kris Webb washing his hands.

Webb’s Vici Indians were one of the teams in the tournament.

Just a few months earlier, Ian Daugherty had agreed to play his final year of summer ball with the Enid Majors.

Daugherty was one of the top high school baseball prospects in Oklahoma, especially among catchers.

He had helped guide KHS to its best-ever season in 2019, his sophomore season, and was in the midst of getting the Jackets back to the 4A state tournament in 2021.

He had already signed to play at Oklahoma State University.

Enid High School coach Brad Gore has known about Daugherty for years.

Gore, himself a former Travelers player, is also involved with the Majors in the summer. The former Dover coach also had a storied career at OSU and his own son, Conner, was a freshman for the Cowboys.

“Coach Gore reached out and asked me if I’d be interested,” Daugherty said of playing with the Majors. “I had a couple of other friends who had signed with OSU who were going to play. I knew some of the other players, too.

“So I said, ‘Yeah, it will be a fun summer.’”

Little did he know. In that chance meeting in the restroom, the elder Daugherty recognized Webb.

“I’m Ian’s dad,” Derek said. “I think he’s playing for you this summer.”

Webb knew the name.

“We’re excited to have him,” he recalled saying. “We had a pretty good summer last year. I think we have a chance to be better this year.”

Little did he know.

As it turns out, Daugherty and Webb, even with an assist from Farr, were destined to make history together.

That history culminated late Saturday night as the Enid Majors defeated D-BAT United, a wellknown power program out of Texas, to win the 2021 Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M.

It was just two weeks earlier the Majors won the South Plains Regional in Enid and became the first team from Oklahoma to ever qualify for the Connie Mack World Series.

Their 7-0 run over a 10- day stretch in Farmington saw them - obviously - become the first Oklahoma team to win the CMWS, but also complete a 36-0 record for the season.

On top of the historic season for the team, Daugherty had an epic tournament individually.

Over the seven game stretch, he batted 13 of 25 (.520) with three home runs and five doubles.

He drove in 18 runs and scored 12.

Shortly after the championship game was ended, team and individual awards were announced.

First it was learned Daugherty had been named to the all-tournament team.

Then it was announced he was the winner of the Big Stick Award.

And then came the big one: Ian Daugherty, Connie Mack World Series Most Valuable Player.

“I definitely couldn’t have imagined that,” said Daugherty when he thought back to initially agreeing to play with the Majors.

Daugherty’s bat rang loud throughout the tournament as he terrorized opposing pitchers.

“The week before the world series, I got back in the cage and worked on a few tweaks with my swing,” he said. “When we got to Farmington, it felt good and the baseball just looked like a beach ball coming in.

“I was just glad to help put my team in a place to win.”

As good as he might have been at the plate, coaches said he was even better behind it.

Daugherty started every game at catcher and stayed there all but a few innings.

He called all the pitches and credits Farr’s scouting with having a huge impact.

“It was spot-on every time,” Daugherty said. “I just called pitches with what he said would be good. He was scouting games all day long and he knew what would work.”

Webb said Farr’s been doing that for years.

“He was an assistant coach with Travelers when I played and I can remember being in outfield and him moving us every batter,” Webb said. “When we got to Farmington, we realized they live streamed every game and Kevin just dissected everyone and said ‘I think we should do this and do that.’

“The combo of him and Ian and the pitchers believing anything Ian put down was just so good. It was insane.”

Never was it more apparent than the final four games as the Majors trekked their way through the massive bracket.

The Majors beat the Southern California Renegades, a team coming off a win over three-time defending champ Midland Redskins, in a 14-0 run-rule.

They followed that up by run-ruling D-BAT 10-2 in a winner’s bracket showdown.

The next night saw them down the Colton Nighthawks 9-0 to earn a spot in the championship. Daugherty ended that one with a walk-off home run.

D-BAT made its way to the finals and needed to beat Enid twice to win, but couldn’t even manage a single hit.

Over those final four games, Majors pitchers gave up a grand total of seven hits.

Toward the end, the Majors were facing pitchers who had signed with the likes of TCU and Vanderbilt.

In the final two games, Enid trotted out hurlers who had signed with NOC-Enid and Murray State in Tishomingo.

But, each time, Enid’s pitchers found a way to dominate.

Farr said it was a lot about the young men on the mound, but also in large part due to Daugherty.

“He was phenomenal all the way around,” Farr said of Daugherty. “He executed the game plan to perfection every game, no matter who was pitching.”

Farr said there’s an art to calling a game properly.

“You can give catchers an idea how to get people out, but they can’t always execute it, especially calling every pitch on their own,” Farr said.

“The last three games were a two-hitter, one-hitter and no-hitter. Yes, the pitching was good and gets the credit, but it’s that dude behind the plate that makes that all happen. It would have been a travesty if anyone else was named MVP.”

Farr has coached the likes of Binger-Oney’s Cody Milligan who was drafted by the Atlanta Braves.

He’s coached Reece Creswell of Perryton, Texas, a player eventually drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies.

He’s worked with Lookeba-Sickles’ Patric Tolentino, who played at Nebraska and was drafted.

Farr could provide a huge list of catching greats.

“Ian’s the best I’ve ever been around in 30 years of coaching summer baseball,” he said.

Daugherty’s played in big-time summer tournaments with his former Oklahoma Fuel team.

He’s traveled all over the country and experienced a lot as a player.

“I’ve played in some pretty cool tournaments, but that was, by far, tops,” he said.

Farmington supports the tournament well.

“The atmosphere was great,” he said. “We played in front of 5,000 to 6,000 people every night.”

An estimated 6,500 watched the title game.

“And the field was a 10 out of 10,” added Daugherty. “Their grounds crew was fantastic.”

The tournament also puts visiting players with host families.

Daugherty and teammates Cayden Brumbaugh (also an OSU signee) and William Edmundson, stayed with Chad and Robin Hudgens and their children, Dean and Ali.

“It could be awkward being thrown in there with people you don’t know,” Daugherty said of the situation. “But our host family was awesome. They were great people and were so good to us. By the end of the tournament, they felt like family.”

Before and after games, Majors players were hit up by youngsters for their autographs.

“After we won it all, we probably sat there for an hour and signed baseballs, bats, hats. It was amazing,” Daugherty said. “The town of Farmington made it an amazing experience.”

Daugherty said he got to bed about 1:30 a.m. after the championship victory and his big haul of trophies.

By 4:30 a.m., he and his parents (Micah and Derek) and sister (Kadyn) were on the road for the long drive back home.

After a little bit of Sunday rest, Daugherty was back on the road and Stillwater-bound Monday.

It won’t be long before he and his Cowboys teammates are taking part in fall ball.

His performance in Farmington lends credence to the belief he’ll be a success at the Division I level.

“We saw a bunch of good arms and faced really good competition,” he said. “I was able to perform at a high level, so I feel confident going to the next chapter.”

He still had time to reflect on the last several months of his life at KHS and just after graduating.

That included winning a basketball state championship, reaching state in baseball, being named the KHS Student of the Year and then earning MVP honors in a world series his team won to cap a perfect season.

“Yeah, it’s been a fun se-nior year,” he said. “That’s for sure.”

Like the Daugherty family, the Webbs made their way back home on Sunday.

By Monday morning, he, too, had little time to rest, but lots of time to reflect.

Among those on his list of “thank you’s” in a Facebook post was “My baseball team.”

With players like Brumbaugh and Carson Benge and Kade Shatwell and Matthew Holzhammer, Webb’s got a lot for which to be thankful.

It’s safe to say Ian Daugherty’s name will be right up there on his list.

“I’m going to try to not get emotional,” he said. “I only had him for roughly 40 games, but he was every coach’s dream.”

Webb went on to echo a lot of Farr’s sentiments.

“I’ve coached some good kids from northwest Oklahoma,” he said. “Ian might be the best overall package back there we’ve ever seen.

“There might be some who were better at hitting or better at throwing or better at receiving behind the plate,” he continued.

“But, as a whole, I don’t know if there was someone any better.”

Webb said on top of being willing to play every inning necessary behind the plate and delivering with his bat, Daugherty impacted the historic Majors in so many other ways during his 2021 stint.

“His smile is contagious and his leadership is next level,” Webb said. “He’s a special, special player, but he’s even more special as a kid.”