Pitching ‘small ball’ lift KHS past Tuttle

Kingfisher used a lot of small ball to get itself in great position to win a district baseball championship.

The Jackets employed multiple bunts, squeeze plays and steals Monday night to earn a 7-1 win at Tuttle in a pivotal District 4A-2 matchup.

The victory moved Kingfisher to 7-0 in the district while Tuttle suffered its first district defeat.

KHS has three district games remaining.

It plays Elgin next Monday and Tuesday and then hosts Tuttle on April 22.

The Jackets got their initial run on a double by Will Taylor in the second inning and Taylor later scored when the Tigers threw out Logan Rutledge, who was attempting to steal second base.

The lead ballooned to 5-0 in the fifth inning.

Ian Daugherty’s bunt brought home Tate Taylor, who had a one-out single.

Zach Goodwin, who earlier walked, scored on a wild pitch and Keaton Abercrombie brought home a run with his sacrifice fly.

Tate Taylor’s sacrifice in the sixth made it 6-0 Jackets.

“We struck out 10 times and although we got seven hits, I thought the small ball stuff would put a lot of pressure on their defense,” said Kingfisher coach Stan Blundell, whose team moved to 22-1 overall.

Tuttle also had two errors in the game that benefited the Jackets.

Daugherty was cruising on the mound until the sixth when the Tigers strung together a pair of two-out hits to get their only run.

After Clayton Abercrombie’s double in the top of the seventh made it 7-1, Tuttle got a leadoff double in the bottom half of the frame.

That’s when Blundell pulled Daugherty in favor of Creighton Bugg.

“It was a really hot day and he’d been working really hard for us,” Blundell said. “I didn’t want him to wear down and I thought the change would be good.”

Bugg struck out two batters and got KHS out of any jam to close out the game.

Daugherty gave up just five hits over six innings. He struck out five and walked one.

Bugg didn’t surrender a hit.

Clayton Abercrombie had two of Kingfisher’s seven hits.

Will Taylor scored twice while Tate Taylor scored once. Both had an RBI and a hit apiece.