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  • Verden’s Tyler Mitchell scores as Soper catcher Casey Boling pulls in a high throw to home. Boling’s two-run home run later in the game helped Soper lock down a 5-2 win.

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  • Outgoing Verden baseball coach Roy Edwards talks to his devastated team after they lost to Soper 5-2 in Saturday’s Class A state championship game at Dolese Park. The Hall of Fame coach is retiring after 32 years and 13 state appearances.

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May 11, 2009

Soper beats Verden for Class A state title

Chuck Larsen

DOLESE PARK – It had all the earmarks of one of those classic sports stories except for the ending.

Verden coach Roy Edwards’ final game after 32 years in the third base box should have finished with his Tigers finally winning a Class A state championship Saturday at Dolese Park. In 12 previous appearances, they had made it to the title game three times and had been denied three times. It only seemed fitting this Hall of Fame coach, with over 1,100 career wins, should go out with his biggest.

But this was real life. Soper, from far southeast Oklahoma, was also gunning for their first-ever state championship, and they spoiled the story-book ending with a 5-2 win.

Ironically, they did it with first-year coach Thomas Carpino, a Soper grad and former assistant who took over the program after the fall season.

With everything on the line, both teams threw their aces with one day’s rest and caution to the wind.

Verden struck right out of the blocks. Tyler Mitchell worked a one-out walk from Cody Linn in the top of the first inning and scored on Wade Crowder’s single, but the Bears answered in the bottom of the second with three runs.

Jarrod Self singled sharply up the middle with one out then the Tigers’ Dan Edwards walked three batters in a row to force Self in to tie the game. Cade Scott scored on a wild pitch to give Soper the lead and Verden had to trade an out for a run on Hunter Burns’ grounder to the right side before they got out of it down 3-1.

The Bears extended in the third on catcher Casey Boling’s two-run home run to deep left-center then almost blew the thing open. Zane Nelm followed Boling slicing a double to deep right and Self beat out a sacrifice bunt to put runners on the corners with no one out.

But Edwards answered, striking out Waylon Tucker and Scott swinging and getting Zach Gentry on a fly ball to right, and he kept the Bears off the board the rest of the way.

But Verden was never able to get anything else going with the bats. An inside double-play ended the second, they left two on in the third, went in order in the fourth and left one on in the fifth.

Another double-play killed what could have put them right back in it in the sixth. Edwards legged out a ground ball to deep short, Crowder walked and Ryan Rennels singled to left to load the bases with no one out.

But Soper got a huge break when Colton Henrick’s hard grounder to third turned into a double play, with Chance Rabon getting the force unassisted and gunning Henricks at first. Edwards scored from third but James Boyer flied out to center to strand Rennels at second.

Steve Carpenter reached on an infield error with two out in the seventh to keep the hopes alive but Tyler Mitchell’s come-backer to Linn ended the game and started the Bear dogpile on the mound.

The Verden kids, who gave their coach everything they had to try to send him out with a state title, were devastated. The story ended all wrong.

“They went out there trying to make sure that they didn’t make any mistakes – and that always creates mistakes,” the coach said later.

“Even Daniel. I’ve never in my life seen him walk three people in a row.

“Once we got them fired up and they decided to be aggressive and just take it to them we played well,” he continued, “but they already had put too many runs across by then.

“Again, we tried not to make mistakes instead of just going out there and try to win a ball game. That was the big difference, but they’re great kids and they did a great job. I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.”

Verden closes out the Edwards era at 29-5.

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