By CHUCK LARSEN
Sports Editor
YUKON – Clinton ended Chickasha’s short Red Dirt Tournament run Friday afternoon with an 11-5 win to end their summer season. As in Thursday’s 9-6 first-round loss to McLoud, Mickey Edward’s team just didn’t play well in spurts and made too many mental mistakes.
“We went 25-9 through the season then came out here and laid back-to-back eggs,” a frustrated Edwards said after the game. “That was very disappointing.”
The problems started right out of the blocks.
Clinton batted first and scored twice when starter Chance Thomas walked three hitters and gave up an RBI single and catcher Landon Thomas’ throw to second sailed into center, allowing the second run.
Christian Fincher came on with two on and no one out and got the Chicks out of the jam and they answered in the bottom half with a run on Mike McCrackin’s double and Colin Hightower’s RBI single.
But Clinton scored two more in the second on a pair of doubles by Jake Lee and Chris Faulkner and a wild pitch and the Chicks went in order in the home half.
An inside double play killed a Clinton rally in the third and Chickasha scored again on Hightower’s second RBI single to keep themselves within striking distance at 4-2.
But the wheels started to fall off as the Reds scored three runs in the fourth on three singles and three errors, held the Chicks off again in the home half and scored an insurance run in the fifth on Jarret Richert’s RBI double.
Chickasha finally got something going in the home fifth when Hightower launched a two-run rocket over the fence in left, his second dinger to the same spot in two days.
Chet Nye reached on an error then scored on Fincher’s triple to the left-center field fence but the Chicks couldn’t get Fincher in.
Clinton scored three more runs in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Ben Perez and Lee and a triple by nine-hole Ethan Pool, who scored on an infield groundout for the Reds’ eleventh run.
The Chicks batted with game time expired and left Bear Neito, who singled in a pinch-hit role, stranded.
Fincher took the loss, giving up nine runs on eleven hits, two walks and three hit batsmen. Like Thursday, pitching and some sloppy defense did the Chicks in.
“Any time we scored five or six runs like we did this weekend we should win,” Edwards said.
“We had a good season going 25-9 but we only put up three zeroes (scoreless defensive innings) in thirteen innings the past two days. We had trouble throwing strikes with anything but fastballs and when you get behind in the count and you have to throw the fastball, good teams are going to be able to hit it and that’s just what they did.”
With Red Dirt officially now done, the Chicks will play one more set of exhibition games on July 6 and 7 with Mark Ward’s Elk City-based OK Travelers, last year’s U18 Elite National Champions.
“We’ll take a week off then play their 18- and 16-year old travel teams in a home and home series,” said Edwards, whose younger brother, Dan, plays on the Elite U18 team. (Young Edwards and Verden teammate Dillon Wilson also played on the 66-7 national championship team last year.)
“We’ve played 36 games in five weeks and that will give the kids a chance to get their legs back. Then we’ll see what we can do.”
