Not quite golden: Oktaha's run ends against No. 1 Silo

By Kenton Brooks
Phoenix Sports Writer

May 12, 2008 11:51 pm

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SHAWNEE — Joyous celebration only two days ago gave way to heartbreak and disappointment for the Oktaha High School baseball team on Monday.
The Tigers’ season came to a crushing conclusion with a 13-2 loss to the Silo Rebels in the Class 2A state championship game at Shawnee High School’s Ed Skelton Field.
The end came when Silo erupted for a 10-run fifth inning and won on the run-rule.
A three-run home run by catcher Trevor Bowen over the right field fence ended the game and the Tigers, ranked No. 2 in the final Okrankings.com poll, had their winning streak snapped at 23 games and end the season at 30-2.
Oktaha advanced to the finals by beating Dale for the first time in the state tournament in the semifinals on Saturday, which happened to be coach Chris Burt’s 40th birthday.
The celebration, however, was not going to last.
“This is a hard one to lose,” Burt said as he walked out of the dugout. “I think the lack of rest by our pitchers (Derek Ellison and Cale Elam) had something to do with it. They’ve never had to pitch this season with such short rest ”
Ellison and Elam pitched back-to-back complete-game victories last Friday and Saturday in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Ellison started Monday’s title game before being relieved by Elam after one batter in the fifth.
Cameron Proctor relieved Elam in the fifth. He struck out the first batter he faced, center fielder Dylan Clymore, for the second out in the inning. With pinch-hitter Nathan Price and second baseman Keach Ballard on base and two outs, Bowen homered.
Yet the Tigers didn’t just suffer from pitching woes. They made five errors, three of them in the fifth inning. All three runs enabled Silo to score.
It’s the second time in the last three years for Oktaha to lose in the title game, also falling to Dale in the 2006 finale.
“All I know is I’m 0-2 in the state championship games,” Ellison, who finished 8-2, said. “This one hurts more because it’s my senior year.”
Meanwhile, Silo, ranked No. 1 in the OKrankings.com poll, finished the school year the way it began —as state champion. The Rebels won their second straight fall state championship by beating Fort Cobb-Broxton in the title game and they end the spring with a 28-3 record.
The game started out well for the Tigers with a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Jon Hayes, Oktaha’s left fielder, doubled to score Brandon Vogt and Elam, who had walked. Hayes, though, was thrown out a third base trying to stretch for a triple.
It would be the only hit and runs that Oktaha would get.
Silo chipped away with a run each in the second through fourth innings. The fourth-inning run came home when a groundout by Damien Mantzke scored Brandon Wells, giving the Rebels their first lead of the game at 3-2.

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