Bye week squads fine-tune for playoffs

By Kenton Brooks
Phoenix Sports Writer

October 01, 2008 12:14 am

— FORT GIBSON — Both Fort Gibson and Sequoyah wanted to go into the regional fastpitch softball playoffs Thursday with momentum.
The Lady Indians and Lady Tigers got their bats going in a big way as Sequoyah nipped Fort Gibson 10-9 at the Fort Gibson diamond on Tuesday.
Both teams combined for 28 hits with Fort Gibson getting 15. The Lady Indians, though, jumped out to a 5-0 lead and led by as much as 8-2 before holding off the Lady Tigers.
Sequoyah coach Jeff Turtle was happy with the way his team hit the ball, especially with runners on base.
“This was good for us,” he said. “We may not see that hard of pitching come Thursday,” he said. “We hit the ball well and we hit it on the button a lot.
Sequoyah (32-5) had two run-scoring doubles, including a two-run hit by left fielder Keisha Jones in the five-run first inning.
The Lady Indians, ranked No. 2 in the final Okrankings.com Class 3A poll, built their lead to 8-2 when Haylee Beck singled in Megan Tehee.
“We talk to our hitting to pass their hits on to the next hits because if we do that, we’ll have runners on base,” Turtle said.
But the 4A No. 2 Fort Gibson (25-5) wasn’t about to roll over. They rallied, scoring the last three runs of the game as the Lady Tigers got four straight hits — two doubles and two singles — in the fifth inning of the six-inning game.
Kayla Menie’s singles in Ashley Nevitt, who had doubled to reach base, to cut Sequoyah’s lead to 10-9.
“Both of us hit the ball well and that’s encouraging,” Fort Gibson coach Jerry Walker said. “When pitchers make mistakes, there’s going to be a hit. That’s what happens when you play a good team. I told the girls than when the pitcher isn’t where she wants to be, they’ve got to make it up for it with fielding or at the plate.”
Hayley Jaynes (10-2), the starting pitcher, was the loser and Cortney Glass (31-5) was the winner. Jaynes pitched three complete innings and Glass threw four before being pulled for relief pitchers.
Fort Gibson and Sequoyah play host to regional playoffs later this week. Their opening round games begin at 1:30 p.m. The Lady Tigers play at Sallisaw in the regional that also includes Muldrow and Poteau. Meanwhile, Sequoyah plays Panama in its regional that includes Wilburton and Heavener.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.