By Mike Kays

Phoenix Sports Editor

OKLAHOMA CITY — Having been denied a way to break a scoreless deadlock in three innings worth of efforts, Fort Gibson coach Jerry Walker let Ashley Nevitt make the call with runners on first and second with no outs in the fourth.

“He asked me if I wanted to bunt or swing away. I thought about it and told him I preferred to go for the base hit. That’s what you play for and he said OK and at that point, I knew I had to come through for the team,” she said.

With the infield playing in anticipating the bunt, Nevitt slapped a hard shot to the right side that ricocheted off the glove of Cache first baseman Inez Ramirez and into foul territory in right field, allowing both Taylor Mills and Kayla Jones to score. Nevitt then added a run on a passed ball and after a pair of insurance runs in the sixth and some clutch defensive play, the Lady Tigers punched its ticket to tonight’s Class 4A championship game against Tuttle with a 5-1 semifinal victory over the Lady Bulldogs of Cache at ASA Hall of Fame Complex on Friday. The title game is set for 7 p.m. tonight at the facility’s centerpiece, ASA Hall of Fame Stadium.

“A coach knows what his players can do but players know what they’re capable of too,” Walker said. “We’d had a couple of bunts popped in the air that cost us and I knew she was capable of getting the base hit, so I gave her the choice as to what she felt comfortable with. She did and knocked the water out of the ball.”

Fort Gibson left the bases loaded in the first and got a pair of runners picked off in the third before delivering in the fourth, starting with Mills’ double on a shot down the left field line. Jones followed with a bunt single, bringing Nevitt to the plate.

Leading 3-0, FGHS starting pitcher Jessica McClure (11-1) got into some trouble after striking out four of the first six batters she faced in four innings of shutout ball. Evie Mithlo greeted her with a leadoff home run in the fifth on a blast to left into a gusty 30 mph wind. McClure struck out the next batter but then surrendered a single to the top of the order in Mary McKay. That brought Walker for a conference with his infield and a decision to replace McClure with Thursday’s semifinal winner, Hayley Jaynes.

“Jessica gave us four strong innings, but this is where having our deep pitching comes in handy,” Walker said. “I just thought we’d give them a different look.”

Jaynes began by getting Taylor Yackeyonny on strikes, then catcher Allison Cates picked off McKay on a throw to Mikki Stone covering at second to get out of further trouble.

In the sixth, Mills got her second hit of the day on a single to center, driving in Kayla Menie to make it 4-1. With two outs in the inning, Brennan Miller, who also had two hits, hit into a fielder’s choice groundout that scored Mills. Jaynes didn’t allow a hit until giving up back-to-back singles to begin the seventh, but retired the next three in order, two on strikes, to end the game. She was credited with the save.

The win continued a pattern of Lady Tiger dominance against the Lady Bulldogs (34-8). FGHS has beaten Cache in two of the last three basketball state tournaments. It was the first softball meeting between the two schools.

“We haven’t got anything on them,” Walker said. “It was two good teams today and two good programs in both sports. We’ve just been fortunate to win three times.”