By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor – EDMOND – Yukon needed a late inning rally to stay unbeaten on the first day of the Antler-Broncho-Eagle Classic in Edmond.
Bre Johnson’s RBI single in the top of the sixth inning broke a 9-9 tie and lifted the Millerettes to a 10-9 win over Edmond Deer Creek in the second game of the tournament at Deer Creek. The Millerettes had rolled past Owasso 10-1 in the opening game play at UCO’s softball field.
The Millerettes, 24-1-1, play Tuttle at 4 p.m. today (Friday) and Mustang at 8 p.m. at Oklahoma Chrisitian in the final day of pool play.
On Saturday, the seventh place teams from each pool will meet at 9 a.m. at UCO. The fifth place teams will meet at 11 a.m. and the third place teams will meet at 1 p.m. for fifth place.
The championship game is set for 3 p.m.
At Oklahoma Christian, the sixth place teams will play at 11 a.m. The fourth place teams play at 1 p.m. and the second place teams will meet for the third place trophy at 1 p.m.
The Millerettes had beaten Deer Creek 6-1 Saturday for third place in the Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference Tournament, but saw the Lady Antlers come out and put eight runs on the board in the first two innings to take an 8-5 lead. The Millerettes did tie the game 8-8 after four innings and took a 9-8 lead in the fifth, only to see Deer Creek come back and tie the game in the bottom half of the frame.
With the time limit over, the tournament rules called for the international tiebreaker. Hannah Hurtz, who made the third out in the fifth inning, was placed on second base. Chyenne Factor singled to put runners on first and third.
Johnson lined a 1-1 pitch to left field to score Hurtz and give the Millerettes the lead. Yukon had a chance to add to their lead, but the next three batters went down in order.
Johnson, who came on in relief in the third inning, walked the first batter to put the potential winning run on base. But, she retired the next three batters in order to secure the win.
The Millerettes had taken a 9-8 lead in the fifth inning, scoring a ground ball. Makenna Johnson had walked and Rylee Uhr singled with one out. Hurtz hit a ground ball to second and the Lady Antlers went for the doubleplay to end the inning. But, Hurtz beat the throw to first and Johnson rounded third and scored.
Deer Creek tied the game on a solo home run in the bottom of the inning.
YHS, trailing 8-6 in the fourth inning, tied the game on back-to-back RBI doubles from Bre Johnson and Ashlynn Bell. Factor had singled with one out and scored on Bre Johnson’s double. Bell then doubled in Johnson.
The Millerettes did take the initial lead in the game on an RBI single from Factor. She drove in Uhr, who had singled to lead off the game.
Deer Creek answered with five runs putting together six hits for a 5-1 lead.
Yukon tied the game 5-5 in the second on an Anna Icenhower RBI single and two Deer Creek errors. But, the Lady Antlers countered with three more in the bottom of the frame to take an 8-5 lead.
Makenna Johnson doubled home a run in the third to cut the lead to 8-6.
Factor had three hits in three trips to the plate and Uhr, Bre Johnson and Aleyah Holman all had two hits.
Yukon 10 Owasso 1
The Millerettes dominated Owasso for the second time in three meetings this season, as Factor drove in four runs to key a 10-1 rout of the Lady Rams.
Owasso had put one of the blemishes on the Millerettes’ record, a 10-10 tie in the Southmoore Festival. The Millerettes have not forgotten it since.
Factor’s walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning spotted the Millerettes to the nine-run lead and the run-rule win.
With the game tied 1-1, Yukon scored four runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth to take control of the game. Hurtz, who had reached on an error, was on base when Factor slugged her second home run of the day.
Factor’s two-run home run (Hurtz had singled) keyed the third inning, giving the Millerettes a 3-1 lead. Icenhower followed with an RBI double and Holman singled in a run to open a 5-1 lead.
Bre Johnson singled home one and Icenhower two in the fourth inning to open an 8-1 lead.
Factor went 2-for-4 in the game with four runs batted in. Hurtz, Bre Johnson and Icenhower also had two hits.
