By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor – OKLAHOMA CITY – It seems every year during the class 6A State Softball Tournament, you can expect one “major upset.”
That upset came on the final game of the day Thursday and it was Yukon that turned out to be the victim.
Stillwater made a statement on the first batter of the game with a Julia Cottrill solo home run and the Lady Pioneers used three, three-run innings to stun the Millerettes, 10-2, on the stadium field at the USA Hall of Fame.
The Millerettes, 28-4-1, came into the tournament with the second overall best record (Broken Arrow, who lost to Mustang was 29-3) and had rolled past the Lady Pioneers 16-4 during the Central Oklahoma Athletic Conference Tournament.
Yukon had trailed in games before, but never panicked as the Millerette hitting came through with big innings. And, just when it seemed like YHS would have those big innings Thursday night, they just didn’t materialize.
“Hey, it just wasn’t our night,” Millerette head coach Heather Shanahan said. “We had our chances in the game, we just didn’t get the job finished.
“It still stings, however, we had a great season,” she added. “I’m proud of the kids.”
The Millerettes did have chances. YHS loaded the bases in the bottom of the second inning. Ashlynn Bruce and Anna Icenhower both walked and Jayden Flowers laid down a bunt and reached on an error.
Aleyah Holman’s single into shallow right field tied the game and kept the bases loaded with only one out. But, a fly ball to right field ended up in a doubleplay and got the Lady Pioneers out of the inning.
That led the way for the first of three, three-run innings by Stillwater. Taylor Tuck’s two-run home run and a scored on a delayed steal gave the Lady Pioneers a 4-1 lead in the top of the third inning.
The Millerettes loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fourth inning after singles from Holman and Hannah Hurtz and Rylee Uhr being hit by a pitch.
Chyenne Factor was hit by a pitch (she was intentionally walked twice and hit by pitch twice) to send home a run and cut the lead to 4-2. The threat ended there as the next two hitters flew out to end the inning.
Stillwater opened a 6-2 lead on a Taylor Watson two-run scoring single and a bases loaded walk to Cottrill made it 7-2.
The Lady Pioneers made it an eight-run lead in the top of the seventh on an RBI single from Tuck and a two-run scoring single by Kendall Jean off the glove of the third baseman.
Yukon tried to get a rally started when Breley Webb and Ashlynn Bruce singled with one out. But, the threat ended there as Stillwater recorded the next two outs.
Holman had three of the Millerette seven hits and drove in one run.
