By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
EDMOND – Yukon’s chance to host a regional tournament took a severe blow this first two days of the week.
District 6A-1 leader Edmond North made sure of it.
The Huskies swept the series from the Millers, winning 6-4 Tuesday at North after posting aN 8-4 win on Monday in Yukon.
The Millers, 9-12 overall, slipped to 4-6 in the disrict race and fell to fifth place in the standings, a game behind Edmnd Memoria and Norman North, who are tied for fourth at 5-4. North leads the district at 9-0 and Mustang is second at 8-2.
If Yukon remains in fifth, the Millers would return to Edmond North for the regional tournament.
The Millers will travel to Putnam City North on Monday and host the Panthers on Tuesday in disrrict play. YHS will close the district season with a pair of games against Putnam City West on April 23-24.
Tuesday’s game went much like Monday. Edmond North scored three runs in the first inning and never trailed.
“It was kind of a repeat of yesterday,” Miller head coach Kevin James said. “We scrapped a little bit, swung it a little bit and made a couple of plays. But, we needed to make a couple more.
“We gave up a couple of walks and had a couple mistakes, like a balk,” he said. “But, we got the bases loaded an had an opportunity.
“We gave up too many free bases, you can’t give those guys that many free passes, you can’t do it. Thats 15 two days in a row, you have to pitch ahead because they will take advantage of the mistakes you make.”
The Millers gave up a pair of walks in the bottom of the first and Edmond North did take advantage. Ben Smith’s triple with one out drove in the first two runs of the game. He scored on an error by the shortstop to make it a 3-0 lead.
North’s Ryan Harris’ solo home run in the second inning opened a 4-0 lead.
Yukon did make a run at the Huskies in the fourth inning, led by Rylan Vanlandingham’s two-run home run.
Dalton Debaud had tripled after a Ward double to drive in the first run. Vanlandingham’s home run to left field on a 3-1 pitch cut the lead to 4-3.
North got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth and made it a 6-3 game with a second run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Millers did have chance to take the lead in the top of the seventh inning, loading the bases with two outs. Nollan Koon had walked with one out and Miller reached on an error with two outs.
Jack Pritchard singled in a run to make it 6-4 and after a walk to Dakota Ward, the Millers had the tying run on second and go-ahead on first. But, a called third strike ended the game.
Ward and DeBaud both had two hits in the game to lead the Millers.
“Edmond North has a good club and we played them close,” James said. “But, we have to play better than what we did if we want to win some games.
“We have to take the rest of the season one pitch at a time and not looking ahead to regionals,” he said. “We have to get some stuff figured out. We are on in a situation where we have to get ourselves righted.
“I have seen some things at the plate that have made me feel better. Defensively we are making some plays, but we have to get consistent in all facets of the game. We still have work to day and we will go back tomorrow and try to get some things worked out.”
North 8 Yukon 4
In the first meeting between the teams, North scored three runs in the top of the first and added three more in the fifth to post the 8-4 win.
The Millers trailed Edmond North 6-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning and tried to get a rally going after Pritchard and Ward hit back-to-back one out singles.
Drew Janvrin grounded out to second, but scored a run and the rally ended on a strike out for the third out.
North made it a 8-2 game in the top of the seventh on a one-out RBI single by A Kramer.
Yukon tried to get a rally going after Denver Patterson singled and Chance Shelton reached on an error. Koon singled home a run to make it 8-3 and Pritchard’s two-out single cut the lead to 8-4. But, the rally ended there.
“We played better defense today and out hit them, but we can’t give up walks and let them follow with hits,” James said. “It makes it tough, but we have made our own bed and need to get hooked up and figure some things out.
“Our pitchers need to come out and challenge hitters and hitters need to come out and attack pitchers,” he added. “We were better today in certain areas and we just need to continue to work on getting better for tomorrow and not worry about down the road.”
North had taken their 3-0 lead on a solo home run from
