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Did he or didn’t he?

Instead of immediately celebrating history last Friday, some members of the Kingfisher baseball program were busy answering the hottest question of the afternoon.

“Did Tate Taylor touch third base when he scored from second on Cole Cross-white’s sacrifice?”

The simple answer?

“I did,” Taylor vowed afterward. “I just got a really good lead and jump on the play.”

The play in question was the decisive one as Kingfisher scored not one, but two runs on a sacrifice bunt en route to a 5-3 victory over Verdigris in the Class 4A state baseball quarterfinal at Edmond North High School.

The win was Kingfisher’s first-ever in a baseball state tournament.

The Yellowjackets advanced to play Blanchard in the semifinals, though that game hasn’t yet happened at press time of this edition.

The tournament was originally scheduled to be played last Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Rain delayed the games a day and moved them from their original site, Edmond Santa Fe.

Rains also postponed the conclusion of the fourth quarterfinal game between Poteau and Newcastle.

The OSSAA then moved the conclusion of that game, plus both semifinals, to Saturday.

Rains again wrecked those plans.

Due to Blanchard’s scheduled graduation Monday night, the last quarterfinal and both semifinals were pushed all the way to Tuesday...and back to Edmond Santa Fe.

Should KHS defeat Blanchard, it would play for the state title at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the University of Oklahoma’s L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Kingfisher found itself tied 3-3 with Verdigris after the Cardinals scratched a run in the top of the sixth inning.

But the tie didn’t last long.

Kingfisher’s Cade Stephenson dropped a single in shallow centerfield between a trio of converging Cardinals to start the bottom of the sixth.

Tate Taylor walked and Zach Goodwin came up with his third hit of the game to load the bases for Crosswhite, who pushed his bunt between the mound and first base.

Stephenson crossed home first and was followed closely by Taylor as Verdigris pitcher Austin Woods fielded the ball and threw out Crosswhite.

Verdigris challenged Taylor’s run, suggesting he didn’t touch third base.

“We’ve done that a few times this season,” said Kingfisher coach Stan Blundell.

“Their shortstop was playing way up and it gave Tate the chance to get a huge lead. Then he just read what their pitcher did once he got the ball.”

Taylor’s heads-up running gave pitcher Ian Daugherty some cushion going into the final frame.

But it was Daugherty’s pitch count - not just the score - that had Blundell worried.

Daugherty entered the seventh inning having already thrown 103 pitches.

The OSSAA has instituted a 120-pitch limit. Once that threshold is hit, the pitcher can finish the at-bat, but must be removed.

Two outs, a walk and an error later and Daugherty was at 118 as Tyler Haddock stepped up to the plate representing the go-ahead run.

However, four pitches in, Daugherty forced a grounder to Crosswhite at second, who flipped to Taylor for the force out and the win.

“Ian just did what he does, which is compete,” Blundell said. “He wasn’t the sharpest he’s been all year, but he just competes and gets the job done.”

Daugherty allowed only four hits and struck out seven, but also walked a season-high seven batters and hit another.

Verdigris struck first in the third when it took advantage of an infield single and two walks.

Woods’ single gave Verdigris a 1-0 lead and then Brent Olson dropped a bases-loaded bunt that stayed fair for a 2-0 advantage.

The Yellowjackets tied the game in the bottom of the third after Goodwin got his second hit of the contest, an RBI single to score Taylor, and later scored on a passed ball.

Both of those runs came off Jackson Thies.

Colton Anderson started the game and delivered two innings of one-hit ball for Verdigris.

Thies gave up two runs and two hits in the third.

Woods finished the game with three innings of work. He surrendered four hits and three earned runs. Combined, the trio struck out three and walked five.

Kingfisher got its first lead in the fifth when Cross-white legged out an infield single, stole second and crossed home on Daugherty’s RBI single.

Kingfisher stole nine bases.

Each of the Jackets’ first four runs was preceded by a steal.

“We were told we’d be able to run on them,” Blundell said. “But it turned out to be easier than we thought.”

Verdigris used its own version of small ball to tie the game in the sixth.

After Tyler Haddock drew a leadoff walk, he advanced to third on first baseman Will Taylor’s throwing error after a Jaren Keith bunt.

The Cardinals offered up two more sacrifice bunts in the inning, but Haddock didn’t score until the second one, which came off the bat of Toby Willis.

Once Kingfisher loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, it set the stage for Crosswhite.

The situation didn’t work out well for him in the first.

Goodwin led off the frame with a single and Crosswhite popped up the first pitch he saw attempting to bunt him over.

This time, however, he got the job done despite Verdigris’s best efforts to prevent it.

“We had a pitchout called, but didn’t get it,” longtime Verdigris coach Brian Keith said.

“He got it out; he just didn’t get it up,” Blundell noted.

Once Crosswhite did his job, the legs of Stephenson and Taylor did the rest.

“It was the little things,” Keith said, when discussing the difference in the game. “We didn’t execute them at times. Those little things were the difference.”

Making its 10th consecutive appearance at state, Verdigris saw its season end at 31-5.

Olson had two of his team’s hits.

Kingfisher, in just its third state trip, improved to 33-7.

Goodwin led the seven-hit offense with a 3-for-4 showing. He scored once and drove in a run.

Crosswhite, Daugherty, Stephenson and Clayton Abercrombie had one hit apiece.