Marathon day leads KHS to title

Five wins in one day?

No problem. That was the task accomplished last Saturday by the Kingfisher High School softball team.

Kingfisher held off a late Dickson rally to claim a 4-3 victory in the decisive game of the Mia Tapia Tournament at Pauls Valley.

The game was Kingfi sher’s fifth of the day - all victories - after losing in the semifinal round on Friday.

It was a dominant day for the squad as KHS outscored its foes 31-5.

“They showed a ton of grit having to play all of those games in the heat,” said coach Morgan Dutton, whose team improved to 7-1 overall while repeating as the Mia Tapia Tournament champions.

Three KHS pitchers combined to surrender just two earned runs in 22 innings of work during Saturday’s games.

Dickson sat in the driver’s seat without a tournament loss while awaiting the survivor of the consolation bracket.

That was KHS which began the day with a 13-1 win over Western Heights and then eliminated Pauls Valley 3-0.

Those wins set up a rematch with Marlow, which handed Kingfisher a 6-5 loss on Friday.

Kingfisher stormed back in that rematch to win 9-1.

Now in the championship, Kingfisher needed two wins over Dickson to prevail while the Comets needed just one win in two tries.

The first showdown saw KHS win 2-0, setting up the final game.

Freshman Kennedy Stewart grabbed her second win of the day in the championship and junior Kinlee East recorded the final two outs for the save.

A two-run home run gave Kingfisher a 4-0 lead entering the bottom of the fourth inning before the Comets managed their first runs.

They were able to get to Stewart for three runs in the fifth, but East closed the door with the winning run on base. The game was called at the conclusion of the fourth due to the time limit.

“I was proud of how they bounced back and handled Marlow the second time around,” Dutton said. “Dickson was where they showed me the most, though.

“I thought they finished the game well knowing they had the lead and when Dickson started to get on base - and even score - we didn’t panic.”

Stewart gave up three hits and one earned run in her 3 1/3 innings.

On the day, she pitched 8 1/3 innings, gave up five hits, one earned run and struck out six without walking a batter.

Kingfisher got on the board in the third inning when Addison Johnson’s double sent East home.

Then, with two outs in the fourth, Adlee Friesen launched a triple to the wall, but made it 2-0 on a Dickson throwing error that allowed her to score.

Reese Roof followed with a single and then sophomore Kendall Farrar sent an offering over the left field wall, her second homer of the day.

KHS had nine hits in the game. Johnson and Roof delivered two apiece. Roof also scored twice.

East pitched 4 2/3 innings total on the day. She gave up three hits, one unearned run, struck out two and walked one.

Kynlee Brunson, who picked up two wins Saturday, had 9 innings pitched, gave up two hits, one earned run, three walks and struck out eight.

All told, KHS pitchers allowed only 10 hits, struck out 16 and walked four.

“All of our pitchers did well in the circle and our defense was almost perfect all day,” Dutton said.

“Overall, I thought the weekend was a good example of the experience the girls have gained the past couple of seasons and the grit this team has up and down the lineup.”

In the first Dickson showdown, Brunson got her second win of the day as she shut out the Comets 2-0.

She gave up just one hit in five innings.

KHS got a run in each of the first two innings.

Friesen led off the bottom of the first with a single and later scored on a twoout hit by East.

Friesen played a part in the second run as her twoout double in the second brought home Callie Blair, who earlier reached with a single.

Friesen had two of Kingfi sher’s five hits in the game.

( Editor’s note: For information on Kingfisher’s other games on Saturday as well as Friday, see the Kingfisher Times & Free Press Facebook page.)