NEWCASTLE FASTPITCH IS OFF TO STATE AGAIN
Two triples by Baylee Tate help lead the Newcastle Racers Fastpitch team to the Super Regional Championship and another trip to the State Tournament.
Big wins by Newcastle at the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association Regional Fastpitch Tournament placed the Racers in Super Regionals this week against Cache in a best of three tourney.
The hosting Racers won the finals on Friday, 6-3. The teams split games on Thursday. Newcastle lost the first game, 6-1, but then came back in the second game to win, 5-1.
Cache opened Friday’s finals game scoring two runs, but Kaydence Rogers led off Newcastle hitting a home run over left field.
Cache left two runners on base in the bottom of the second inning, and the Racers allowed two more on base in the third inning, but ended Cache’s at-bat with a double play on a grounder to third base.
In the fourth inning with Cache still leading, 2-1, Newcastle began their momentum change. A Cache base hit provided the opportunity for a force out at second base for the Racers.
Tate led off with the first of her triples. She was brought in on a double by Isabella Hearon. The score tied the game, 2-2. Jordie Brooks then hit a bunt, making it to second base on a Cache error for a double. Then a hit by Alexis Donahue scored both base runners. Newcastle took the lead, 4-2.
Both teams went scoreless in the fifth inning, and Cache was held in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Newcastle, however, started off the bottom of the sixth inning with the second of Tate’s triples. She scored on an Isabella Hearon double. Hearon was then batted in on a single by Lilly Taliaferro.
Cache led off the seventh inning with a home run, making the score, 6-3, but a strikeout, a fly ball to first, and a ground ball to shortstop for the force out at second base concluded the game. The win, with Adella Loman pitching, sends Newcastle to the State Playoffs.
Going into Friday’s game, Newcastle had a 28-7 record, with a 17-3 record in Class 4A. The Racers were Regional Champions beating Ardmore 22-0, and then Bridge Creek twice, 18-0 and 7-6.
The Newcastle Pacer had an early deadline so time and date for the playoffs could not be announced.
