Baseball STATE of Mind
3 county teams win OK Kids regionals, qualify for state
KINGFISHER 12U - Members of the Kingfisher Blue Sox who won their OK Kids regional in Cushing last week include, from left: front row, Brady Reese, Kaden Willms, Kyle Meadors, Braylon Swayne; and back row, Coach Chase Farrar, Collin Farrar, Barron Bollenb
KINGFISHER 10U - Members of the Kingfisher Jackets that won their OK Kids 10-under regional tournament last weekend include, from left: front row, Hudson Deterding, Gio Haro, Cooper Myers, Bryson Black, Hunter Voth; middle row, Braydn Lack, Hayes Hardison
OKARCHE 12U – Members of the Okarche Warriors that won their OK Kids regional tournament included, from left: front row, Lane Jacobs, Harrison Mueggenborg, Canon Rother, Cohen Mueggenborg, Sutton Terrell and Jake Kroener; and back row, Coach Kelly Rothe
Jackets, Blue Sox, Warriors carry momentum into state openers
Three Kingfisher County youth baseball teams were state-bound this week after winning their respective regional tournaments last weekend.
Advancing to the OK Kids Baseball state tournaments were the Kingfisher Blue Sox and Okarche Warriors in the 12-under division and the Kingfisher Jackets in the 10-under division.
10U Kingfisher Jackets
The Jackets - comprised of players who are 9 years old and younger - went undefeated in their regional in Weatherford.
They opened last Wednesday with a 21-8 victory over the Canute Trojans and followed it up later that day by edging Weatherford 2-1 to stay in the winner’s bracket.
The Jackets got another one-run victory on Thursday by beating the Arapaho Indians 5-4.
After two days of rainouts, the Jackets defeated the Indians 7-0 on Sunday for the regional championship.
That put Kingfisher into the state bracket this week. State is also being held in Weatherford.
The 16-team tournament has Blue and Red brackets. Kingfisher was placed in the Red bracket along with Purcell, Navajo, Stigler, Cushing, Prague, Chandler and Cordell.
The state tournament is set to run through Saturday.
12U Kingfisher Blue Sox
The Blue Sox were unchallenged as they cruised to their regional crown in Cushing.
Their closest contest was a 13-1 victory over Guthrie 405 Baseball in Friday’s semifinal round.
After Guthrie won an elimination game, the Blue Sox dismantled their foes 20-1 on Saturday to win the regional.
They began the tournament Thursday with a pair of their most dominant wins.
The Blue Sox beat the Covington Cubs 32-2 and the Cushing Tigers 27-1.
The 12-under state tournament is being held in Sallisaw.
Kingfisher is in the Red bracket along with Wynnewood, Alva, Vian, Henryetta, Blanchard, Sallisaw and Okarche.
12U Okarche Warriors
Okarche made its way into the Red bracket by winning the regional held in Weatherford.
Rainouts also pushed back their regional play, but the Warriors got going Saturday with a 9-4 victory over the Weatherford Bulldogs.
They edged the Cheyenne Bears 12-11 that night to remain in the winner’s bracket.
Cheyenne bounced back to earn another shot at Okarche, but suffered a worse fate.
Okarche won the regional title with a 14-4 win on Sunday.
State Tournament Updates
All three teams had successful state tournament openers on Monday.
In Weatherford, the Kingfisher Jackets dismantled the Prague Red Devils 17-1 in the 10-under bracket.
In Sallisaw, Okarche also got a run-rule victory as the Warriors took apart Wynnewood 13-3 in four innings.
The Blue Sox had a tougher time and carried just a 1-0 lead into the final inning against Henryetta Express.
That’s when the Blue Sox erupted for four runs, including a three-run home run by Braydon Livingston, before eventually winning 5-2.