Cushing softball reigns supreme as the tigers took the district championship in two straight games from the Mannford purple pirates in action Thursday evening, September 29, at Cushing field.
The first game was a defensive chess match, as both teams challenged the other’s defense with base running gambles and both defenses answered the call with steadfast glamor plays and put outs. Through four innings the score was knotted at zero as both teams weathered the punches and denied any runs from crossing the plate. Then came the Mccoy girls in what may be their last home stand as tiger seniors. Becky lead off the fifth inning with a base on balls, then promptly stole second, moving to third when sister Naomi’s pooched a grounder past the Mannford first baseman. Next up in the Cushing lineup was hard hitting Marci Wiley who drove a ball to shallow left allowing speedster Becky McCoy to race home from third. That one run proved to be the difference in the game as the tiger defense stepped up another notch to thwart the attacking pirates. Mannford left runners on base in each of the last three innings but couldn’t push across a run against Cushing’s stellar defense. Megan Carrier got the win fanning 6 while giving 1walk.
In the second game of the best of three series, Mannford struck first with an unearned run to open the game. After Coach Short’s trip to the mound to settle his troops, the tiger defense turned into a steel curtain led by senior Michelle Hubbard to eliminate any chance of the pirates scoring any additional runs. Cushing chose not to let this game turn into a 1 run affair as they scored 3 in their half of the first inning. Naomi McCoy took a pitch to the shin and was awarded first base, stole second, then waited on Cushing slugger Marci Wiley who then drove a breaking fast ball into the 15 MPH head winds and over left center field fence for a 2 run home run to bring her total to 10 free trips around the bags. Lizzie Kennedy followed with a bloop single to left then scored on Hubbard’s shot to right. The game stayed at 3 to 1 for 4 innings when the tigers managed to put the game out of reach and plated 4 runs in the bottom of the fifth and 2 more runs in the sixth. The Mannford pirates saw their season ended by the tigers, as they went down in order in the sixth and seventh innings all they could do was watch the Cushing tigers celebrate their repeat as district champions with the 9 to 1 win. Again Carrier got the pitching win with 3 whiffs and no walks and a great save by the Cushing defense.
While the pirate’s season ends with the 2 losses, Cushing moves on and awaits the OSSA’s pairings to be announced next week to learn who they match up with and where the playoff road travels.
KUSH Radio Station and website will be your connection for the details on the upcoming regional playoffs.
Congratulations to the Lady Tigers!
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