Cache edges Ike, 6-4, claims Bowman title

It was easy to see the big smile on Cache baseball coach Danny Lee’s face after leading his Bulldogs past Eisenhower by a 6-4 score to claim the title in the 48th Annual Bo Bowman Tournament at Lawton High School and it was for two good reasons.

“I graduated from LHS in 2003 and we never won the Bowman; I think the best we did was finish third,” he said. “The other great thing is that this is a great tournament with a reputation and it was great seeing how our guys played. This is exciting stuff for our guys. We had gone through a little funk there because our district is so competitive.

“But these guys come in here and found a way to get the job done against a good team. I think our bunch really did some growing up in the Bowman. They get a day off and we come back into districts and we just need to build on this effort.”

The two teams saved the best game of the tournament for the finals on a picture-perfect Saturday night before a large crowd.

Eric Shows’ Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first after a walk and hit-by-pitch put a couple runners on base. Eric Amantine got the first run home with a single and pitcher Eric Rodriguez helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly for the second run. But Cache pitcher Colton Rother got a big strikeout to strand two other Ike runner.

The Bulldogs got one run back when Kenyen Hayes got a single, moved up on a sacrifice bunt, took third on a ground out and scored on a passed ball.

Neither team scored in the second but Ike added a solo run in the top of the third on a Rodriguez double that drove in Amantine who reached on a fielder’s choice. And the Eagles added another solo run in the top of the fourth on a Malachi Large walk and a bases-loaded walk. But once again, Rother got a strikeout to end the inning with Ike leaving the bases loaded.

Then came the deciding bottom of the fourth as a hit batter put the first runner on base and Rother helped his own cause with a smash double that scored the first run. Kanden Hance reached base on a throwing error but Ike got a popup for the first out.

But two straight walks then a wild pitch and the ensuing throwing error allowed two more Cache runs to score. Gunner Knees put down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt to drive in the fourth run of the inning and Carter McKeown had a single to bring home the fifth run. Ike got a nice fielding play from shortstop Charlie Trachte who fired a bullet to first to end the fateful inning.

At that point it was 6-4 and that’s when both clubs got down to business, making plays and getting big outs to finish the game without another run being scored.

Rother wound up getting the pitching win for Cache and he came up with two big strikeouts in the top of the fifth with Ike threatening with a runner on base. Rother actually had to get the final strikeout twice after being called for a balk on the first one and then throwing one more pitch to nail down a big out to end that inning.

Rodriguez was good as well for Ike, getting two strikeouts in the bottom, of the fifth with a pair of Cache runners on base.

More of the same came in the sixth as Ike got a runner on base via a walk but Rother got a fly ball and a called third strike to end that inning.

Ike’s Rodriguez was up to the task in the bottom of the sixth getting three straight outs, two on high fly balls to Trachte at short and a fly ball in the outfield to end Cache’s chances in that frame.

By then Rother was locked in, getting the ball and firing strikes. He needed just four pitches to fan the first Eagle in the seventh, he enticed the batter to hit a ground ball to second and he needed just three pitches to get the final out on a strikeout.

“Rother had a great outing for us,” Coach Lee said. “I think he wound up throwing 94 pitches, that was in this game and the earlier game. He made some great pitches when we needed them. Once we got the lead he was really tough because we knew Ike had some kids who can hit the ball.

“This should give our guys a great deal of confidence going forward; I think they did a lot of growing up tonight.”

Rother was also instrumental in the earlier 7-6 victory over Altus in the semifinals. He came on in the bottom of the third after Altus had taken a 6-3 lead and registered three straight stikeouts. He didn’t allow a hit over the final four innings to get that win as well.

Ike earned its ticket to the finals with a 14-8 win over Shawnee. The Eagles scored two runs in the top of the second, went scoreless in the third and fourth but broke the game open with 12 runs before Shawnee’s fourth pitcher of the inning got the final out.

Trachte had a double in that rally while Moore and Rodriguez had singles. But the Wolves walked seven Ike batters and hit three to keep a parade of Eagles on the bases.

Trachte got that pitching win, allowing eight hits and fanning five.

Altus wound up taking home the third-place trophy with a 15-4 victory over Shawnee.