Fletcher teams advance in OK Kids 10U Regional

FLETCHER—Often in 10U baseball you don’t see many deep balls hit, but when Fletcher White centerfielder Curtis Wilson saw a two-out blast headed his way he moved a few steps and calmly made a big catch preserve a wild 10-9 victory over the Elgin Rubber Ducks Thursday in the OK Kids Regional to advance to the winner’s bracket finals.

The Fletcher White crew exploded for six runs in the top of the first and while Elgin made things interesting in the bottom of the third it wasn’t enough as Wilson ‘s catch ended the game on the time limit.

After that winner’s bracket contest, top-seeded Fletcher Gold and Tri-City Bombers from Newcastle, locked horns in another good game with both teams scratching out a run in the first inning. Neither team could get anything across in the second inning but the Gold crew used a two-out walk from Maddox Maahs who quickly stole second and third and stunned the Bombers by getting a big jump and stealing home for a 2-1 lead.

Cael Bricker also reached on a walk and he quickly stole second and scored the final Gold run on an RBI single from Kyler McCracken that arranged the final 3-1 score to send Gold into Friday’s 3:30 p.m. winner’s bracket finals.

For much of Thursday’s five-game schedule, pitching efficiency was on the mind of all the coaches. OK Kids uses the same Federation pitching rules used by the OSSAA, where pitchers can throw 35 or less pitches and still be eligible to throw the following day.

Gold Coach Hayden Herrin said at this level it’s all about pitching.

“We just need our guys to go throw strikes; that’s the key,” he said. “That’s the advantage of having several kids who are able to go out there and throw strikes and not walk batters.”

Thursday evening he started with McCracken who pitched the first two innings, then after grabbing the lead he brought in son Zeke who fanned six in his two-inning stint as the Bombers couldn’t get hardly any contact off the hard-throwing righthander.

“Zeke has been in the 60s with his velo, which is pretty good at this level,” the coach said. “All three of the kids who threw tonight can bring it pretty well. Now we still have Cael (Bricker) ready to throw tomorrow.”

Landon Avila capped off the game on the bump for the Gold crew, getting the first batter to bounce back to the mound, getting a strikeout and enticing the final Bomber to ground out to second to end the game on the time limit.

The day started with the Bombers and Fletcher White beating Hollis and Altus, respectively. Last night’s late game was an elimination game featuring the Ducks and Hollis. The battle of Fletcher teams in the winner’s bracket finals will be surrounded by three loser’s bracket games that will send a challenger to the winner of the battle of Fletcher teams.

The Fletcher teams have played in league and in the district tournament and Herrin was glad to see the other local team advance.

“How about Curtis Wilson making that huge catch out there?” Herrin said. “They got those early runs and that catch saved it for them.”