Sterling notches wins against Navajo, Big Pasture

Tigers rise to No. 11 in Class A baseball rankings

STERLING – Sterling rose to No. 11 in Class A baseball rankings after the Tigers notched run-rule wins over Navajo and Big Pasture last week.

Sterling defeated Navajo 11-1 and swept past Big Pasture 11-3 on Aug. 26. With the wins, Sterling improved its record to 12-4.

“We’ve pitched well all year and we’re starting to hit the ball well and we’ve always played well defensively,” head coach Brett Holmes said.

Sterling started strong against Navajo by scoring four runs in the bottom of the first and adding three more in the second inning. Sterling’s Kayden Wilson started the fireworks in the first inning with a three-run double.

Meanwhile, three doubles in the second inning by Tyler Pierce, Jayden Huitt and Alec Jay helped push across four more runs. Sterling tallied a single run in the third inning and added three insurance runs in the fourth to seal the win.

Huitt started on the mound for the Tigers, hurling three innings while allowing no runs on two hits and striking out two. Huitt’s effectiveness was demonstrated by his pitch-strike count. In the three innings, Huitt threw 50 pitches and 33 were strikes.

Sterling’s win against Big Pasture took a different tone with the game knotted 3-3 heading into the bottom of the fourth inning when the Tigers exploded for five runs. Huitt hit a two-run double to give Sterling a 5-3 lead. The Tigers tallied two more runs after two batters were hit by pitches, a Big Pasture error and an RBI single.

Sterling added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a one-out double, three walks, sacrifice fly and RBI single.

Sterling was scheduled to play Lookeba-Sickles in Thursday’s first round game of the Labor Day Tournament at Weatherford and Hydro. The Lookeba-Sickles Festival scheduled for Aug. 29 was rained out.