Thomas pitches 3-hitter, gets walk-off hit as Owls hit State

Grady Thomas pitched a 3-hit shutout, started two big double plays and made another alert play for a big out in the top of the sixth inning to lead Elgin to a 10-0 run-rule victory over Guthrie in the title game of a 5A Regional that wrapped up Saturday at Eisenhower High School.

If that wasn’t enough, Thomas also dropped a perfectly-placed bloop single down the right-field foul line to drive in the 10th run and earn the walk-off win that sent the Owls into the 5A State Tournament which begins Thursday. The site, time and opponent will be announced today or Monday by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. Elgin coach Levi Garrett said his club will be playing in the Oklahoma City area but beyond that he’s waiting for a phone call to fill in the rest of the information.

Thomas wasn’t overpowering the Bluejays but he kept them off-balance and mixed his pitches well as he shut down the Bluejays who beat the Owls by the same 10-0 score on Thursday.

“Grady just throws a ton of strikes and today his curve ball was really working,” Coach Garrett said. “He also can feature his changeup but for the most part today he was going with his fastball and curve. When his curve is working like it was today he’s tough to hit.”

And while his pitching and the game-ending hit will be what most fans will remember from the game, Garrett was quick to praise his defensive plays.

“You are right; those defensive plays he made were big,” Garrett said. “He fields both of those hard-hit ground balls back at him and makes good throws to start two big double plays for us in the fourth and fifth. Plus in the sixth he sees nobody is covering third and he runs over there, takes the throw and tags the guy out. If he doesn’t make that play they would have had runners at the corners with one out. Those are the type of play that win games.”

The Owls appeared on the edge of being eliminated at Thursday’s loss to the Bluejays but they came up with two wins, including the win over Guthrie Friday evening to force Saturday’s “if” game.

“We never panicked after Thursday’s loss,” Garrett said. “We went back to the drawing board and told the guys to just make the plays they normally make and not try to do someone else’s job. I have a good group of assistants and we made a few moves on the lineup. I know some coaches would never make a change during the playoffs but I trust these guys and we put our heads together and came up with a few minor things we needed to change and that took some of the pressure off the players.”

Garrett gave Eric Garza, Joe Thomas, Aaron Carter and Jacob Dawson credit for helping the team get back on track to earn another trip to state.

Elgin scored two runs in the bottom of the first that relieved some of the pressure that had built up in Thursday’s loss. James Vanderpool got those two RBI with a rope down the line in left. Nate Gonzalez opened the second with a double and scored on a Mason Thornton ground ball fielder’s choice as the lead grew to 4-0.

Vanderpool and Lucas Young laced back-to-back singles with one out in the fifth and Tres Lorah ripped a single that got one run home and a throwing error from the outfield allowed the sixth run to score.

The Owls ended the game in the sixth after a Kason Meyer single, a dropped ball in the outfield and a Ritson Meyer single loaded the bases. Vanderpool was hit-by-pitch where he got an RBI, then Young and Thomas followed with singles when they hit fly balls that the Bluejays couldn’t chase down, ending the game early.

Garrett also thanked the Eisenhower baseball program for a big assist.

“Coach (Eric) Shows and the Eisenhower baseball program allowed us to use their field and complete this regional and we can’t thank them enough,” Garrett said. “And our athletic director Damon Hitt worked to help make sure everything fell into place and we were able to finish.”