INOLA, Okla. -- Friday night was Military Night at Inola's Grigg Field as the 4A Longhorns took on Kansas in a nip and tuck affair that featured a touching postgame ceremony which honored local members of the military, both active and otherwise. The Comets defeated the Longhorns 3-2.
After the Comet JV defeated Inola by a 6-3 final, it was time for the varsity squads to take the field. Rangy right hander Garrett Glass got the start for the home team and got the top of the Kansas lineup down in order. In the bottom of the first, Shayne Warren took the hill for the Comets and yielded a one-out walk to the Longhorn shortstop and a two-out single to catcher Mason Stookey before getting out of the frame unscathed. Glass and Warren hooked up in a pitcher's duel for the entire second and third innings. Kansas catcher C.J. Taylor helped to extinguish a minor Inola threat in bottom of the second by gunning down Caleb Bennett attempting to steal 2nd following his leadoff walk.
The Comets drew first blood in the top of the fourth when Logan Blaine got aboard on an error by the first baseman and moved to second on Taylor 's perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. Cleanup man Austin Hunt reached on a walk and Warren gave himself the lead with an RBI single that scored Blaine for the 1-0 edge. Warren moved to third and Hunt scored when the Inola infield misplayed a grounder off of the bat of Casey Armbrister. Tracey Pruitt loaded the bases for Kansas with a two-out walk, but; Glass got out of the inning with no more damage on a controversial called third strike on Blake Hix. In the bottom of the fourth, the Horns got on the scoreboard thanks to a pair of Comet errors. Stookey reached base on the first miscue and came all the way around to score when Nick Araiz laid down a bunt in front of the plate. The Kansas catcher fielded the ball cleanly only to throw it out of his first baseman's reach allowing Stookey's courtesy runner to score easily. The Comet catcher redeemed himself with an outstanding catch of a foul ball against the screen and a putout at the plate on a comebacker to the mound for the first and second outs. Warren got out of the fourth with a groundball to Blaine at short.
Following a scoreless fifth, Armbrister stroked his second hit of the game and moved all the way to third when Tyler Andrews picked up a single. With the speedy Pruitt at the plate, Kansas rolled the dice and sent Armbrister home as the sophomore batsman squared around on a well placed squeeze bunt. The large Kansas contingent was elated as the Inola pitcher charged off the mound, endeavored to scoop up the ball with his glove and left it lying harmlessly on the ground as Armbrister touched the plate. The Kansas jubilation, however; was soon turned to outrage as the umpire declared the batted ball as foul, sending Armbrister back to third. But, in a true case of ironic justice, Armbrister eventually scored the all important insurance run anyway on a subsequent wild pitch. In the bottom of the frame the Longhorns got a lead off single by Araiz who moved all the way to third on Bennett's ensuing hit. Warren struck out the next batter and retired Bennett with a 6-to-4 put out on Jordan Correa's fielder's choice ground ball. And this time it was Inola that rolled the dice. Correa made a late break for 2nd and drew a throw from Taylor . The would be base stealer stopped short of second and got himself in a rundown. With all the attention now focused on Correa, Araiz broke for the plate and scored beneath the tag. But Warren got out of the predicament with another strikeout. Both squads went down in order in the seventh as the Comets racked up their 20th win of the season with a 3-2 final.
Sports on 04/16/2014