Gore journeys to Laverne for regional tournament

Gore’s high school baseball team journeys to Laverne for its Class A regional tournament, which begins Thursday.

Laverne is located on the eastern edge of the Oklahoma panhandle and according to MapQuest Laverne is 318 miles and almost five hours from Gore.

The Pirates (19-8 overall) take on No. 9 Shattuck (293) at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in their regional tournament opener. The winner plays the Laverne-Barnsdall winner at 4 p.m. and the losers meet at 6:30 p.m. Laverne (252) is ranked seventh and Barnsdall (23-6) is unranked.

Gore defeated Webbers Falls 14-8 in the Class A district tournament championship game at Gore last Wednesday. The Pirates topped Gans (18-1) and Webbers Falls (10-0) in their first two district games last Monday.

“We played well offensively, Gore head coach Tyler Lewis said. “Pitched well the first day and the second day we kind of lulled a little bit and struggled but found a way to win. That’s what these boys do.

“We struggled a little bit there against Webbers. They’re a good team and they hit the ball really well and made us make plays to have a chance to win it. Dayne Perryman came in in relief for Ben Kirkpatrick and they threw a good game. When there backs are against the wall that group of boys can always find a way to win.

“Ben Kirkpatrick started Wednesday’s game and he threw four and two-thirds innings and Dayne threw the remainder.

“Gunner Dozier hit a home run in the title game. Blane Barnes, Tyler Lane, Jackson Duke and Gunner Dozier were probably my four top offensive guys.”

Preston Tournament

The Pirates recently placed third in the Preston Tournament.

Gore topped Kellyville 8-7 in its tournament opener before losing 16-12 to Preston in a semifinal contest. In the third-place game the Pirates beat Warner 6-3.

“That was probably one of the most competitive tournaments in the area, I would assume,” Lewis said. “There were several ranked teams and I think us and Liberty were the smallest in Class A and then it went all the way up to Kellyville playing in it.

“We played really well against Kellyville, and they’re a good team, and then gave Preston as much as we could. They’re just one of those blue bloods that hit the ball and play defense really, really well.

“Then we showed up on Saturday in the third-place game and played Warner, another good ball club, and did enough to squeak by and get a win there. We were playing some pretty good baseball.”