Sallisaw wins regional title, will face Hilldale in Super Regional

The Sallisaw Black Diamonds baseball team is just two wins away from a berth in the Class 4A State Tournament.

The Black Diamonds defeated their county rivals, the Muldrow Bulldogs, 12-2 in four innings to win the Class 4A Regional Tournament on a windy and chilly Thursday night at home to advance to this week’s Super Regional, where they will meet the Hilldale Hornets in Muskogee in a best-of-3 series for the right to advance to next week’s state tournament.

The first two games of the Class 4A Super Regional will begin at 1 this afternoon. If a winner-take-all Game 3 is needed, it likely will be slated for Thursday.

The Bulldogs, who reached the regional final with a come-from-behind 10-5 victory over the Glenpool Warriors — who are coached by former Sallisaw Black Diamond and Carl Albert State College Viking Dylan Thurber — in Thursday afternoon’s regional loser’s-bracket final, end the season at 16-10.

REGIONAL FINAL

SALLISAW 12, MULDROW 2, 4 INN.

After the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Black Diamonds (229) took the lead for good in their half of the frame on a two-run double by Creed Nelson and an RBI single by Braxton Lamb for a 3-2 lead.

The Black Diamonds then started pulling away in the second inning as a two-run triple by Nelson, an RBI fielder’s choice by Lamb and an RBI double by Cole Mayfield produced four runs for a 7-2 advantage after two innings. Parker Pratt’s one-out RBI single in the third inning made it 8-2.

The Black Diamonds got the game into run-rule status in the fourth inning as a two-run single by Cole Stephens, an error and a wild pitch produced four runs for a 12-2 lead, which was stopped as soon as Stephens scored on the wild pitch.

The ’Dogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, thanks to a two-out rally caused by a Sallisaw error that allowed Seminole State College signee Reid Sutton and Colton Pulliam to score, but that was all they could muster as they only had one hit — a one-out single by Gabe Miller in the third inning.

After Muldrow’s two-run first inning, Sallisaw starting pitcher Kase Adams (3-0) struck out six batters, seven all total for the game, and only allowed two baserunners over the final three innings to finish the complete-game victory.

For the game, Nelson was 2-for-3 with a double, a triple, four runs batted in and two runs scored, Lamb was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Stephens was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and two runs scored, Pratt was 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored and Mayfield doubled with an RBI.

Hayden McKinster (1-2) took the season-ending loss for Muldrow, getting two strikeouts in threeplus innings.

LOSER’S-BRACKET FINAL

MULDROW 10, GLENPOOL 5

Down 3-0 after single runs by the Warriors in the first, third and fourth innings, the Bulldogs got right back into the game on one swing of the bat. Will Stratmann’s one-out, two-run home run in the fourth inning cut Muldrow’s deficit to 3-2.

After Glenpool upped its advantage to 4-2 in the fifth inning, the ’Dogs woke up and scored six runs as 12 batters came to the plate. The inning was highlighted by an RBI double by Reid Sutton and an RBI single by Colton Pulliam as the other four runs scored on one Glenpool error, a passed ball and a wild pitch. When the inning ended, Muldrow was up for good at 8-4.

Muldrow scored two insurance runs in the sixth inning on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Jonah Claborn to make it 10-4.

For the game, Pulliam was 2-for-3 with a run batted in and three runs scored, Claborn was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Stratmann hit a two-run homer and scored three runs, Gabe Miller doubled and scored once and Sutton doubled with an RBI and a run scored for Muldrow.

Sutton (5-3) got the win, going 6.2 innings with five strikeouts. Hayden McKinster came in and got the final out to send Muldrow into the regional final.

The games were the last for Muldrow coach Zane Rose, who has accepted a job with Gore Public Schools, pending its board of education’s approval at its May 6 meeting.