Lady Diamonds lose to state-qualifier Pocola on Senior Night

The Sallisaw Lady Diamonds got their final tune-up for this week’s Class 4A Regional Tournament at Glenpool as they celebrated Senior Night with a home game against the Class 2A State Tournament qualifying Pocola Lady Indians on Senior Night on Tuesday evening at Sallisaw High School’s “Turf of Dreams.”

Things did not go the way of the Black Diamonds as they lost 13-3 in five innings.

Prior to the game, the three seniors, pitcher Delaney Compton, catcher Sydney Weedon and manager Jacy Gomez, were honored.

The game itself could not have started off any better for the Lady Diamonds (616) as for the third time this season, Weedon and teammate Channing Wilson went yard in the same game.

On the first pitch thrown by Pocola starter Kyleigh Combs to start the game, Weedon slammed her seventh home run of the season over the leftfield fence for a 1-0 lead for Sallisaw.

Two batters later, Wilson hit a 1-2 pitch from Combs and practically duplicated Weedon’s feat to the letter as she hit her fourth homer of the season, going over the leftfield fence in almost the exact same spot as Weedon’s blast, to double Sallisaw’s advantage to 2-0 after an inning.

However, the lead was short live as the Lady Indians (27-3), who won their Class 2A Super Regional in a two-game sweep of Morrison on Wednesday afternoon at home, scored six runs in the second inning, four runs in the third inning and three runs in the fourth inning to take a 13-2 lead to put the game into run-rule status.

The Lady Diamonds tried to mount a rally in the fifth inning to keep the game going as Natalie Gonzalez’s one-out, RBI single scored pinch-runner Aubrey Sanders to cut the Sallisaw deficit to 13-3. However, Pocola relief pitcher Ashlyn Barnes, who homered as part of Pocola’s six-run second inning, retired the next two batters to end the game.

In defeat, Weedon hit her seventh homer this fall, Wilson connected on her fourth homer of the season, Gonzalez hit an RBI single and Compton and Babe Carter each singled for Sallisaw’s five hits. Compton (5-10) suffered the loss.