The Vian Wolverines baseball team won the Checotah Tournament on Saturday afternoon, beating the Central Tigers 11-9, after defeating the Hulbert Rider 9-5 on Thursday and the host Checotah Wildcats 8-6 in Friday afternoon’s semifinals.
The week started with a 13-10 home loss to the Wilburton Diggers on April 15, followed by an 11-9 home loss to Hartshorne on April 16.
In the championship game win over Central, a two-run seventh inning broke a 9-all tie, thanks to a sacrifice fly by Draighton Fletcher and an RBI double by Michael Polecat.
For the game, Polecat was 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a run scored, Lastyn Taylor was 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and a run scored, Kaden Fulbright was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored, Fletcher hit a grand-slam home run, which came in a seven- run fifth inning, with five RBIs and Garrit Hunt doubled and scored twice for for the Wolverines (18-16).
Taylor (2-3) got the win in relief, going the final 1.1 innings with a strikeout after starting pitcher Gabe Gilbert went the first 5.2 innings with two strikeouts.
In the semifinal victory over Checotah, a three-run fifth inning broke a 5-all tie for the Wolverines.
For the game, Riley Ellis was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, Fulbright was 2-for-4 with a run scored, Cash Collins doubled with an RBI and a run scored, Fletcher and Stryker Fields each doubled with two runs scored and an RBI and Gilbert doubled with a run scored for Vian.
Polecat (4-3) got the win, going the first four innings with seven Ks. Ellis got the save, going the final three innings with six strikeouts. The duo combined on a fourhitter.
In Thursday’s win over Hulbert, the Wolverines broke a scoreless deadlock with a two-run third inning, a threerun fourth inning and a three-run fifth inning for an 8-0 lead.
For the game, Fulbright was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI, Ellis doubled with a run scored, Fields doubled with an RBI and Fletcher tripled with two RBIs and a run scored for Vian.
Fulbright (3-5) got the win, going the first six innings with eight Ks. Fletcher went the final inning.
In the loss to Hartshorne, the Miners had as great as an 8-0 lead by the fifth inning, but the Wolverines tried to mount a rally, even as late as the seventh inning as they scored four runs but fell short.
In defeat, Ellis was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a run batted in, Gilbert was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs, Fletcher was 2-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, Polecat was 2-for-5 with three runs scored, Taylor was 2-for-5 and Collins doubled with three RBIs and two runs scored for Vian.
Gilbert (0-5) took the loss, going the first four innings with four strikeouts. Taylor went the final three innings with three Ks.
In the loss to Wilburton, the Diggers tied the game at 10-all in the fifth inning and won the game with a six-run ninth inning.
In defeat, Collins was 3-for-4 with a double, a triple, three runs batted in and two runs scored, Fletcher was 2-for-5 with a double, three runs scored and an RBI and Taylor was 2-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored for the Wolverines.
Polecat took the loss in relief, going four innings with six strikeouts. Ellis started and went the first four innings with seven Ks. Gilbert got the last three outs, two of which came by strikeout.
The Wolverines were slated to end the regular season with a Monday road game at Panama, then they will begin their postseason by entertaining Mounds in the Class 2A District Tournament in a doubleheader at 1 this afternoon. If both teams split, the winnertake- all district title game will be played on Thursday.
