Lady Tigers season ends at Districts

September 28, 2012

Guymon’s Lakin WInters applies a tag to Woodward’s Jessica Burkhart who was stealing second base during the first inning of the first game. Guymon’s Kennedy Melton is also in the picture. Staff photo/John Plestina

WOODWARD—A greatly improved Guymon softball team saw the season end with two losses to the Boomers at Districts Thursday.
The Lady Tigers ended the season 15-17 overall after getting off to a poor start in August and later winning eight of 10 straight games earlier this month.
Guymon’s momentum seemed to slow down Monday with losses to Arnett and Woodward, also at Woodward.
This time, they played the the Crystal Beach ball field, a municipal facility in Woodward because there was too much water on the Woodward High School playing field Thursday morning.
The Lady Tigers made the trip to Woodward knowning that two wins over Woodward would be mandatory if they were going to advance to Regionals next week. Anything less would end the season and it did.
Woodward won the first game 10-1 and the second 14-4.
Ashlyn Wadley drove in Guymon’s only run in Game 1 with a single in the second inning that scored Lakin Winters.
Woodward’s Courtney Cook and Kameron Pope and hit over the fence home runs in the first game.
Guymon struck first in the second game when a sacrifice by Monica Padilla scored Wadley in the first inning. The Lady Tigers scored a second run in the second inning when a sacrifice by Carli Purdy scored Jahaira Marquez.
By the third inning, Woodward led 4-2. Shay Henry singled scoring Wadley for the third Guymon run. The Lady Tigers scored once more in the
Woodward’s Haylee Bates hit a three-run home run over the fence.
Wadley hit a long fly ball for a double in the sixth inning driving in Purdy. The extra base hit turned out to be the senior’s last high school at bat.
Wadley signed a letter of intent on Wednesday to play softball at Concordia University Nebraska. The standout four-year Guymon starter missed much of her final season due to an injury sustained during a preseason practice.
Guymon pitcher Macy Pritchard started both games. Shay Henry relieved her in both games. Pritchard struck out two batters in Game 1.
Woodward’s Addison Clark and Baylee Webster shared pitching duties. Clark struck out three Lady Tigers in the first game and six in the second.Webster struck out three batters in the second game.
“We had some highlights. I think we had some positive things that happened in those games,” said Guymon head coach Wesley Bryson.
“Some of our young girls played well. We got to see some of the young girls in the district playoffs and they have never been in that situation before,” he said.
Freshmen and sophomores make up much of the Guymon varsity team, with a few juniors. Monica Padilla and Wadley are the only seniors on the team.
Bryson said something he has said several times before. That is that some of the younger players struggle with the mental aspect of the game.
He then said that the overall record was not bad considering the loss of Wadley for most of the season.
“When Ashlyn went out, we didn’t expect to be 15-17,” Bryson said.
He said it is not likely that Guymon would play longtime Class 4A rival Woodward again.
This is Guymon’s final season playing in Class 4A before moving up to a much tougher Class 5A.