By Michael Kinney
Moore may not have been trying to send a message when it went to Tulsa last week, but that may be exactly what they did.
In their first tournament of the slowpitch season, the Lions rolled through the Tulsa Union 3rd annual Softball Tournament. In five games they outscored their opponents 77-6 on their way to the tournament title. That includes a drubbing of Muskogee in the championship game.
"We played real well for as early as it is in the season," MHS coach Robert Wakefield said. "We won the tournament with a run rule of Muskogee of 15-5 in four innings."
Moore started the game by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first and five in the second to go ahead 12-0.
But the Lions' biggest game took place in the semifinals whey they faced defending champions, Jenks. The Trojans had knocked Moore out of the postseason last year and getting the chance to see how they matched up this early in the season was an added bonus.
After trailing early in the contest, Moore stormed back to earn a 12-9 victory over Jenks.
"We fell behind 8 - 4 after four innings, committing three errors which helped them to score the eight runs," Wakefield said. "We scored five runs with two outs getting a bases loaded double off the wall by Brandi Berna scoring three runs. Then we got a double from Hannah Lynch scoring Brandi. I think the confidence we gained with this come from behind win carried over to the championship game against Muskogee."
Moore got strong pitching from Heather Hinkle, who picked up three wins during the tourney. She struck out 13 batters in three games.
It was a combined effort at the plate that allowed MHS to post 77 runs. Led by Alex Milligan, the team pounded out 34 doubles and three homers. It was the first time any team had hit a home run in the tourney's history.
"The team as a whole hit .611 for the tournament, which was unheard of," Wakefield said. "Alex Milligan led the team with 10 hits, followed by Sydney Garcia, Tara Martini, Hannah Coker and Hannah Lynch with nine hits. Masie Cullly and Brandi Berna had eight hits. Raegan Sampson led the team with 12 RBI's."
Moore gets back to work Monday with home games against Newcastle and Wewoka. March 23 they will take on Norman, who MHS beat 28-0 in Tulsa to earn Wakefield his 300th career victory.
Despite its 6-0 record, Wakefield knows his team can play better.
"We just need to work on more consistency from each girl at the plate to swing at good pitches every time at the plate," Wakefield said. "Defensively we can't make mistakes against the good teams and just continue to get better each game as a whole."
