Bixby ends Muskogee's unbeaten run through 6A-3: Muskogee had been unbeaten in District 6A-3 games heading into last Thursday's battle against Bixby, but that came to an end after Bixby emerged from a 10-inning thriller with a 7-5 victory.
At 8-1 in the district, Muskogee (22-4 overall) is still in first place, and Bixby (16-6, 6-3) now sits third while riding a seven-game winning streak.
And while Muskogee crushed Bixby 10-0 earlier in the season, this time it had difficulty dealing with Spartans pitcher Haley Young. Throwing all 10 innings, Young struck out 14 batters, including the last two with two runners on base in the bottom of the 10th to secure the triumph.
"She struck out 14 and that's a lot by any means, but considering Muskogee beat us badly the last time we played them, for her to be able to come out and have that kind of game against a great-hitting team was just phenomenal," Bixby coach Joy Marie Galliart said.
Muskogee coach Keith Coleman came away impressed with Young.
"She's one of the best pitchers in 6A, a great pitcher," Coleman said. "She gives them a chance in almost every game they play, a power pitcher who strikes out a lot of kids. And she dominated us, just dominated us."
Young has now pitched 118 innings, which is the majority of Bixby's season, striking out 153 and walking 30. She owns a 1.80 earned run average and a 15-5 record.
With her team starting to gel, Galliart is excited about Bixby's chances as it faces district foes Union, Jenks and Sand Springs this week.
"We're definitely playing really well right now. I'm just hoping that we can continue to play well the next couple of weeks leading up to the playoffs," Galliart said. "You never know, there's a lot of district games left to be played. But Haley's playing real well, we've got another group of seniors that's playing real well, plus I've been starting three freshmen, so that's exciting, too, to be able to do this with young kids in the mix."
Berryhill getting on a roll: Following three convincing conference 4A victories last week, Berryhill is ranked 16th among Oklahoma 4A schools.
Led offensively by seniors Tori Danielson and Jessica Boone, Berryhill (12-9) defeated No. 12 Cushing 4-2, won at Bristow 11-6 and finished a big week with a dominant 10-0 win over Glenpool last Thursday.
It was a nice bounce-back for the Maidens, who had lost four of five games the week before at the OU tournament.
"We played pretty good defense, the usual kind of stuff when you start to get going on a run," Berryhill coach Todd Henshaw said. "To be honest with you, we're 12-9 but our schedule has been really difficult. The rankings, I don't think it's really indicative of how well we really can be when it comes time for postseason play. We've played some really good schools."
Boone, the Maidens' leadoff hitter who missed the OU tournament with a flu virus, is batting .579 with 13 stolen bases, but it was Danielson that Henshaw singled out as the catalyst to Berryhill's big week. In the three wins, Danielson batted .600, hit two home runs - one of which was a grand slam - and delivered eight RBIs.
Player of the week: To nominate a softball player of the week, please email Barry Lewis at
barry.lewis@tulsaworld.com.
Original Print Headline: Softball Notebook
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Tahlequah's boys cross country team dominated the field at the Collinsville meet last Thursday, with junior Zech Van Fleet winning the 5000-meter event and three other teammates in the top eight.
With just a few weeks left in the regular season, Edison (19-10) is peaking at just the right time.
