MacArthur sophomore Aeron Woodson reaches first base safely by half a step after a successful bunt attempt as Duncan first baseman Derek Bridges fields the throw.
After a tough stretch over the weekend for both MacArthur and Duncan, something had to give.
The district foes left the East/West Showdown in Wilburton with a combined record of 1-7, leaving them desperate for a win with the Class 5A-1 title on the line and the playoffs nearing. It was the Demons, though, who left the ballpark with some regained confidence.
Behind some stellar pitching from Tyler Polk, Duncan handed the Highlanders a 7-0 defeat on Monday to seal the district championship and end the team’s three-game skid.
Demons coach Erik Hughes said though his squad’s performance in Wilburton was a little misleading, he is relieved to get back in the win column.
“We were kind of platooning guys in, and we weren’t playing our normal everyday roster to give guys rest,” Hughes said. “We didn’t expect to get beat all three games, but we knew it was going to be a tough road just because we were facing two of the best on the east side. For the boys to come out and play the way they did today, it’s very, very fulfilling. That’s a great group of kids, and they just kept plugging away, plugging away and plugging away and all of a sudden, we just broke it open. It’s a happy day for us.”
Mac, in the meantime, is still looking for answers.
The Highlanders (23-6) have now dropped four of their past five, all of which came in the past five days. To put Mac’s struggles in perspective, Monday’s loss was its first shutout loss under coach Rodney DeLong, ending the Highlanders’ 65-game streak of scoring at least one run per game.
Before the loss, Mac’s smallest scoring output of DeLong’s tenure came in a 2-1 loss to El Reno on April 9.
The Highlanders had several chances to score against Duncan, but they were unable to get hits when they needed them the most. Mac stranded seven runners, four of which reached beyond first base.
The closest Mac got to reaching home came in the sixth inning when pinch runner Kobe Houseman stole third on a passed ball. The Highlanders already had two outs, though, and Polk struck out Trey Longacre shortly after to erase the scoring threat.
Polk finished with 12 strikeouts, giving up only five hits and four walks in the process.
“We just got beat by another good pitcher,” DeLong said. “(Polk) just dominated us from beginning to end, and we could never adjust and never could catch up to him. Hats off to that kids — he’s tough. And we know he was going to be. We knew it was going to be hard to score runs. We had a couple of chances early with some runners, but we just couldn’t get a hit off him. He just threw it right by us. He threw a good velocity on his fastball. He just beat us.”
Michelle Artzberger was credited with loss on the mound, recording seven strikeouts to four hits through five innings.
Both teams showed little signs of weakness through the first four innings, with neither team able to break through the ongoing pitchers’ duel between Polk and Artzberger.
However, the fifth was a different story.
With the bases loaded, Josh Bumgarner hit a double down the right-field line, driving in two runs to break the deadlock and give the Demons a 2-0 lead. Polk then carried his impressive performance from the mound to the plate, bringing Bumgarner home with a single to left field.
Brad Hoskins relieved Artzberger on the mound in the sixth, but it made little difference.
After Brandon Miller reached first on a fielding error and Hunter Prince blasted a single into left field, Creed Watkins extended Duncan’s advantage even further with a single of his own down the left-field line, bringing the score to 4-0.
The Demons weren’t done there, though, as Watkins returned home after Hoskins hit Connor Thaxton with a pitch with the bases loaded.
Freshman Kolby Henry experienced similar difficulties on the mound for Mac in the seventh, allowing two hits and two runs.
Duncan loaded the bases once again with a pair of singles from Derek Bridges and Tate Wilkins and a Brandon Miller walk before pinch runner Jackson Attaway tacked on yet another run for the Demons on a fielder’s choice.
Wilkins scored the final run of the game on a wild pitch on the next at-bat, bringing the tally to 7-0.
The teams meet again for the second game of the series at 5 p.m. today in Duncan, and DeLong said confidence is the key to his team getting out of its recent funk and earning the split with the Demons.
“You get a hit, you feel confident,” DeLong said. “Then all of a sudden you get another hit, and it just starts to roll for you. Confidence is everything in baseball. If you feel good about yourself and good about your swing, chances are you’re going to hit it pretty good. The guys had so much success early, beat some good people and played a lot of people who weren’t to their level, and now they’re getting challenged — the pitching is getting better and we’re playing better teams.
“Now they’re having to figure out who they are. I don’t think they’re rattled or shaken, we’ve just played four or five really good teams the past four or five games. I think we will regroup, and hopefully we can get on another roll.”