Shockers Gray of Harrah prepares to field a throw at first base as Burkburnett Blacksox batter Garrett Mooney approaches. Despite two losses to open the Jim Walton Tournament, the Gray team is confident it can rebound in Day 2 and claim a victory of two.
The Jim Walton Tournament kicked off on Thursday at MacArthur and Cameron University’s McCord Field, and though the Southwest Shockers experienced much success during opening day, one of the three squads wasn’t as fortunate.
The Shockers Gray team, consisting of area players who are incoming high school seniors, juniors and sophomores, experienced some difficulty in its first two games of pool play, falling to Shockers Black, 10-2, and the Burkburnett Blacksox, 17-5.
Gray is the youngest of the three teams and initially wasn’t slated to participate in the tournament until another team dropped out. Wanting to get the young lineup some practice before playing teams in its age bracket later this summer, Shockers president Perry Warren registered the team.
Owen Smith, a Shockers Red assistant coach who managed the Gray team on Thursday, said he thought the team played well given the circumstances.
“I mean, they’re playing kids three years older than them,” Smith said. “That’s a big difficulty, and they overcame a lot of adversity in that aspect. Definitely still have a lot of work to do with it being the first couple of weeks, but by the end of the summer, they’re going to be pretty good.
“Once they start playing with their age group, they’re going to start blowing kids out of the water. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re beating some of our older teams, too.”
Smith’s prognostication might not be that farfetched. After all, Shockers Gray led Shockers Black for four innings before a slew of errors derailed the upset bid.
Black rallied off most of its runs late in the contest to take the win in five innings. In a game last Saturday at USAO in Chickasha, those same teams battled to an 11-11 tie.
Even so, Gray has struggled to find its groove during this young season
Those struggles were evident against the Blacksox.
Gray pitcher Colby Flood of MacArthur couldn’t seem to find a rhythm on the mound, and the Texas squad wasted little time tallying runs, garnering a 5-0 lead in the first inning.
Unfortunately for Flood, that was only the beginning.
The incoming sophomore gave up seven hits, six walks and eight runs with no strikeouts in three innings on the mound. Three of those hits were doubles.
Cole Shultz earned the win for the Blacksox, recording three strikeouts while allowing six hits in four innings of action.
The Shockers found themselves in a 7-0 hole heading to the bottom of the second, but they still had some fight in them.
Fort Cobb-Broxton’s Brennan Phy led off with a single, and Bradon Jones of Geronimo followed that up by reaching first on a fielder’s choice.
A passed ball on the next at-bat allowed both runners to advance even closer to scoring position, and Marlow’s Peyton Ladon brought them home shortly after with a triple to left field.
That play trimmed the score to 7-2, but Burkburnett wasn’t done tacking on runs just yet.
The Blacksox recorded six more runs on only two hits through the third and fourth innings to push the advantage back to 13-2. One of those runs came from Big Pasture’s Jayce Clem, who scored on a passed ball in the fourth.
Clem, who also participated in the All-Area Baseball Classic at Cameron on May 21, reached base in three different ways — a double, a fielder’s choice and a walk. His other trip to the plate wasn’t a failed endeavor, for he drove in Garrett Mooney with an RBI groundout in the second.
Clem also scored four runs in Burkburnett’s victory.
Alex Young of Eisenhower also had a successful showing for the Blacksox, stealing third base on a passed ball before scoring on a sacrifice fly from AJ Burney in the first inning.
Shultz began showing signs of fatigue on the mound in the bottom of the fourth, and Gray responded to the Blacksox’s six-run spurt with three runs of its own.
Shultz allowed a single and two walks to load the bases for the Shockers, and Ladon made him pay for it with an RBI double, scoring Kyler Williams and Jones. Flood scored shortly after thanks to an error, bringing the tally to 13-5.
Ladon finished 2-for-2 from the plate with 4 RBIs.
“Peyton played really well,” Smith said. “I’m pretty happy with his performance today. He hit the ball pretty good and fielded the ball really well. I think he’s going to be a great captain for this team in the next couple of weeks.”
Burkburnett brought four more runs across in the fifth, though, thanks to three hits — two doubles and a single — and a passed ball.
After the two losses on Thursday, Gray sports a record of 2-4-1. It returns to action today at 9 a.m. against Woodward 17U and 11:30 a.m. against the OKC Expos. Both games will be held at CU’s McCord Field.
The Expos handed Gray a 10-2 loss last Sunday.
Just like the Red Shockers, the Black Shockers are 2-0 after day one of the tournament. The Black Shockers held off the OKC Expos, 12-9, after defeating their counterparts in Gray.
Black plays Woodward at 2 p.m. today before meeting Blacksox18 at 7 p.m. at McCord Field.