WARR ACRES — Putnam City North produced big innings in both games of a doubleheader sweep of sister school Putnam City West, 14-4 and 9-4, Tuesday (April 8) in 6A-1 action.

The games were played at Putnam City High School after wet weather over the last several days made North and West’s grass fields unplayable. The original schedule had West hosting a single game Monday and North returning the favor Tuesday. The schedule changed to a doubleheader Tuesday on Putnam City’s turf field.

Putnam City North coach Greg Johnson was glad to break the Panthers’ 16-game losing streak, but he wished it had happened on their home field.

“The atmosphere is not as good as what we wanted, but the games turned out to be really good,” Johnson said.

In both wins, the Panthers (3-16, 2-6) had rallies to pull away from West.

“(We had) a couple innings where we get guys on and can finish it off with some timely hits and it helps,” Johnson said.

The wins gave North its first victories since the Panthers opened the season with a win over Ponca City March 1.

“It’s huge for us,” Johnson said. “We’ve lost a bunch of games that we feel like we should have won. I don’t think our record is indicative of where we’re at.

“So, it was very important for us to come out and get a couple of wins and hopefully keep it rolling for the next until the end of the year.”

For West first-year coach Grason Wright, his Patriots’ youth and inexperience showed.

“We have six underclassmen that they have to learn how to deal with adversity,” Wright said of his team, now 4-11 and 2-6 in 6A-1 play. “We have to eventually hopefully get over the hump.”

Wright said while it was tough to put the young players in those situations, eventually it would pay off.

“We’ve competed all year long, and I think we just have to stay the course and stay the grind and just keep playing competitive baseball.”

PUTNAM CITY NORTH 14, PUTNAM CITY WEST 4

North broke a 4-4 tie in the fourth inning with 10 runs in the final two innings for a run-rule win.

Senior Geoffry Schmid was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Schmid’s two-run triple in the fifth highlighted a seven-run inning for North. He also had a double.

Junior Robert Marcy added a 1-for-2 game with two runs scored and an RBI. Marcy also tripled. Fellow junior Quincy Robinson went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and four RBIs. Robinson also had a triple.

Senior Rocco Carattini was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs. Fellow senior Aaron Wall was 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Junior JaQuari Dansby went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Fellow junior Austin Guerrero went 1-for-3 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs.

Senior Atticus Duffy Relf was 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.

In all, North hitters collected five triples in the win.

North junior Gavin Lang pitched a five-inning complete game for the win. Lang allowed seven hits. Of the four runs he allowed, only two were earned. He walked two and struck out seven batters.

For West, senior Nathan Vann went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Sophomore Jarin Hoff also went 2-for-3.

Wright praised Hoff for executing two hit-and-run plays in the doubleheader.

Freshman Cadence Smith, sophomore Aaron De Loera and freshman Malachi Ferguson each had a hit in the loss.

West’s trio on the mound: Smith, Hoff and De Loera struggled but only nine of the 14 runs they allowed were earned due to three West errors. The trio also issued seven walks.

	1	2	3	4	5	R	H	E
Putnam City West (4-10, 2-5)	1	1	0	2	0	4	7	3
Putnam City North (2-16, 1-6)	1	3	0	3	7	14	9	2

PUTNAM CITY NORTH 9, PUTNAM CITY WEST 4

In game two, North broke a 1-1 tie with four runs in the third inning.

With one out, the Panthers walked three straight times and senior Jessie Aaron cleared the bases with a double. Aaron later scored on a West error to make it 5-1.

In the fifth inning, Aaron tripled which scored Robinson, who had walked to extend the lead to 6-1.

The Patriots answered with three runs in the sixth inning off of North reliever Aaron Wall to make it 6-4. The senior walked two batters and hit two others. North also had two errors in the inning.

North got those runs back in the top of the seventh inning. Marcy led off the inning with a triple. Two walks and hit batsmen followed, coupled with an error and a single to put the game away.

Aaron finished 2-for-2 with three runs scored and four runs batted in. Marcy was 1-for-3 with two runs scored.

Carattini went 1-for-3 with an RBI and Dansby was 1-for-4.

Junior Xavier Sarkey earned the win. He allowed three hits and one unearned run. Sarkey didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven. Despite a rocky sixth inning, Wall pitched two innings of relief. He walked four and struck out five batters.

For West, Vann was 1-for-3 with a double and a run scored. De Loera added a 1-for-2 game with a run scored and Ferguson followed with a 1-for-3 performance.

Vann took the loss after six innings of three-hit ball. He allowed six runs and walked eight batters. Van struck out a game-high 11 batters in the loss.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
Putnam City North (3-16, 2-6)	0	1	4	0	1	0	3	9	5	5
Putnam City West (4-11, 2-6)	1	0	0	0	0	3	0	4	3	3

PANTHERS PULL AHEAD IN PC BASEBALL STANDINGS

SCHOOL	PC DISTRICT RECORD
Putnam City North	2-0
Putnam City West	1-2
Putnam City	0-1

With the wins, North won the Putnam City school district baseball title for the regular season. West took the first game between the three Putnam City schools in baseball, beating Putnam City March 4.

Both Putnam City West and Putnam City North are in District 6A-1.

Putnam City is in District 6A-2. The Pirates won’t play Putnam City North in a non-district game this season.

Putnam City and Putnam City West could play each other again as both teams are host sites for the Northwest Optimist Tournament, which begins Thursday (April 10). The Pirates and Patriots could meet in Saturday’s championship game or in either of Saturday’s consolation games.

It’s possible the three schools could meet in the playoffs.

UP NEXT

West is a host site for the Northwest Optimist Tournament. The Patriots open with Piedmont (12-9) Thursday (April 10) at 5 p.m.

The Wildcats fell to Choctaw, 6-5 in nine innings, Tuesday.

Other teams in West’s part of the bracket include Norman North (9-10) and Southmoore (10-10).

North travels to Midwest City for the Bill Tipton Classic hosted by Carl Albert. The Panthers meet the host school Thursday (April 10) at 10 a.m.

The 5A Titans are 15-3 and are coming off a 4-1 win over 5A El Reno Tuesday.