OKLAHOMA CITY — Putnam City West wrapped up 6A-1 play and the regular season with 10-2 and 14-0 wins over U.S. Grant Thursday (April 30).
Patriot coach Grason Wright believes the wins were important, even if they were over an overmatched opponent.
“It’s a big thing for us, especially with only having two seniors on the team, getting the ball rolling a little bit,” Wright said. “I think that was the momentum boost that we needed because if our guys are throwing strikes on the bump and we’re playing defense — our hitters, we can swing it with anybody.”
PUTNAM CITY WEST 10, U.S. GRANT 2
West scored in each inning but one in the six-inning run-rule.
Sophomore Cadence Smith was 2-for-3 with a double and three runs batted in.
Junior Aaron De Loera, sophomore Malachi Ferguson, freshman Riley Axtell and senior Ezequiel Hernandez each had a hit.
Hernandez broke out of 0-for-3 performance with a with a sixth-inning triple to left center field. He later scored on a wild pitch for the run-rule win.
The Patriots had seven stolen bases in the win. West took advantage of six wild pitches by Grant starter Miguel Garcia. The Generals also walked five Patriot batters and committed three errors.
On the mound, Axtell allowed two hits and two unearned runs. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out six.
“He has been phenomenal,” Wright said of Axtell, who improved to 7-1. “He’s honestly been our go-to guy all year. If we need to win, I know if Riley’s on the bump, he gets us the best shot to win.”
Despite the big win, Wright felt his team “came out sluggish.”
“After the game, we had to talk about it because we had seven strikeouts in a game. That shouldn’t happen.”
| U.S. Grant | AB | R | H | BI | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garcia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Lopez | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Williams | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Aguilar | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Young | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Reyes | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||||
| Padilla | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Sandoval | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Geimmusaddle | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TOTALS | 21 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Putnam City West | AB | R | H | BI | |||||
| De Loera | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Ferguson | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Smith | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | |||||
| Hernandez | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Hoyt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Mason | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Jones | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| White | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Axtell | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Blevins | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| TOTALS | 24 | 10 | 6 | 6 | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| U.S. Grant (3-19, 0-13) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Putnam City West (12-16, 3-10) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 1 |
| U.S. GRANT – E: Aguilar, Williams, Young. PUTNAM CITY WEST – 2B: Smith. 3B: Hernandez. HBP: Ferguson, Hoyt. SB: Blevins, Hernandez, Ferguson, Hoyt, De Loera, Smith, Jones. SF: Hoyt. E: Axtell. | |||||||||
| U.S. Grant | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||
| Garcia (L) | 4.00 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 7 | |||
| Aguilar | 1.00 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Putnam City West | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||
| Axtell (W) | 6.00 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | |||
PUTNAM CITY WEST 14, U.S. GRANT 0
Wright’s motivational speech paid dividends in game two.
West came out swinging with seven hits and 14 runs in the first inning. It was 5-0 before the Generals recorded an out.
The Patriots were one batter shy of batting around twice in the first inning, which lasted nearly 40 minutes. Grant helped out with errors, hit batsmen, walks, wild pitches and passed balls.
“We swung the bats well. Cadence (Smith) threw strikes for the most part,” Wright said. “We actually executed like we were supposed to.”
Smith, a sophomore, tossed two innings. He allowed two walks and struck out two.
Smith and freshman Tylor Mason combined for a three-inning no-hitter in the run-rule win.
De Loera was 2-for-3 with two runs scored. Fellow junior Daniel Hoyt added a 2-for-2 day with a double, triple and two runs batted in.
Smith had a hit (a triple) as well as Axtell (a double). Freshman LaCurtis Taylor legged out a triple for his first varsity hit of the season.
“I’ve never seen that kid move that fast,” Wright said with a grin.
Again, West roamed the basepaths freely with five stolen bases.
| U.S. Grant | AB | R | H | BI | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garcia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Lopez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Williams | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Aguilar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Young | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Reyes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Padilla | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Sandoval | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Geimmusaddle | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| TOTALS | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Putnam City West | AB | R | H | BI | ||
| De Loera | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Ferguson | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Smith | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Hernandez | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Hoyt | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Mason | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Jones | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Taylor | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Axtell | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Blevins | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| TOTALS | 13 | 14 | 7 | 10 | ||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | R | H | E | |
| U.S. Grant (3-20, 0-14) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Putnam City West (13-16, 4-10) | 14 | 0 | X | 14 | 7 | 1 |
| U.S. GRANT – E: Sandoval, Young. PUTNAM CITY WEST – 2B: Hoyt, Axtell. 3B: Taylor, Hoyt, Smith. HBP: Taylor, Hernandez, Ferguson, Smith, Axtell. SB: Taylor, De Loera, Mason, Jones. E: Jones. | ||||||
| U.S. Grant | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Williams (L) | 2/3 | 7 | 14 | 11 | 4 | 1 |
| Young | 1 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Putnam City West | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Smith (W) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Mason | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
UP NEXT
Putnam City West (13-16) will head to Yukon next Wednesday (May 6) for the 6A regional playoffs. Also in the region is host Yukon (28-7), Choctaw (22-9) and Northwest Classen (12-18).
Wright believes “anything can happen” in the playoffs despite the tough competition. West is under .500 due to a rough district slate but was 9-6 in non-district games.
“I’m super proud of all boys because they battled adversity all year long, lost a couple of close games with Bethany, but they bounced back and they’ve shown up and played.”
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