OKLAHOMA CITY — Putnam City senior shortstop Tessa Goodner, fresh off being honored from her wrestling achievements, arrived about 12 minutes before the first pitch of the Pirates’ contest with rival Putnam City West Monday (Aug. 31).

Batting third in the lineup, Goodner sent the first pitch she saw over the left field fence and the Pirates went on to a 14-3 win over the Patriots.

Goodner was at the Putnam City Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony across town at Victory Church.

Goodner added a second inning double, was hit by a pitch and belted a 3-run homer to left in the fourth. That ball easily cleared the softball fence and hit the base of the metal wall that separates ballpark from the adjacent parking lot.

“I was hoping to go over it,” Goodner said. “But, we play them on Senior Night and hopefully I could get to do it again on our field.”

It wasn’t lost on her that her big performance came against a rival.

“It’s pretty special. In every sport, you want to be the best. Putnam City pretty much beats them in everything. So, I just want to keep that going,” Goodner said. “It’s just a different feeling, playing against PC schools.”

In all, 3-for-3 day with four runs scored and four runs batted in.

Goodner will likely wrestle in college rather than play softball. She thought it would be the other way around but an injury (along with two state wrestling titles and a runner-up finish) changed her plans.

“I just want to go out and leave everything out in the field and just leave my mark for sure.”

At least for one night, she left her mark on the metal wall beyond the left field fence at Putnam City West.

PIRATES FOCUS INWARD

Putnam City coach Joe Wood knows the rivalry games are a little different.

“You just know every team’s gonna come and do whatever they can to try to win the game.” Wood said. “We just try to focus on being who we are, focus on the things that we focus on, and just kind of let everything else work itself out.”

Original took a 5-0 lead in the first inning with Goodner’s homer, walks and errors.

Senior Alexandra Hatlelid struggled to find the plate at times with nine walks. But in the second inning, she worked out of a bases-loaded jam with two strikeouts.

With one out in the fourth inning, Hatlelid loaded the bases again but two strikeouts in the inning finished off West.

“(Hatlelid) went out there and battled, and he gritted through it,” Wood said of Hatlelid. “She tried to put as many strikes as she could and give us an opportunity to keep the score down.”

She had eight strikeouts for the contest and went 2-for-4 at the plate with a triple.

Sophomore catcher D’Najah Jarrell added a 3-for-4 performance.

The top four batters in the Putnam City lineup drove in eight of the 14 runs.

WEST MISCUES, MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

For West, missed opportunities came back to haunt the Patriots with nine runners left on base. The team also committed six errors.

“We have make the plays that are in front of us,” West assistant coach Dane Molskness said. “If you get ground ball outs, you’ve got to field the ground balls. If you get fly ball outs, you’ve got to field the fly balls.”

Moiskness was filling in for head coach John Harder for the contest.

The Patriots were also hit by pitch four times.

“We’ve got to score more than three runs there,” Moiskness.

West starter Fernanda Najera struck out five in the loss. Najera also had both Patriot hits.

UP NEXT

The Pirates (5-7, 0-7) resume 6A-4 play with a doubleheader against Southmoore (11-6, 4-1) Tuesday (Sept. 1) at 5 p.m.

On Monday, the Sabercats were blown out by 3A Washington, 10-1.

W: Hatlelid. L: Najera.

2B: Goodner, Meza 2. 3B: Hatlelid 2. HR: Goodner 2. HBP: Grigsby, Goodner. SB: Goodner. E: Jarrell.

HBP: Mendoza 2, Echeverria 2. E: Yalecki 2, Mendoza 2, Nevarez, Echeverria.