The Class 2A-II #2 Tushka Tigers (26-6) have clinched their 13th consecutive appearance at the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association Spring Baseball State Tournament.
Tushka will face #9 Walters At 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 15 at Shawnee High School in the first round of the Class 2A-II State Tournament. The winner will play the winner of Colbert/ Oklahoma Union at Shawnee High School in the semifinals on Friday, May 16 at 1:30 p.m.
The Class 2A-II state championship game will be played at Shawnee High School and is scheduled to be played on Saturday, May 17 at 3 p.m.
The Tigers advanced to the state tournament after winning a Class 2A-II Regional Tournament Championship on May 9 with a 9-0 victory over Wilson. In three games at the regional tournament, Tushka held teams scoreless while scoring a combined 40 runs. Originally the tournament was scheduled to be played at Tushka but due to field conditions the tournament was moved to McAlester High School. Tushka scores at the regional tournament - Tushka 21 Wewoka 0; Tushka 10 Fairland 0 and Tushka 9 Wilson 0.
First year Head Coach Landon Carper has used Tushka’s past success as motivation for this year's team. “It has been a motivational tool for myself as well as our kids. We have been talking about our new baseball slogan this year “The Expected Tradition.” Because here at Tushka you’re expected to carry yourself with character, act right, have good grades, play baseball at a high level and win,” Carper said.
Tushka started the season 5-4 and has since gone 21-2. During spring break, the team went to Gulf Shores, Ala., and won against two 6A Oklahoma schools and lost to two Tennessee schools. The Tuesday after spring break, Carper and his team changed the way they played after a 5-4 start to the season, since that day the team hasn’t looked back.
Carper stated that what makes this team a contender at state, is that they care about one another. The team does not care about who gets the hit or gets to pitch, all that matters to this team is winning.
In the first round of the regional tournament against Wewoka, Tushka was walked 12 times and hit by a pitch four times. Shooter Boatright went 3 for 3 at the plate with 3 runs batted in and 2 runs. Tristian Gibson had a team high 4 RBIs and Kason Hull scored a team high 3 runs. Walt Kerr pitched .2 innings while Jaxson Gregory pitched 1.1 innings. Combined the two allowed 1 hit, 2 base on balls and threw 3 strikeouts.
In the winners bracket game vs Fairland, Boright threw a 5 inning no hitter, he allowed 1 base on balls and threw 8 strikeouts. Kerr had 4 RBIs and was one of 4 players with 2 hits (Hull, Braylon Hastings and Gibson). Tushka was walked 7 times and hit by 4 pitches.
In the regional championship vs Wilson, the bats for Tushka didn’t come alive until the fourth inning when they scored 5 of their 9 runs. In the half inning, Hull reached base by taking a ball on a full count. The Tigers then hit two consecutive doubles (Kerr and Boatright). A DJ Alberda single extended the game to 9-0. Pitching for the Tigers were Gibson (4 innings) and Hunter White (1 inning). The pitchers combined to allow 2 hits, 1 base on balls and threw 6 strikeouts.
“Our pitching and defense have been our anchor all season. We play the toughest schedule in the state, and it is starting to show. We have tested them day in and day out,” Carper said. “We will have some of the same routines (for practice). Rather than playing like most teams do we like to throw our guys at one another and get double the work in. We will turn our focus to day 1 against Walters. We won’t look past that day until we accomplish our second goal of the year which is to win day 1 in Shawnee. Our first goal was to get back to the state tournament. Now we have moved to our second goal - win day 1,” he added.
Tushka has 5 seniors on the roster. This past fall, Tushka went to the semi-finals of the fall baseball state tournament.
