Ada Braves pick up three more victories
Jun. 27—Ada Braves head coach Garrett Lemoms is enjoying the ride.
The local American Legion baseball team notched three more victories over the weekend at the weather-delayed East Central University Showcase held Saturday and Sunday at Ken Turner Field.
The Braves shut out Evo Elite-Hughes 9-0, shut down Evo Elite-Miller 8-1 on Saturday and turned back the Elk City Mudcats Post 181 team 4-2 Sunday evening.
The Post 72 senior quad improved to 13-1-1 on the summer with the trio of victories. Lemons and the Braves will take this week off before hosting their own festival July 7-9 at Ada High School's Cougar Field. Details of that local event will be published when the schedule is finalized.
"This group has been playing some really good baseball here lately," said Lemons, who has recently been named an assistant coach for the Ada Cougar baseball team next year, told The Ada News. "It's been fun to watch these guys go out and compete every weekend. These guys take it seriously and want to win each game we play. As a coach, you can't ask for much more than that."
The Braves pitching staff has been rock solid all season long.
"They've been excellent. Each guy gets on the mound and competes all game long. It takes the pressure off of them when they know how solid our defense is behind them," Lemons said.
The Post 72 hurlers have also been backed by a good offense.
"Offensively we work to get in good hitters counts and are always looking for a good pitch to drive," Lemons said. "Competitive at bats win ball games and each guy steps in the box ready to compete."
Tushka standout Walt Kerr finished with five hits and drove in four runs during the ECU showcase for the Ada squad. Tushka teammate Tagen Simon added four hits, three RBIs and four stolen bases.
Kason Hull, another Post. 72 player from Tushka, also had four hits and Ada High product Elvis Edwards followed with three hits for the Braves.
Jagger Caldwell, an Ada High School pitcher, struck out 10 during six shutout innings against Evo Elite Hughes. Moss High School's Kason Pruitt struck out eight batters in the victory over the Evo Elite-Miller squad and Bryson Tuck of Tushka struck out seven in five innings of work in the victory over the Mudcats.
Ada Braves 4, Elk City 2
Elk City led 2-1 before the Braves pushed across three runs in the top of the fourth inning to surge ahead.
Davin Weller and Cash Wafford led off that frame with back-to-back walks. Weller scored all the way from second after a wild pitch and Wafford later scored on a sacrifice fly by Tagen Simon. Later in the frame, Elvis Edwards delivered a two-out, RBI single that put the Braves on top 4-2.
Simon, Dalton O'Dell, and Weller also had hits for the Post 72 club.
Kasen LeGrand led Elk City, finishing with half of his team's hits. He went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Colt Randall finished 1-for-2 with a double and scored a run for the Post 181 squad.
Ethan Bowen was the losing pitcher for Elk City. He struck out three, walked six and surrendered three earned runs in three innings.
