WINGET DRAMA: Doenges Boys rally in first-round thriller to win tourney opener

Who knows where the energy emanates to elevate a baseball team to shake off the doldrums of a lethargic start to a dramatic finale?

Perhaps in the case of Friday’s 3-2 victory against Springfield (Mo.) Kickapoo 17U, the Bartlesville Doenges Ford Indians drew part of their electricity from the bursting hearts of their fans, from the magical aura of their home Bill Doenges Memorial Stadium and the transcendent tradition of the Glen Winget Memorial Tournament.

The other part of their equation of victory seemed summed up in their grit and grind-it-out attitude.

Whatever the push, the Indians opened the 63rd Annual Winget tourney with a triumph thriller as a launching pad into the rest of the weekend.

Kickapoo players, meanwhile, certainly had nothing to kick about.

The Missouri squad finished just a clutch out or two on defense, and a couple of hits on offense, of knocking off the Bartlesville powerhouse.

All-in-all, the scrappy battle seemed to extoll the virtues of what the Winget tourney should be about — two battling teams grappling beyond the border of their physical reservoir, and the limit of their emotion fervor, to make the plays needed to conquer.

Kickapoo clawed to a 2-0 lead in the third inning and maintained it until the fifth frame.

Setting the tenor of the struggle were starting pitchers Alan Covarrubias (Indians) and Peyton Wolfe (Kickapoo).

Wolfe and his defense kept the Indian offense contained for the first four innings.

Kaeden Young ripped a leadoff single in the bottom of the first — but Young would be thrown out stealing and the Indians come away empty.

In bottom of the second, Harrison Clark led off for the Indians by launching a towering fly ball to the left field corner — only to be robbed by outfielder C. Hamme of a double.

Two batters later, Evan McClendon — the hitting star of the game — delivered streaking rainbow to left-center for a double. But, he would be left stranded.

In the bottom of the third the Indians went down one-two-three; Clark reached on an error in the bottom of the fourth but never got past second base.

Meanwhile, Kickapoo had managed to manufacture two hard-fought runs.

Tyrus Shurtz scored the first. He led off the game with a rocket liner to right-center, advanced on a balk to second and on a wild pitch to third and streaked home on Brian Wamsher’s sacrifice fly.

In the top of the second, Clark’s incredible catch in left prevented an extra-base hit by S. Lewellen. Lewellen’s ball carried to height of a cloud’s knee toward the wall, but the wind kept it inside the invisible pillars of the park. Meanwhile, Clark scrambled back toward the warning track, reached up and snagged the ball just before colliding with the cement rampart and bouncing off.

But, Kickapoo came back the next inning to score, with Wamsher driving home Silas McKee to put the

Missouri squad ahead, 2-0.

Finally, in the bottom of the fifth, the Indian offense found its scoring consciousness.

McClendon started off with a stinger to center for a leadoff single.

Karson Lee then drew a walk, prompting the Kickapoo coach to visit his pitcher.

But, after the break, the Indians kept rolling. Cole Hancock snapped off a wormburning single to left to drive home McClendon for Bartlesville’s first run.

Kael Siemers batted next, moving courtesy runner Haden Fiddler (for Lee) and Hancock up on a sacrifice bunt.

Moment later, Young hit into a fielder’s choice to plate Fiddler and tie the game, 2-2.

That’s where the score stood at the end of the fifth.

The Indians scratched out the winning run in the sixth, started when Luke Fox reached base on a dropped strike three.

Three batters later, Jace Thompson crushed a two-out double to bring Fox across the plate to lift the Indians to their first lead, 3-2.

McClenden followed Thompson to the plate and hammered a single to put runners on third and second.

But, Kickapoo escaped further damage when the centerfielder made a sliding catch for the third out.

The outcome then came down to the top of the seventh.

Indians manager John Pannell called on Daniel Barham to try to close out the win and earn the save.

Barham rang up and out and gave up a single, putting the potential tying run on base.

But, Barham — an imposing presence on the mound at all times — bore down like a diamond-tripped drill.

He struck out the next two batters on a total of six pitches — a mixture of location-laser fastballs and gravity-defying curves.

The final batter went down on a swinging strike.

The Indians improved to 19-8-1 on the summer and made a giant stride forward in trying to qualify for the Monday semifinals.

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Kickapoo 9, Braves 4

In Saturday’s mid-afternoon game, the United Linen Braves offered a tremendous effort but didn’t keep up in the latter innings.

Through three innings the score was knotted, 4-4.

Kickapoo squeezed ahead in the bottom of the fourth, 5-4.

But, the Missouri squad tacked on four more insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth and the Braves just didn’t generate the offensive firepower to challenge at the end.

Karson Leach delivered the Braves’ only hit, but the United Linen boys took advantage of seven walks, two hit-by-pitches and two Kickapoo errors to make it tight ball game most the way.

Daygan West and Easton Davis split Braves’ pitching duties for most the game.

Masyn Dryden finished up with 1.2 sparkling innings of relief, not allowing a hit or a run.

On the offensive side, Christian Hernandez, Hunter Shea, Grant Clark and Barrett Merceiz each drove in a Braves’ run.

Shea drew two walks and Leach was hit with a pitch twice.

For Kickapoo, Tyrus Shurtz slammed  a homer and a triple and drove in two runs.

Jalen Brandon also plated two tallies.

Chase Hamms turned in a 5.1 innings of one-hit ball on the bump for Kickapoo.

Kickapoo improved to 1-1 in the tourney while the Braves fell to 0-2.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Reports from Winget baseball tourney on 1st 2 days