Although they've become a familiar sight at the Capitol Classic down through the years, the Woodward Travelers will be going for a big first today.
The Travelers from Oklahoma will try to win their first Classic championship.
Woodward vaulted into contention Saturday night when Beau Sullivan pitched a complete game, and catcher Tanner Dewald socked a two-run homer to cap a four-run fourth inning to knock off the Carson Capitols 5-4 in a two-hour battle that came down to the wire at Carson High School.
The loss knocked Carson (33-5) from the unbeaten ranks in its tournament and left the Capitols and Travelers tied for first-place in the Red Division with 4-1 records. Woodward (34-11 overall this summer) can wrap up the division with a win in its 11 a.m. game this morning against Danville, Calif. If Woodward loses, then the Capitols can advance by winning their 5 p.m. game against Ogden, Utah.
Needless to say, Travelers coach Bob Ward was pleased afterward, but he wasn't dwelling on the win.
"It was a big win, they've got a great ballclub," said Ward, who has now won 1,937 games in 37 seasons as coach of the Travelers. "But we've got to do it again tomorrow, that's the big thing."
Nor was Capitols coach Ron McNutt looking back.
"We've just got to bounce back and take care of business tomorrow," he said.
Defense and pitching was decisive in this one. The Capitols gave up two errors that led to four runs in the fourth. The Travelers played errorless ball behind left-hander Sullivan, who allowed eight hits, struck out eight and retired eight batters on ground balls.
"We knew coming in this was going to be a big game," said Sullivan, who helped Woodward High to the Oklahoma 5A state semifinals as a junior this spring. "They can hit the ball, so I just tried to keep them off balance. And everyone played really good back there."
Woodward broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh. Chris Treat singled to lead off the rally and Jon Bushman, up looking to bunt, drew a walk. Rocky Patten advanced both runners with a sacrifice and might have been safe himself except catcher Rusty Miller hustled out in front of the plate and fired a strike to first to get the out. After Sullivan was given an intentional pass to load the bases, Treat scored the go-ahead run on Greg Lindsey's sacrifice fly to center.
Carson scored twice in the first inning and went up 3-0 when Pete White hit a two-out solo home run to right-center field in the second.
The Travelers came back to take the lead in the top of the fourth, aided by two errors. Two runs scored on White's two-out throwing error, and then Dewald lofted a two-run homer over the left field fence.
"The two boots were big," McNutt said. "If we make one of those plays, they don't get the home run."
The Capitols answered with the tying run in the bottom half of the inning when Pat Reilly was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on White's sacrifice bunt. Next up, Dustin Pedroia waited on a 3-1 curveball and laced a drive off the base of the fence in center field to bring Reilly home.