Steers drop home opener

The Chicks came into the game ranked third in Oklahoma’s 5A classification and lived up to the hype, outslugging the Steers for an 11-8 victory at Steer Park.

“This is a great hitting team,” Steers Head Coach Burt Otto said. “We didn’t make any mistakes in the field that helped them out. All of their runs were earned. We had to slug with them and they outperformed us there.”

The Steers drew first blood in the bottom of the first after leadoff batter Martin Yanez drew a walk, move to second on a single by Kaegan Hunt, stole third and then scored on a double-play ball hit by Nathan Doporto for a 1-0 lead.

However, after getting runners in scoring position in the first two innings, the Chicks finally started pushing them across the plate in the third as they caught up with Big Spring starting pitcher Matt Ritchey. Chickasha drew two walks and hadthree hits, scoring four runs and taking a 4-1 lead.

Big Spring responded in the top of the fourth, showing patience at the plate as Chickasha’s left-handed pitcher Kennedy Wynn walked four batters in the inning and had to be relieved by Chance Sneed.

However, the damage was already done, despite Big Spring registering only one hit in the frame. Wynn walked home two batters, another scored on an error and a Yanez fielder’s choice scored John Benavides, giving Big Spring the 5-4 advantage as the Steers batted around.

Unfortunately for Big Spring, Chickasha still had Ritchey figured out. The Chicks answered immediately, batting around in the fifth. Ritchey surrendered six runs on five hits and two walks as Chickasha regained the lead, 10-5. The Chicks added an 11th run in the top of the seventh when first baseman Billy Hartas knocked in his third RBI of the afternoon.

Big Spring loaded the bases with one out in the final inning and Benavides knocked in Hunt with a two-out single to left field. With the bases still juiced, Jeremy Solis picked up his second hit of the game, ripping a base hit down the third base line that scored Doporto and courtesy runner Colby Landis. However, the rally ended there and Chickasha walked away with the 11-8 win.

Ritchey was relieved by Benavides in the fifth, giving up 10 runs — all earned — on 11 hits and six walks while striking out four in the loss. Benavides finished the game, recording the final seven outs. He allowed one earned run on three hits with one strikeout.

Sneed picked up the victory, lasting 2-2/3 innins and surrendering no runs on one hit and a walk with five Ks. Wynn gave up five runs — three earned — on two hits, four walks and a hit batter while striking out five. Tyler Lee recorded two outs in the seventh and gave up all three earned runs the Steers scored before Braden Cook took the mound to record the final out of the game.

Solis led the Steers at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Landis scored two runs as a courtesy runner for Ritchey.

The Chicks and Steers retake the field at Steer Park today at 1 p.m. Wednesday’s game wasn’t on the schedule until Tuesday afternoon after both teams saw its games cancelled Tuesday due to rain.