No. 1 Dale drops Latta in 4A State semifinals
May 2—OKLAHOMA CITY — The Latta Lady Panthers picked a bad time to have a bad inning.
No. 1 Dale took advantage of five walks and two errors during an eight-run outburst in the bottom of the second inning and went on to defeat eighth-ranked Latta 15-5 in a semifinal contest Tuesday evening at the Class 4A State Tournament inside Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City.
The Lady Pirates were upset by fourth-ranked Silo 14-4 in the finals and finished the season with a 33-9 record. Dale was looking for its first state slow-pitch title since 2021.
Coach Jeremy Bate's squad, which upset No. 5 Preston 8-4 in a first-round matchup, ended up 21-14 this spring.
Dale 15, Latta 5
After the disastrous second inning, Latta trailed 11-1 but climbed back into the contest with a four-run volley in the top of the fourth inning.
Rylee Jones led off with a walk as Kate Williams and Jayse Smith followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Jones scored on a sacrifice fly from Jaycie Prine, trimming the LHS deficit to 11-2.
Talise Parnell followed by slugging her 20th home run of the season. The three-run shot made it 11-5.
After the Lady Panthers stranded a pair of base runners in the top of the fifth inning, Dale used a three-run homer from Teague Muncy in the bottom of the inning to push the DHS lead to 14-5.
Dale scored the game-ending run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Daley Lang raced home from second after a base hit to shallow left-center field off the bat of Kinsley Hill. LHS center fielder Savannah Senkel looked like she was going to throw Lang out at the plate, but the ball got away from catcher Jaycie Prine.
Latta had already prevented the run rule when right fielder Audrey Forshay threw a laser to Prine, who tagged out Reese Herring attempting to score after a base hit by Lang.
The Lady Panthers collected 12 hits in the contest but ended up stranding 10 base runners.
Prine, Senkel, Kymber Davis and Kate Williams all ended with two hits apiece to pace Latta at the plate. Prine went 2-for-3 with an RBI; Senkel went 2-for-4; Davis finished 2-for-3; and Williams finished 2-for-3 and scored a run.
Parnell ended up 1-for-3 with a walk, three RBIs and two runs scored and Smith finished 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored.
Hill led a 17-hit Dale barrage, going 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. K Patten finished 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored and Karson Griggs went 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored.
Kinley Patten finished 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored and H Herring went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI and a run scored for the Lady Pirates.
Latta 8, Preston 4
Latta did it with defense. Freshman shortstop Jayse Smith made several nice defensive plays on the infield that included a diving snag and a couple of strong throws to first base. She completed two 4-6-3 double plays on tough tosses to first.
First baseman Kate Williams also hustled toward the fence in front of the dugout and made a nice catch and second baseman Kymber Davis made a nifty throw to first after running down a ball that was hit to her left.
The game was tied at 1-1 before Latta steadily began pulling away. The Lady Panthers scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings and tacked on three runs in the top of the seventh inning.
Preston made things semi-interesting after scoring three runs in the bottom of the seventh frame before Latta was able to close the door on the PHS comeback bid.
Latta ended up with nine total hits, led by Jaycie Prince and Davis who had two hits apiece. Davis finished 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs and Prine smashed a pair of doubles.
Talise Parnell went 1-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored and Kate Williams finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs for the Lady Panthers.
The Lady Pirates piled up 14 hits but incredibly none went for extra bases.
Na'BraiJhanae' Phillips finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs and both Emilie Stidman and Kristen Houlby went 2-for-3 with a run scored for Preston.
