EL DORADO — The Iola A Indians took second place at the annual Oral Taylor Classic in El Dorado over the weekend.
After winning the first two games, the Indians (3-1) dropped the championship game to Wellington, 6-4. Iola took down both the Ottawa A’s, 13-3, and Liberal, 6-1. Kyler Isbell tossed a complete-game gem against Liberal and the Indians drove in 23 runs through three games.
Iola Indians vs Ottawa A’s — 13-3 win
The Indians used a late stream of runs in the fourth and fifth innings to defeat Ottawa 13-3 in the tournament opener.
Henry White drove in a team-high two runs while Ryan Golden, Cole Mathes and Jacob Harrington each drove in one run. Iola took advantage of Ottawa’s pitching and walked 11 times, led by Blake Ellis, Mathes and Harrington’s team-high two walks apiece.
Grady Dougherty began on the mound for Iola, allowing three runs on two hits through 2.1 frames. Gavin Jones picked up the win in relief after he tossed 1.2 innings of shutout, one-hit ball with five strikeouts.
Kade Nilges got the scoring started for Iola in the top of the first on an RBI grounder to shortstop which he reached on an error. Three runs came around to score on throwing errors by Ottawa’s shortstop and catcher.
The only three runs Dougherty allowed came in the third inning when Winter singled for a run and Giest grounded out which scored a run for the 3-3 knotted score.
Tyler Lord singled to right to plate Mathes for the 4-3 lead in the top of the fourth. Henry White then added on in the fourth with a two-run single to center for the 6-3 advantage.
Ellis then sprinted home to score on a passed ball in the fifth to make it 7-3 before Mathes walked with the bases loaded two batters later for the quick 8-3 lead. Harrington was then hit by a pitch the next at bat to bring Drake Weir to the plate for the 9-3 advantage.
Two more walks by Henry White and Golden resulted in two more runs for the Indians and it was an 11-3 game with two outs in the fifth. Another passed ball allowed Harrington to score for the big 12-3 advantage. White then scored on a wild pitch for the 13-3 win in the fifth.
Iola Indians vs. Liberal — 6-1 win
Iola didn’t lay it on as hard against Liberal in the semifinal matchup on Sunday morning in a 6-1 victory.
Isbell tossed a complete game, one-run performance while allowing only six hits and striking out six batters. The Indians scored three runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth to secure the five-run win.
Dougherty grounded to shortstop which he reached on an error to score Ellis for the 1-0 lead in the first.
