The Klein Oak Sophomores
played an awesome game Monday night against Tomball
coming away with a win in the 7th inning. Offense and
defense came together against a tough Tomball team in
which Oak lead the majority of the game until the 6th
where they came alive in the 7th and took the game 7-5.
The top of the first left
two Panthers Travis Arthur and Jacob Fowler stranded on
base after two singles and Chris Thompson took the mound
for Oak in the bottom of the inning facing only 3
batters resulting in only one hit. Two fly out balls to
left caught by left fielder Matt Sloan and a great throw
from Thompson to Arthur caught the runner stealing for
three quick outs ending the first with both teams
scoreless. Oak's first three batters in the second all
made contact but unfortunately the Cougars outfielders
were ready and Oak went down 1-2-3. After a quick out
in the second, Thompson battled through a bases loaded
situation relying on his infielders Travis Arthur, Zach
Schulze and Jacob Fowler to make the final two outs,
stranding 3 Cougars and keeping the score 0-0 going into
the 3rd.
Here comes the Oak offense!
Matt Sloan led off the 3rd with a huge double, followed
by a single by JP Phillips and Zach Schulze's RBI single
scored Sloan but Phillips was out at second. Travis
Arthur singled, and both Jacob Fowler and Cody Emerson
were hit by pitches to load the bases and walked in
Schulze for the second run. Arthur scored on a passed
ball at home and Steven Butler walked to load the bases
again. Oak was unable to capitalize any more runs and
ended the inning up 3-0.
The Cougars fought back in
the bottom of the 3rd with a huge 3 base hit into the
gap up the middle. Thompson battled back and struck out
the next batter but walked the third one where an
uncharacteristicly bad throw by the Panthers scored a
runner. An RBI single scored the second Cougar run and
a quick sac fly out to right fielder Will Hoffmans
scored the third runner and brought up relief pitcher JP
Phillips with 2 outs. A walk and a fielders choice
ended the inning with the scored tied 3-3.
Oak's offense in the 4th
began with an text book bunt single right up the third
base line by Matt Sloan. Zach Schulze singled with one
out and Travis Arthur reached on a fielder's choice with
Sloan in scoring position at third. Arthur and Sloan
combined for a great base running play where Arthur drew
the throw between first and second scoring Sloan while
the Cougars were distracted. Arthur slid safely into
second. Fowler reached on a walk but the inning ended
with only the one run for Oak.
JP took the mound again for
Oak and made an outstanding catch at home plate for the
first out. A walk put a Cougar on base but a great
double play by Arthur who caught a pop up between first
and second and threw to Fowler at first catching the
only Cougar runner off base ended that inning with Oak
still up 4-3.
The Panthers went down
quickly in the 5th striking out 1-2-3 which brought the
Cougars up to the plate again, but two strikeouts and a
throw from Tyler Williams at third to Fowler at first
kept runners off base and retired the side.
Oak has another quick at bat
with only 3 batters at the plate and the Cougars took
the offensive in the 6th. A single put a runner on for
Tomball and a quick strikeout took care of the next
batter. However, a huge 2 run Home Run by Tomball put
them up by one as the third batter crushed the ball over
the left field fence. Sloan caught his third of five
pop-ups in left and a great put-out by Arthur to Fowler
left the single runner stranded as Oak ended the inning
down by one with minutes to spare going into the 7th.
Two walks by Fowler and
Emerson put well needed base runners on for Oak and a
great at bat by Steven Butler going the full count plus
a few ended in a walk but not before a passed ball
scored Fowler. Thompson's walk loaded the bases for Oak
and an RBI single by Tyler Williams scored one. With a
walk by Phillips another run crossed the plate for Oak
and the inning ended with the Panthers ahead by two. A
great defensive 7th by Oak ended Tomball's hopes with
two catches by left fielder Sloan and a third out at the
right corner by Will Hoffmans ended the inning with an
Oak win 7-5.
Great game by both teams.
Let's gear up for Klein.