Menu
Oran wins district crown
ORAN -- Oran pitcher Dalton Elfrink will be the first to tell you that Wednesday was not his best outing on the mound.
He allowed the Bernie Mules nine runs on 10 hits in his 5 2/3 innings of work during the Class 1, District 2 Championship game at Oran.
But, his troubles on the hill were quickly erased when he and his Eagles teammates started rattling their bats.
Elfrink sent a grand slam that nearly hit his mother, who was watching the game from beyond the left field fence, which couldn't help but put him in a good mood.
"I was kind of not having the best game," Elfrink said. "It was bases loaded and I was just trying to find a gap somewhere. I ended up almost hitting my mom out there in left. I was pumped after that and it kind of set the game at a higher level for everybody in the dugout."
Oran unloaded eight hits, which included Elfrink's slam, in the first two innings the culminated into all 13 of their runs en route to their 13-9 district championship win over Bernie.
Oran (20-2) hoisted it's 17th district trophy in school history and first since the 2008 season. The will play the Cooter Wildcats in the Class 1, Sectional 1 game on Monday.
"Our pitching and defense wasn't real stellar today but, we got the job done," Oran head coach Mitch Wood said. "Elfrink just didn't have his stuff today. Bernie had a lot to do with why he didn't look good too."
The Mules scattered eight hits in the first three innings where they totaled all of their nine runs.
Bernie's Blake Keasler belted an opposite field, two-run home run to give his Mules an early 2-0 advantage in the first inning. They soon scored five more in the second after four hits and four walks were given up by Elfrink.
"He's our best hitter and he's been knocking the fire out of the ball lately," Bernie head coach Jason Long said about Keasler's home run. "He's emerged as our leader and I wasn't really surprised that he done that because he was ready to play. We fed off that."
The Mules held a 7-5 advantage after just one and a half innings of play.
But with every Bernie rally, Oran answered bigger.
Following Bernie's 2-0 lead, Oran's leadoff hitter, Kody Moore, slapped the very first pitch he saw in the bottom of the first to deep left-centerfield which sent the Eagle bench into a frenzy.
"That threw us for a loop," said Elfrink about Moore's home run. "We were real pumped after that."
Moore's blast catapulted the Eagles into four more runs that inning which included an RBI hit from Seth Ressel and a two-run single by Dylan Dannenmueller.
"That's the reason I hit him leadoff," Wood said about Moore. "A lot of people would hit him three or four. We've always done that because we want him to bat as many times as he can. He's a spark plug for us."
Bernie, however, didn't back down falling behind 5-2. The Mules upped the ante by pushing across five runs of their own in the top of the second.
But, the Eagles bounced back bigger with their bats.
"We've relied on our offense a lot this year," Moore said. "Then again, we have to tip our hats to Bernie. We haven't let up that many runs a lot of times this year."
Oran cranked out eight runs in their half of the second capped by Elfrink's grand slam.
"That was a big hit for us," Moore said. "He's been hitting the ball well all year and hopefully that will spark a few more in him during the playoffs."
Although Bernie scored two runs in the top of the third, Elfrink kept them off the scoreboard the next two innings. He finally gave way to Moore in the sixth inning, who sustained an injury to his pitching arm a week ago.
Although, he didn't pitch like it.
Moore saw four batters throughout the sixth and seventh innings and retired them all in order.
"He felt good and was ready to go," Wood said about Moore. "I don't think he threw over 20 pitches so it worked out well."
"Arm feels good," Moore reassured. "If I need to throw any time I can."
Moore led the Eagles with three hits and was just a triple shy of the cycle.
Ressel and Blake Carlyle each added two hits apiece as well.
Bernie 252 000 0 -- 9 11 1
Oran 580 000 x -- 13 12 2
WP -- Dalton Elfrink. LP -- Micah Woods. 2B -- (B) Jessie Shelton; (O) Kody Moore. HR -- (B) Blake Keasler; (O) Moore, Elfrink.