Hard one for Oakdale to stomach, Montgomery hits walk-off HR
Published 11:15 pm Friday, April 26, 2024
Oakdale celebrates Maddie Sumbler's two-run home run in the third inning on Friday at North Frasch Park. Oakdale lost to Montgomery 8-7 in the nonselect Division IV softball semifinals. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
Oakdale's Maddie Sumbler watches her two-run home run in the third inning as Kaylee Bradley runs to second base. Oakdale lost to Montgomery 8-7 Friday at North Frasch Park in the nonselect Division IV softball semifinals. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
Oakdale's Aubrey Lacomb dives back to the bag underneath Montgomery first baseman Ella Brouilette during a nonselect Division IV semifinal softball game on Friday at North Frasch Park. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
Oakdale's Ainsley Willis pitched five innings on Friday in the Warriors' 8-7 loss to Montgomery in the nonselect Division IV softball semifinals at North Frasch Park. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
Montgomery's Brighley Crayon pitched a complete game Friday in the Tigers' 8-7 win over Oakdale in the nonselect Division IV softball semifinals at North Frasch Park. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)
SULPHUR — No. 7 Oakdale was one out Friday afternoon from a trip to the nonselect Division IV softball state championship game. But one swing of the bat dashed the Warriors’ hopes of the program’s first title-game appearance.
With two outs and a runner on first base, Emma Fredieu hit the second pitch she saw to right field. Oakdale’s Emani Young tried to chase it down, but the ball made it over the fence with inches to spare for a walk-off two-run home for an 8-7 win that sent No. 3 Montgomery to the final for the third consecutive season.
“(I am) proud and devastated — all the adjectives you can think of,” Oakdale head coach Stuart Laborde said. “Mad. Sad. At the end of the day, I am just proud of these young ladies, who they are and the dedication they put into this game.
“I couldn’t be more happy. I love each and every one of them. I hate that it ended like that for them. At the end of the day, somebody has to win and somebody has to lose.”
Oakdale led 5-0 through four innings, but the Tigers started to chip away at the deficit with three runs in the fifth inning, then three more in the sixth to take their first lead, 6-5.
The Warriors kept the game going with two runs in the top of the seventh on an error and Chloe Bradley’s two-out RBI single that scored Kayla Bradley for a 7-6 lead.
“We fight. If that was the team last year, we would have tucked tail in that sixth inning,” Laborde said. “But they never gave up and locked back in.
“Hats off to Montgomery. That is a hell of a team. They see the ball very well. What makes this game so great is that it can flip a script so quick. I am hurting for these girls. They worked so hard to get here, and we just didn’t make it. We didn’t have enough.”
Montgomery beat Oakdale 14-4 in the quarterfinals last season.
Oakdale (19-9) pitcher Ainslie Willis had a shutout through four innings but was hit by a hard ground ball by Emily Arledge in the bottom of the fifth inning, leading to the Tigers’ first run. Willis didn’t return to the circle until the seventh inning. She gave up a single to start the bottom of the seventh inning, then got two quick flyouts before Fredieu’s game-ending hit.
“(I told them) go win it,” Laborde said. “I looked at (Willis).
“She has been the workhorse all year long, and I said ‘Go win it.’ She said ‘I got us, coach.’ I just hate it for her. I think she left the ball a little too much in on that last one, but she has done so much for us. I hate that this is how it ends.”
Oakdale freshman first baseman Maddie Sumbler had a career game, going 3-for-4 and driving in four runs.
She hit a two-run single in the first inning, but her biggest hit was a crushing two-run home run that soared over the left-field fence with a strong crosswind out of the south.
“That is what Maddie Sumbler does,” Laborde said. “Maddie Sumbler can crush a softball.
“She didn’t get into our lineup until real late in the season because she had that knee injury. Then it took her a while to roll. If you are going to have your best game, do it in Sulphur, and she really stepped up for us and came through. That is who Maddie Sumbler is.”
