By Amanda Perkins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Dora Falcons and Bakersfield Lions are no strangers, having met twice already in the regular season. But a winner-takes-all battle between the two went down Tuesday night, with a district title on the line.
The Falcons were firing on all cylinders, coming alive at the plate and on the mound to win the Class 1, District 5 title, 11-3. It is the Falcons’ third consecutive district title.
“It was a hard-fought game,” said Falcons head coach Rick Luna. “Most of the time it comes down to facing Bakersfield for the conference. This is the third time we’ve played them, and beating a team three times is always difficult.”
Head coach Brandon Cotter said his Lions put up a good fight against Dora.
“We’re a real young team and haven’t played that much baseball, so I thought we did a really good job hanging with them for four or five innings,” he said. “Dora is a good team with a good tradition and a lot of good players. We hung around but had too many errors and left too many runners on.”
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After a scoreless first, Tyler Luna kicked off the bottom of the second for Dora with a single, and Kaleb Harris and Robert Vigdal knocked in two runs. Harris would also score to help the Falcons to a 3-0 lead.
Bakersfield answered with Brett Foster reaching on an error, driven home by back-to-back singles from Briggs Hardin and Colter Johnson in the top of the third. In the fourth, the Lions scored again thanks to an Ethan Crites one-out double, scored on a Dora error.
Dora increased its lead in the fifth, 9-2, after a series of Bakersfield errors sandwiched between a pair of hits by Vigdal and Payton Smith.
Ethan Crites led off the sixth for Bakersfield with a walk and scored when Tristan Morris knocked him in.
Dora would plate two more runners, with Vigdal and White driving in Brent McKemie and Harris, for the final scoring.
The Falcons reached base six times between being hit by pitches or walks. Dora committed four errors in the field, but worked around the jams by not walking batters. Vigdal was 4 for 5 with three singles and a double and scored two runs. McKemie was 3-4 batting out of the nine-hole but reached on all four appearances thanks to a fielder’s choice. The Falcon pitching staff struck out six, issuing only two walks.
“Austin White has been good for us all year on the hill and at the plate,” said Coach Luna. “Our bats have been hot all the way through the lineup, starting yesterday and also right before districts when we beat Ellington. Our bats are getting hot at the right time.”
Coach Cotter’s team finishes the season with a 4-8 record. “Ethan Crites, centerfielder, has come a long way this season and had a couple of RBIs and hits this game,” he said. “He made some really good plays in the field. Pitcher Briggs Hardin did a really good job throwing them off in the first three or four innings.”
The Falcons will host their sectional play-off game Monday.
Box Score: Bakersfield, 3, Dora, 11
Bakersfield 0 0 1 1 0 1 0
Dora 0 3 0 3 3 2
