Photos by Brent Fuchs
OKLAHOMA CITY — For the second straight year, Guthrie softball’s quest for a Class
5A state title ended on the opening day of play at Devon Park.
Pryor, the defending state champions, erupted for seven runs in the fourth inning of
Thursday’s quarterfinal to erase an 8-6 deficit and went on to win 18-8.
Top-seed Pryor advanced to Friday’s semifinals and will face No. 4 seed Carl Albert.
Brylan Shephard and Savannah Ingle hit home runs for the eighth-seeded Lady Jays,
who finished the season with 16 wins and 15 losses.
Guthrie led 2-0, 4-3, 6-3 and 8-6 before the Tigers broke through against pitchers
Holland McLemore and Emry Hebensperger to take the lead for good.
“She kept battling, stayed focused,” Guthrie coach Kara Tarrant said of McLemore, a
sophomore. “She wanted it really bad. She had a little trouble getting ahead in the
count, so she was unable to pitch her game.
“They are a good team. They hit everything. There aren’t many pitches they can’t hit.
You know how it goes ... shoulda, coulda, woulda.”
Guthrie trailed 3-2 when Shephard, the team’s catcher, stepped to the plate in the top of
the second inning with a runner on. She drove the first pitch over the fence in left field to
give the Lady Jays a 4-3 lead.
It was the 64th home run of Shepard’s high school career, according to her aunt.
McLemore set the Tigers down in order in the bottom of the inning, and Guthrie added
to its lead in the third. Codi Hibbs singled to lead off, and Ingle followed with a booming
double to the fence in center field to score Hibbs.
Ingle came around to score on a fielding error to put Guthrie up 6-3. After the Tigers tied
the score with three runs in their next at-bat, Ingle put the Lady Jays back in front for the
last time with her homer.
“I told them how proud of them I am,” Tarrant said. “They fought the entire season to get
better. It started rough and they could have given up, but they just kept getting better. I
told them to learn from it and grow.”
Guthrie overcame six losses to start the season, then rallied to win three games on the
last day of regionals to earn a spot in the state tournament.
“We are young. We only had two seniors,” Tarrant said. “We will return a large core of
the team. This experience will make them hungry for next year. They will use it as fuel
to guide them in the future.”