The Dale Pirates Baseball Team is living up to its tradition. On Sat., Oct. 8, the eighth-ranked Pirates played the Class A State Championship against top-ranked Silo. Held at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in OKC, the final game was a victorious 18-11.
This makes 11 fall baseball state wins, added to 11 spring baseball Class 2A state wins, according to the OSSAA website and a Facebook post on the Dale Pirate Update page.
Assistant Baseball Coach Josh Forsythe said, “There's a lot of tradition and a lot of expectations, and we're expected to make it to state every year in baseball here at Dale, and we have. This is our 22nd state championship.”
“I think it's something that the kids know, and that they feel, and yeah, there's pressure with that, but sometimes that's a good pressure. It makes you do things that maybe you wouldn't do if you didn't have that pressure.”
The State Tournament is a tradition for Forsythe and his sons, as well. On Oct. 12, 2019, Forsythe was there with his oldest son, Dallen, when the Dale team won their previous fall baseball state tournament. Forsythe noticed some similarities to this year’s game, such as playing Silo; being “visitor” on the scoreboard; scoring first; and starting their shortstop as pitcher.
This year, the shortstop and pitcher for the first two innings was Forsythe’s middle son, Dayton, and his youngest son, Denton, also played in the game.
Forsythe said he has been the Assistant Coach for five or six years and is happy to share the experience with his sons.
“I appreciate Coach (Eddie) Jeffcoat asking me to be his assistant … and giving me this opportunity,” said Forsythe. “To be on the field with my three boys has been really special, so I appreciate him doing that very much.”
Forsythe was there for Dayton, a junior, through a tough moment in the game. In the top of the third inning, after hitting a single and progressing to third base, Dayton was running home when he tried to slide into the base and collided with the catcher.
Watching from first base, Forsythe said there may have been obstruction when the catcher ran toward Dayton and blocked his way, trying to catch the ball. He said the umpire saw Dayton lower his shoulder as he slid head-first.
After the three referees conferred, they decided it was “malicious contact” by Dayton, and he was ejected from the game.
“It was just a tough play,” said Forsythe. “ … It broke my heart, obviously, being his dad, just because he was in such a groove. He … was three for three already. He already had three hits, and we were rolling, and he's pitching really well.”
Forsythe regrets that the “special day” could have been an “amazing day” for his son, had he not been ejected. But he is proud of how Dayton handled it after calming down.
“I mean, he was upset initially and went down in the dugout, and I went down there and talked to him,” Forsythe said. “I told him, basically, 'There's nothing we can do about it.’ The only thing that we can do is go support his teammates, and try to be a good leader, because being upset is not going to help anybody. It's gonna hurt the team.”
“So he's got to try to find a way to control his emotions and get out there and be a good teammate, and be a leader on the team, and I was proud of how he did that. It took him a couple of minutes, and then you saw him up on that top step hollering for the other pitcher.”
In batting, Dayton had 3 singles, 2 RBIs, and one stolen base in three innings. He pitched for two innings, and in that time, had 16 balls, 20 strikes and 2 strike outs.
Dayton’s brother, Denton was one of two freshmen who started the game. He had 1 double and 2 walks while at bat. He also had two putouts (catching the ball for an out) in the outfield.
“I thought he had some good at bats and got on base and moved some runners and everything. So I was proud of him,” said Forsythe.
Jeffcoat said in an email, that a decisive moment of the game was “us scoring eight runs in the second inning. Ethan Douglas had a big bases-clearing double in that inning.”
Douglas had 2 doubles, 1 walk and 5 RBIs (runs batted in) for the game. Easton Edmonson had 1 single, 2 doubles, 1 walk and 3 RBIs. Kash VanBrunt had 3 walks. Jack Rooker had 1 single and 1 RBI. Dason Sheppard had 1 walk and 1 RBI. Jake Green had 2 walks. Casen Richardson had 1 single, 1 double, and 2 RBIs.
Richardson pitched for five innings and had 43 balls, 68 strikes, 4 earned runs, 2 strike outs and 5 walks.
With several freshmen on the team, Forsythe said, in the early season, they dealt with some “inexperience.” Ending with a 24-10 record, the Pirates lost to some of the teams in the State Tournament bracket - Wister, Rattan and Oktaha - in August. They won against Byng, but they lost to Silo on Sept. 9 and again at the Regional game on Sept. 29.
After adjusting the lineup over the season, Forsythe said they figured out what worked, and “I thought we had everybody in the right spots at the end of the season.”
Forsythe added that their batting and judgment improved, and their skills “peaked at the right time.”
It also helped to have some breaks on the road to the finals.
Dale faced Rattan in their quarterfinals and won, 6-3.
“One of our seniors threw a really good game,” said Forsythe. “J.B. Leaver threw a really good game against Rattan and got us by them.”
Following the Rattan game, Byng beat the number-two team, Wister, in their quarterfinals, leaving Dale to play Byng for semifinals and winning 12-2, at Yukon High School.
“That was kind of a rainy, windy day, and we put a lot of balls in play, and they made a lot of mistakes,” said Forsythe. “We were able to get by them fairly easily.”
During Silo’s semifinal game, they beat Oktaha and used their top pitcher on the fourth-seeded team.
So, when Silo faced Dale in the finals, they started with their second-best pitcher, and Dale took the lead early.
Jeffcoat said he attributes the team’s success to “hard work and believing they could do it.”
“Coach Jeffcoat talks to them every year about, 'Hey, we just need to hang in and keep working and be playing our best baseball at the end,” said Forsythe. “I feel like that's kind of what happened again.”
“It's just (that) they peaked at the right time. You know, it's crazy how, in all sports, if you're able to do that, and then try to figure out how to do that, you're gonna have a good shot, no matter what ranking you have.”
Forsythe said he was “really, really proud of the boys,” and Jeffcoat agreed.
“It means a lot to me, just for the kids to win it,” said Jeffcoat. “They work so hard and put so much into it.”
