By Jeff Cali – The Ada News
The Ada Cougars had the tying run at second base and the winning run at first with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning but couldn’t get a runner home in a tense 2-1 loss to district standout Blanchard Tuesday night at Cougar Field.
The game was a far cry from the 10-0 loss the Cougars suffered at Blanchard on Monday.
Still, Ada has now lost four straight games and sits at 13-14 overall and 8-4 in District 4A-3 play. Blanchard improved to 17-3 and stayed unbeaten in the district at 8-0.
Ada junior pitcher Kaden Cooper turned in a gutsy, complete-game performance against the hard-hitting Blanchard bunch. After giving up a pair of runs in the first inning, Cooper pitched six shutout innings. He hit his spots all night, striking out five and allowed just one earned run and three total hits in the seven-inning gem. It’s the same Blanchard team that outscored Pauls Valley by a combined 55-0 in a pair of district games earlier this year.
Kale Miller led off the game with a base hit for Blanchard and went to second on a fielder’s choice by Brennan Milligan.
With two outs, Milligan stole second and raced home on an RBI single by Colyn McNair, who later scored on an Ada error that put the Lions on top 2-0.
Cooper gave up his final hit to Miller to lead off the third inning but that frame ended with a nice double play. The Ada hurler retired 17 of the final 19 hitters he faced. The only other base runner for the Lions reached on Ada’s second error of the game in the top of the sixth inning.
Ada managed just two total hits in the contest off Blanchard starter Colby Langford and Miller, who tossed the final 1.2 innings. That pair combined for 11 strikeouts but also issued seven walks in the contest, giving Ada several scoring opportunities in the contest.
Cooper got Ada started in the bottom of the seventh when he ripped a one-out double to the wall in right-center field. Cade Sliger came up with a clutch, two-out run-scoring single that trimmed the Ada deficit to 2-1.
Zac Carroll then walked on a full count pitch from Miller that just missed the outside corner for a strike. However, Miller got out of the jam and earned the save with his second strikeout of the inning.
The Cougars will try to rebound when Prague visits Cougar Field at 4:30 p.m. today. Ada is then off to the Atoka Festival when they battle Caddo at 1 p.m. Friday and the host Wampus Cats at 4 p.m. Saturday, weather permitting.
