The Sperry Baseball Tournaments is always a good mark to signal the beginning of a baseball season, and this year it was held Thursday, March 8 through Saturday, March 10. The 6 team tournament split the teams into two pools of three, and the first two days consisted of pool play while the final day was a slate of the championship games.

The Skiatook Bulldogs and Sperry Pirates both ended up in Pool B, and this meant the neighboring towns would take a friendly rivalry to the baseball diamond for the late game of the Friday, which was supposed to begin at 4 PM but ended up beginning at nearly 7 PM.

The season was still young, but Skiatook came into the game winless, at 0-2, and the tournament didn’t go much better for the Bulldogs. Skiatook’s first game of the tournament was a matchup with Holland Hall, and the Dutch pulled of a 7-4 win despite a lot of fight from the Bulldogs.

Sperry’s first game was also against Holland Hall, and the Pirates fared a bit better against the Dutch then Skiatook did, but they lost as well. Both Sperry and Holland Hall batted well, but the Pirates couldn’t keep up with the Dutch in the end and lost 13-9 in a very long game.

This meant Holland Hall won pool B and would play in the championship, but Sperry and Skiatook would face off vying for a trip to the third place game.

Last year the teams met in the same game and Skiatook pulled off a dominant 10-0 shutout, but this year the tide had turned. Sperry was dominant at home plate, hitting well all night and scoring 14 runs, while the Bulldogs only managed 9. It certainly wasn’t a poor performance from Skiatook at bat, but Sperry punched a ticket to the third place game while sending the Bulldogs to the consolation championship.

On championship Saturday, Skiatook claimed 5th place and won its first game of the year with an 8-0 shutout of Dewey, and the championship match-up for the tournament featured Holland Hall and Edison Prep, winners of Pool A. Edison put on a clinic, dominating the Dutch 11-2 while winning the tournament.

As the season gets into full swing, Bulldogs and Pirates fans alike should go support the local teams. Good luck to both squads! The Journal will continue to cover both teams this season, so make sure to follow along with the baseball boys.
