By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
OKLAHOMA CITY – Piedmont’s Payten Schibbelhute has been steady all season.
Thursday, she was a star.
The sophomore pitched a complete game and delivered an inside-the-park home run along with four RBI’s as Piedmont beat El Reno 12-2 in a Class 5A quarterfinal game at OGE Energy Field.
“She’s a great player and she did a great job today,” head coach Keith Coleman said. “That’s what she’s always done.”
Schibbelhute didn’t bat for most of the season while she nursed an injury, but has been back to 100% the last two weeks.
“I really like helping my teammates,” she said.
She showed off her speed on her inside-the-park home run to right field, sliding home just under the catcher’s tag to pad Piedmont’s lead to 4-0 in the second inning.
“I didn’t think coach was going to send me,” she said. “It was close.”
Schibbelhute struck out three and scattered five hits while allowing two earned runs in the circle.
El Reno rallied to within 5-2 as relief pitcher Micah Woods kept Piedmont off balance for three scoreless innings, but Piedmont scored seven runs in the final two innings.
“We had to adjust our timing a bit,” Coleman said. “The second time through we got in a rhythm and started putting balls in play and making them play defense.”
Adding Schibbelhute to the lineup has forced teams to pitch to leading hitter Karissa Fiegener more. Fiegener, a Grand Canyon University commit, went 3-for-5 with two RBI’s Thursday.
Tylar Short was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI doubles and stole home in Piedmont’s 2-run first inning.
“We saw that opportunity when we played them in district play, but we didn’t do it,” Coleman said. “We saved it just in case we saw them in the state tournament.”
Ava Humphries added an insurance run with an RBI-single in the seventh. Fiegener followed with a single of her own to plate Humphries as Piedmont piled on late.
Piedmont will face the winner of Carl Albert-Pryor Friday at 11 a.m.
“We’ve played them four times all together and they’ve been close games every time. Whoever we play, it’ll be a great game,” Coleman said.
