By Blake Colston
Sports Editor
Piedmont’s Logan Hill on Tuesday had the game-winning hit to lift the Wildcats to a Class 5A-1 District Baseball Championship as PHS rallied from a five-run deficit to beat Carl Albert, 13-12.
Down to its final three outs, Piedmont (24-7, 13-1) mounted its decisive rally that culminated with Hill’s clutch single. The senior infielder has battled an injury late this season and is currently only available to hit, but he’s made the most of his opportunities and did again on Tuesday.
“He’s been absolutely locked in at the plate,” head coach Adam Skokowski said. “The level of focus he has right now is some of the highest I’ve ever seen from a high school kid.”
Hill’s younger brother, Luke, got the win in relief for Piedmont. He pitched the final two innings while allowing only one run.
“It was a huge spot, but the thing about (Luke) is that he has a little bit higher level of toughness than your average freshman,” Skokowski said.
DISTRICT CHAMPS! pic.twitter.com/tBC4fWYPZ4
— Piedmont Athletics & Activities (@PiedmontAth) April 26, 2023
This was the third straight season that Piedmont has split its district series with six-time state champion Carl Albert.
“It used to be that Carl Albert thought they were big brother and we were little brother, but we’re trying to flip the script on that,” Skokowski said.Carl Albert (26-6, 12-2) on Monday beat Piedmont 9-5, which set up Tuesday’s winner-take-all matchup.
From the beginning, it looked like the Titans would roll to another win over the ‘Cats. Carl Albert held leads of 3-0, 7-3, 10-7, and the Titans extended their advantage to 12-7 entering Piedmont’s final at-bat.
It wasn’t enough cushion, though.
The Wildcats started the bottom of the seventh by loading the bases with no outs, and after one run had already scored, Luke Hill ripped a double passed the Titans’ third baseman that plated two runs to make it 12-10.
The next batter, senior Noah Smith doubled to the wall in right field to tie the game after a wild pitch had trimmed Carl Albert’s lead to 12-11 earlier in Smith’s at-bat.
Five pitches later, Hill jumped on a 3-1 fastball and drove it up the middle passed Titan reliever Jackson Fixico and a drawn-in infield. Hill, A Seminole State College commit, was mobbed by his teammates in short right field following his clutch hit.
Jakeb Koop added a two-RBI double for the Wildcats, who improved to 15-1 when scoring 10 or more runs this season.
Piedmont has won six of its last seven and will host the regional playoffs beginning next Wednesday or Thursday. The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association will release a full playoff bracket on Monday.
Lawton MacArthur will be the second-seeded team in Piedmont’s regional bracket after MacArthur (16-12, 9-5) finished fourth in District 5A-2. The Wildcats won the only meeting between the two teams earlier this season, 3-1.
The Wildcats have their senior night game with Mustang tomorrow at 6 p.m. and will close out the regular season slate Monday with a road trip to Sand Springs.
