PRYOR — In 82 years of Oklahoma American Legion baseball, no one has done it.

Well, no one except the Pryor Tigers.

For the first time in Oklahoma American Legion baseball history, one town has collected the 2A and 3A state titles in the same year.

The 3A Tigers made that official with 3-2 and 7-6 wins over Edmond Memorial Saturday.

“Just a bunch of great individual efforts,” said Head Coach Gerald Osborne after the game.

It was needed in the final two games.

The first game of the day was already halfway over when it started Saturday.

It had been suspended the night before because of rain, and things picked up in the bottom of the fourth inning with the Tigers ahead, 3-1.

The Tigers weren’t able to tack on any more runs, but Chris Ashley kept the Bulldogs from pulling off a comeback and the Tigers came out with the 3-2 win.

The second game of the day, or 1 1/2 depending on how you are counting, was a lot different.

Bulldog and Tiger bats came alive as there was at least a run scored by both teams in the first three innings.

Pryor got one run on an error in the first inning, but Edmond responded with two of their own in the bottom of the inning.

Pryor came right back to take the lead in the top of the second. An error scored the first run and Zack Hammock grounded out to short with runners on second and third to give the Tigers the 3-2 lead.

Edmond tied the game back up in the bottom of the second, but the seesaw game continued as Pryor got the lead in the top of the third.

Blake Heston doubled to center field, and was followed by a Rowdy Dove walk.

A balk moved both runnners up a base and another walk, this time to Dalton Murphy loaded the bases.

After a pitching change and two strikeouts, Treyce Epps hit a RBI single and Ashley walked to bring in two runs and put Pryor up 5-3.

But, just like the rest of the game, the score changed quickly as Edmond scored two runs to tie the game up at 5-5.

The top of the fourth, the Tigers came up empty for the first time, and Edmond scored a run in the bottom half to take the lead.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning that the Tigers tied things back up.

Another Bulldog error knotted the game up at 6-6.

Edmond was able to get the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the seventh with just one out, needing just a well put ball in the field of play to score a run.

The Bulldog batter put the ball into play, but it was right to Ryan Hendricks at shortstop.

Hendricks bobbled it, but got the throw off quickly and Murphy was sitting on top of the plate waiting for it.

It took Murphy a second to corral it in, but he did before the Bulldog runner got to home.

“We almost left our infield back,” said Osborne. The coaches caught it at the last minute and pulled Hendricks in to make the play.

The next batter flew out to center field to send the game in to extra innings.

The top of the seventh started with an out, but Dove reached on an error. Another walk put runner on first and second and in stepped Brett Mitchell.

Mitchell had been 1-for-15 so far in the tournament, and hadn’t been swinging the bat well in the tournament.

But, as he had done all summer season, Mitchell came through with a RBI single to give Pryor the

7-6 lead.

Edmond started the bottom of the eighth with a double, but Ashley struck out the next two batters.

A walk put two runners on, but Ashley was able to get the final run out on a groundout to second and the dogpile ensued in front of the pitcher’s mound.

Chris Ashley, who had three saves and a win, was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

It was the Tigers first 3A state title since 1983.

The Pryor Tiger American Legion teams are sponsored by Sullivan and Lewis Post 182 in Pryor.



Pryor 3 Edmond Memorial 2

E - 000 101 0 - 2 3 2

P - 102 000 X - 3 4 1

Brett Mitchell, Chris Ashley (5) and Dalton Murphy, Mitchell (5). W: Mitchell. SV: Ashley.



Pryor 7 Edmond Memorial 6

P - 122 001 01 - 7 7 2

E - 212 100 00 - 6 13 4

Troy Whisman, Brett Mitchell (3), Rowdy Dove (7), Chris Ashley (8) and Dalton Murphy, Mitchell (8). W: Dove. SV: Ashley.