Class 3A Oklahoma bi-district baseball: Gannon Shackelford drives in 5 runs as Spiro advances past Idabel to reach regional round

Change in the lineup sparks run production Saturday

By Buck Ringgold

SPIRO — Before Saturday's deciding game of the Class 3A bi-district playoff, Spiro coach D.J. Gist made a slight change in his lineup. 

He dropped Gannon Shackelford from batting third in the order to fifth, with Shackelford having gone through a recent slump.

Shackelford responded to the switch, getting run-producing base hits in each of his first three at-bats. The Bulldogs also rallied from two early deficits to score 15 runs over their first four innings, going on to post a 16-6 six-inning run-rule win against Idabel to move on to next week's regionals.

"Gannon had kind of been in a little bit of a funk for us recently, and we just got Zander (Riggs) back the other day, and these were his first games back in the outfield since the (LeFlore County) Tournament," Gist said. "(Riggs had) been dealing with a pulled quad, and he really hit the ball well (Friday) and Gannon kind of struggled at the plate.

"I thought, I'm going to flip-flop them and see what happens. ... And sure enough, Gannon came up with some huge hits for us (Saturday), and I mean huge hits and was on base all day long."

Shackelford's first at-bat came with two runners on and two outs in the bottom of the first inning as Spiro trailed 2-0. He brought both of those runners in on a single to right, tying the score.

In his next at-bat, he capped a three-run bottom of the second with an RBI single. That allowed Spiro, which trailed 4-2 entering its half of the second, to take a 5-4 advantage.

Spiro (20-12) then scored seven runs in the third to break things wide open, extending its lead to 12-4. Once again Shackelford delivered that inning, bringing in two more runs with a two-out single to right.

"I just felt real good in the box," said Shackelford, who finished 3-for-4 with five RBIs. "I trusted my hands, trusted my feet, and just relied on myself like I did in the (batting) cage, just working the other way.

"The past few games, I just hadn't been hitting the best. I was seeing more curveballs when I was in the three-hole, and moving back to the five hole, I saw more fastballs, and I was just trying to drive it the other way, and trying to produce for the team."

Shackelford was also counted on in another key situation in the series with the Warriors. He had to pitch the second game on Friday, moments after Idabel run-ruled Spiro in the opener, 19-4.

But Shackelford kept the Warriors' bats at bay, holding them to one run through the first six innings in a 12-4 win while finishing with 11 strikeouts to force the deciding third game Saturday.

After Idabel's early onslaught of runs over the first two innings, Spiro pitcher Dakota Perdue settled in and held the Warriors to two runs over his final four innings. He struck out four before being removed with two outs in the top of the sixth for reaching the mandatory pitch limit.

Perdue also helped his own cause at the plate, going 2-for-3 and driving in three runs, including a two-run single that capped Spiro's seven-run third.

Spiro got the run rule in the bottom of the sixth, when Jared Huff's infield single scored Riggs.

Huff, the Bulldogs' lone senior, ended up going 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. Blake Dedmon, the lead-off hitter, was 2-for-3 with three runs scored.

"I told them it was going to be a long day of baseball, and that's what it's going to take is you're going to have to compete no matter what, because this game isn't over until the last out's made or the last run is scored," Gist said.

Idabel (10-15) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on solo home runs from Case Pratt and Shaw Storey.

Storey then gave the Warriors a 4-2 lead in the top of the second with an RBI single, and drove in his third run of the day with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly.

Waylon Phillips went 3-for-4 for the Warriors, including an RBI single in the fourth.

Spiro, which graduated a ton of talent from a 30-win ball club last season, now advances to the 3A regionals, with the Bulldogs traveling to Kingston in southern Oklahoma as the tournament starts Thursday.

"To me, that just shows what our kids expect to do around here; they expect to be in the regional tournament no matter what and fighting for a chance to go to the state tournament," Gist said. "Yes, we lost a ton of talent from last year's team, but there was a lot of talent sitting over there on the bench waiting to play.

"We had played 29 games before we started (the bi-district playoff), and we had all of our starters on the field together for 14 of those 29 games (due to a litany of injuries), and we still found a way to go win 20, which is unbelievable and remarkable."