The Henryetta varsity slowpitch softball team came away with a third-place finish at last Thursday’s Checotah Slowpitch Softball Tournament.

The Lady Knights cruised through their first two tournament games, defeating Roland 14-1 and blanking the host Checotah Lady Wildcats 5-0 in back-to-back contests before having their championship dreams dashed with a 5-2 loss to Class 3A No. 5 Pocola in the tournament semifinals. The 3-run setback to the Lady Indians was the first of the 2022 campaign for the Lady Knights, who entered the tournament ranked third in Class 4A.

The Henryetta diamond squad saw their chances of a spot in the tournament title game of the double-elimination tournament derailed in the loser’s bracket finals, falling to Class 4A No. 7 Oktaha by a 6-5 margin.

The Lady Knights were back in action Tuesday with a trip to Checotah for a showdown with the Checotah Lady Wildcats and will close out the week Thursday at the Firelake Festival in Shawnee, battling Tecumseh at 2:30 p.m., Bixby at 5 p.m., and Prague at 6:15 p.m. All three of Henryetta’s festival games Thursday will be played on Field 1 at the Fields at Firelake in Shawnee.

In Thursday’s showdown with Roland, the Lady Knights did all of their offensive damage in the bottom of the first, pushing across 14 runs in the frame while sending a total of 20 batters to the plate.

Roland tallied its lone run of the contest in the top of the second and was shut out in the top of the third to end the contest on the run rule, 14-1.

Shelby Kilhoffer led the offensive attack for Henryetta in the win, finishing 2 for 2 with a single, double, and 4 RBIs.

Avery Miller (2 for 2, 2 singles, 2 RBIs) and McKayla Greenhaw (2 for 2, single, double, 2 RBIs) also recorded multi-hit games against Roland with two hits each.

The other base hits for the Lady Knights in the run-rule win came on singles by Graci Lollis and Kassidy Lee, and Kinley Miller and RBI singles by Kasedi Gobin and Brooklyn Baughman.

Other baserunners for Henryetta in the contest were Gobin (walk), Kinley Miller (RBI fielder’s choice), Katelyn Dwiggins (2 walks, RBI), Jalynn Joslin (2 walks, RBI), and Shannon Corkerin (RBI walk).

In the shutout win over Checotah, the Lady Knights broke a scoreless tie with a run in the top of the second, then added a run in the fourth and three in the sixth for the 5-0 decision.

Kasedi Gobin accounted for onethird of the nine Henryetta base hits in the shutout win, going 3 for 3 with a single, two doubles, and an RBI.

McKayla Greenhaw was next offensively for the Lady Knights, finishing 2 for 3 with a pair of singles.

The other four Henryetta base hits against Checotah came on singles by Katelyn Dwiggins, Avery Miller, Shelby Kilhoffer, and Kinley Miller.

Other baserunners for the Lady Knights in the shutout win were Kilhoffer (error), Avery Miller (walk), Brooklyn Baughman (error), Kassidy Lee (error), and Shannon Corkerin (2 walks).

Kilhoffer and Kinley Miller drove in runs during the contest with RBI sacrifice flies in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively.

In the semifinal showdown with Pocola, the Lady Knights trailed 2-1 after one inning of play. After a scoreless second, Pocola plated a run in each of the next three innings for a 5-1 advantage.

The Henryetta squad was only able to produce one run in their final atbat in the bottom of the seventh to suffer their first loss of the 2022 campaign - a 5-2 setback to the Pocola Lady Indians.

Avery Miller was the top offensive performer for the Lady Knights in the semfinal loss, going 2 for 2 with a single, home run, and RBI. Miller’s roundtripper came on a solo blast in the first. Miller also drew a walk in her other plate appearance in the contest.

Kinley Miller also recorded a multihit game for Henryetta against Pocola, finishing 2 for 3 with a pair of singles.

The other base hits for the Lady Knights in the semifinal contest came on singles by Kasedi Gobin, Shelby Kilhoffer, and McKayla Greenhaw and an RBI single by Shannon Corkerin.

In the loser’s bracket final matchup with Oktaha, the Lady Tigers opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first, then added two runs in each of the next two innings for a 5-0 advantage.

The Lady Knights began their comeback bid with three runs in the home half of the third, cutting the deficit to two, 5-3, after three innings of action.

The Henryetta squad tallied a run in each of the fourth and fifth innings to deadlock the score at 5-5, while Oktaha plated the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth.

The Lady Knights were unable to push across any runs in the last of the sixth to end up on the short end of a 6-5 outcome.

All 11 base hits for Henryetta against Oktaha came on singles.

The trio of Katelyn Dwiggins (2 for 4, 2 singles), Jalynn Joslin (2 for 4, 2 singles, RBI), and McKayla Greenhaw (2 for 3, 2 singles) accounted for more than half of the base hits with two hits apiece.

The other five Henryetta hits against Oktaha came off the bats of Avery Miller, Kasedi Gobin, Shelby Kilhoffer, Kinley Miller, and Kassidy Lee.

Other baserunners for the Lady Knights in the loser’s bracket finals were Dwiggins (fielder’s choice), Gobin (RBI walk), Kilhoffer (error, fielder’s choice), Greenhaw (fielder’s choice), Brooklyn Baughman (error), and Shannon Corkerin (fielder’s choice).

Kinley Miller drove in the game-tying run for Henryetta in the fifth with an RBI sacrifice fly.

Checotah Tournament

Second Round

Henryetta 14, Roland 1

Roland: 0 - 1 - 0 1 - 2 - 0

Henryetta: 14 - 0 - x 14 - 11 - 0

WP: Katelyn Dwiggins

LP: Unknown

HR: None

Quarterfinals

Henryetta 5, Checotah 0

Henryetta: 0 - 1 - 0 - 1 - 0 - 3 5 - 9 - 1

Checotah: 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 0 - 6 - 6

WP: Katelyn Dwiggins

LP: Unknown

HR: None

Semifinals

Pocola 5, Henryetta 2

Pocola: 2 - 0 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 0 - 0 5 - 12 - 0

Henryetta: 1 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 2 - 8 - 1

WP: Unknown

LP: Katelyn Dwiggins

HR: Henryetta: Avery Miller

Loser’s Bracket Finals

Oktaha 6, Henryetta 5

Oktaha: 1 - 2 - 2 - 0 - 0 - 1 6 - 12 - 2

Henryetta: 0 - 0 - 3 - 1 - 1 - 0 5 - 11 - 4

WP: Unknown

LP: Katelyn Dwiggins

HR: None