The 2023 Okmulgee Neal’s Classic baseball tournament came to a close this past Saturday night with the Bristow Purple Pirates defeating the Haskell Haymakers by an 8-0 margin in the championship game.
Demons top Dogs for 7th at 3-day event
The 2023 Okmulgee Neal’s Classic baseball tournament came to a close this past Saturday night with the Bristow Purple Pirates defeating the Haskell Haymakers by an 8-0 margin in the championship game.
Locally, the Beggs Golden Demons came with the seventh-place trophy Saturday with a 16-3 win over the host Okmulgee Bulldogs.
Other tournament hardware handed out this past Saturday were the consolation championship, which went to the Kiefer Trojans, who defeated the Cleveland Tigers by a 7-5 decision, and the thirdplace trophy, which was awarded to the Meeker Bulldogs, who edged past the Woodward Boomers by a 9-7 margin.
The 3-day, 10-team, tournament officially kicked off last Thursday with Meeker holding on to defeat Cleveland, who is coached by former Okmulgee head baseball coach Stephen Finks, by a 16-11 margin. Meeker then advanced to the semifinal round with a 16-2 win over the host Okmulgee Bulldogs.
Haskell moved into the winner’s bracket semifinals with an 8-0 victory over the Keys Cougars last Thursday, followed by Bristow defeating Beggs by a 7-1 margin.
Woodward, which is coached by former Okmulgee baseball standout and coach David Dunlap, began its tournament schedule last Thursday with a 12-4 win over the Tahlequah Sequoyah Indians. Dunlap’s Boomer squad advanced to the semifinal round by closing out last Thursday’s opening-day of tournament action with a hard-fought 5-4 win over Kiefer.
Friday’s tournament schedule began with Keys defeating Tahlequah Sequoyah by a 13-1 margin, while Beggs rebounded from its opening-day loss with a 9-1 victory over Cleveland.
Keys advanced to Saturday’s consolation title game with a 12-0 win over tournament host Okmulgee, while Kiefer punched their ticket to the fifth-place contest with a 14-4 victory over Beggs.
The Bristow Purple Pirates were the first team to secure a spot in the championship game, defeating Woodward by an 8-2 decision, while Haskell routed Meeker 14-4 in the other semfinal game on Friday to punch its ticket to Saturday’s title game.
--- 2023 Okmulgee Neal’s Classic April 20-22, 2023 • Okmulgee Tournament Results
Game 1: Meeker 16, Cleveland 11 Game 2: Meeker 16, Okmulgee 2 Game 3: Haskell 8, Keys 0 Game 4: Bristow 7, Beggs 1 Game 5: Woodward 12, Tahlequah Sequoyah 4 Game 6: Woodward 5, Kiefer 4 Game 7: Keys 13, Tahlequah Sequoyah 1 Game 8: Beggs 9, Cleveland 1 Game 9: Keys 12, Okmulgee 0 Game 10: Kiefer 14, Beggs 4 Game 11: Bristow 8, Woodward 2 Game 12: Haskell 14, Meeker 4 Game 13 (Seventh Place): Beggs 16, Okmulgee 3 Game14(ConsolationFinals):Kiefer7,Cleveland5 Game 15 (Third Place): Meeker 9, Woodward 7 Game 16 (Championship): Bristow 8, Haskell 0
