Comanche sweeps Marietta

The Comanche Indians swept a doubleheader against Marietta to finish in a tie with Lexington for third place in District 3A-1.

The Indians end the regular season with an 11-10 overall record and 7-5 heading into this week’s three-team regional tournament at Bethel. Comanche will be the No. 4 seed out of the district as Lexington claimed the third-place tiebreaker.

The Alva Goldbugs will be joining Comanche and Bethel in the tournament, which began Wednesday. Comanche took on Alva (13-22), the No. 5 team out of District 3A-4, in the first game and then played Bethel (20-6), the No. 1 seed out of District 3A-2. The Wildcats and the Goldbugs then will play the nightcap.

If a team is eliminated on Wednesday, the other two teams will play at 4 p.m. with an “if necessary” game at 6:30 p.m. If all the teams finish 1-1 on Wednesday, the two lower seeds would play at 4 p.m. with the winner-take-all championship game following against the top seed.

Comanche 1, Marietta 0

Comanche senior pitcher Landen Steele made his last home start on the mound a memorable one as he tossed a complete game four-hit shutout that included 15 strikeouts.

Neither team could generate much offense in the pitcher’s duel.

Comanche only generated three hits, but two came in the fourth inning and combined with a Marietta error pushed the only run across the plate.

In the inning, Payton Jones led off with a single and moved to second on an error on the third baseman. Steele then put down a sacrifice bunt to move Jones to third. Cooper Dobbins then stepped to the plate and hit a bloop single to left field that scored Jones.

It would be all the offense Steele would need. He would get out of a jam in the top of the seventh when Marietta had runners on the corners but Steele got his final strikeout to end the game.

Colby Shannon had the third hit for Comanche.

Comanche 13, Marietta 7

The offenses woke up in game two and with the teams combining for 12 errors, the runs were flowing.

Comanche scored six runs in the top of the first inning to build a big lead, but Marietta slowly made their way back into the game, cutting the lead to 7-5 in the fourth inning.

That would be as close as Marietta would get. Comanche added three runs in the top of the fifth and then answered Marietta’s two runs in the bottom of the fifth with three more runs in the top of the sixth to pull away.

Comanche belted out 10 hits in the game, lead by Kanon Clift, who went 2-for-5, including two doubles, with three runs and an RBI. Landen Steele went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Cooper Dobbins, Ty Lane, Colby Shannon, Carson Vansickle, Payton Jones and Thomas Dobbins all had a hit in the gam.e

Vansickle started the game on the mound and picked up the win. He pitched the first three innings, gave up two hits and one earned run while walking three and striking out four.

Evan Dodd and Ty Lane closed out the remaining innings.

Davis 5, Comanche 3

In the final game of the regular season on Monday, Comanche and Davis battled back and forth before the Wolves took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth.

Comanche scored twice in the second inning and once in the fifth. Davis scored once in the first, once in the fourth, twice in the fifth and one in the sixth innings.

Ty Lane went 2-for-3 to lead the Indians at the plate. Carson Vansickle went 1-for-3 with a double and Cooper Doobins and Kanon Clift had a hit each.

Colby Shannon, Payton Jones and Evan Dodd pitched for the Indians.