Closing it Out – Oxford Track and County Baseball

Unlikely heroes step up for Oxford track in late events to secure win, roundup also includes Saturday baseball

By Al Muskewitz

OXFORD – The Oxford boys track team returned to the scene of its county championship triumph five days earlier and won once again with a tad more drama at the finish.

The Yellow Jackets won their newly named King of the East meet at Choccolocco Park Saturday, edging Anniston by six points that came down to some surprise clutch performances in the final two events of the day. The Oxford girls finished second to Fort Payne.

“Obviously, we’re always happy to win a meet and whenever we have section competition there,” Jackets coach Landon Delozier said. “It always means something to bring home gold against that top level of competition. The kids have been working really hard and executing at all the practices.”

The Yellow Jackets had a 14-point lead on the Bulldogs going into the final two events but were in danger of not scoring in either of them.

Because they lost several athletes to other weekend commitments during the meet, they had to cobble together a team in the 4×400 from athletes who had not competed in four events. It was either that or scratch, which would have given Anniston 10 free points after the Bulldogs won the event.

“I said let’s go find some guys,” Delozier said.

He found found D.K. Wilson, Imaryan Jackson, Justin Dempsey and Deandre Archie. Jackson was wolfing down a bunch of Skittles for energy before he stepped to the line and Dempsey was just coming back to the track after finishing a meal at Applebee’s.

The makeshift crew stayed in or near the front the whole race and came through with a respectable 3:39.33 for third place. Anniston won it in 3:35.71, but cut only four points off the margin.

“We threw them out there and told them to keep it close,” Delozier said. “They kept it close.”

The last event to post was the discus. Anniston’s Georgia football commitment Ryqueze McElderry had locked up fourth place with a 113-8. Oxford’s last chance for points lay with Aiden Smith, a ninth-grade first-year trackster. Smith, who had never thrown better than 95 before, responded with a career-best 105-5 on his last throw to score one huge point and keep the Bulldogs at bay.

“I told him at this point the Anniston guy already secured fourth and you’re going to have to step up to the plate,” Delozier said. “You’re going to have to match what he did. You have to do the best you can to be above 110. It was cool for that ninth-grade guy to throw and feel that pressure and thrive in that pressure.”

The Oxford girls held their own and finished a solid second to Fort Payne. Katie Keur won the 1600 and 3200, leading wire-to-wire in both races. Keziah Mickler won the 400 and Chaci Whitfield won the 300 hurdles.

“The girls executed,” Delozier said. “We got beat, but if we can compete with somebody like Fort Payne, who has been a powerhouse as long as I’ve been running, if we could compete with them, I’m happy. We went toe-to-toe with them and competed. We weren’t able to pull out the win … but our girls performed so well.”

Fort Payne’s Lennon Ibsen won three individual events – long jump, triple jump, pole vault – and teammate Lydie Varnadore won two – high jump and 100 hurdles. Gadsden City’s Emani Morgan won both sprints.

Keur’s run in the 1,600 and Whitfield’s hurdles win were among eight meet records set on the day. Other records were broken by Anniston’s Christian Myles (boys 1600), Pell City’s Jack Lowe (boys 3200), Dadeville’s Jordan Parker (boys shot), Oxford’s boys 4×800 team, Randolph County’s Aragonn Mitchell (boys discus) and Ibsen, who is believed to have set the track girls high school pole vault record (12-8).

“The performances across the board whether by my team or any other team were just magnificent,” Delozier said. “The level of competition and focus these kids showed, it seemed like it was not a high school type mentality. Those kids looked like they were college athletes stepping to that line. It was impressive.”

King of the East

BOYS TEAM SCORES: Oxford 118, Anniston 112, Dadeville 83, Wetumpka 82.5, Ft. Payne 65.5, Gadsden City 50, Booker T. Washington 37, Pell City 34, Ashville 29, Moody 20, Talladega 14, Piedmont 12, Randolph County 12, Gaston 10, Clay Central 3, Etowah 3, Cornerstone 2.
GIRLS TEAM SCORES: Ft. Payne 145, Oxford 110.5, Gadsden City 73, Wetumpka 57, Donoho 43, Wadley 37, Dadeville 33, Ashville 32, Pell City 31, Piedmont 26.5, Talladega 26, Anniston 25, Booker T. Washington 22.5, Clay Central 19, Cornerstone 9.5, Randolph County 2.

Baseball

SATURDAY’S SCORES
Faith Christian 11, Winterboro 1
Oxford 6-17, Spring Garden 2-6

Oxford 6-17, Spring Garden 2-6: The Yellow Jackets took advantage of five walks and two hit batsmen to score eight runs in the first inning and Dalton Fink hit a three-run homer in the fourth to set the stage for a run-rule victory and sweep of the doubleheader.

Carter Johnson went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and Forrest Heacock and Caleb Robertson had two hits apiece for Oxford. Chaz Pope had two extra-base hits and Cameron Welsh homered for Spring Garden.

In the opener, Sam Robertson’s consecutive hits streak got snapped in his first at-bat, but he doubled and tripled in his next two plate appearances to key the victory.

The Auburn commitment had eight hits in his last eight official at-bats and reached base in 12 straight plate appearances before lining out in his first at-bat against the Panthers. He doubled and scored the game’s first run in the third inning and had an RBI triple in a four-run fourth.

Hayden Gallahar pitched a complete game, giving up six hits, one earned runs and striking out six.

Spring Garden 000 011 0 – 2   6 0 
Oxford                  001 410 x – 6 12 1
WP: Hayden Gallahar. LP: Cameron Welsh. 2B: Carter Johnson (O), Tide Gann (O), Sam Robertson (O), Peyton Watts (O). 3B: Sam Robertson (O).

Spring Garden           231 00 –   6 6 2
Oxford                         814 4x – 17 9 1
WP: Dalton Fink. LP: Denver Jarrett. 2B: Chaz Pope (SG), Sam Robertson (O). 3B: Chaz Pope (SG). HR: Cameron Welsh (SG), Dalton Fink (O).

Faith Christian 11, Winterboro 1: Colton Pahman’s RBI double snapped a 1-1 tie and touched off a six-run third inning that carried the Lions to victory. Alex Almanza also had a two-run single and Brodie Dodson a two-run double in the inning.

Pahman went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and pitched the first four innings, giving up three hits and striking out six.

Winterboro          001 00 –   1 4 1
Faith Christian 016 13 – 11 8 2
WP: Colton Pahman. LP: Willis. 2B: Daniel Blackstone (F), Colton Pahman (F), Brodie Dodson (F). [*** read more]