Tuesday, October 8th the Inola Longhorn softball team walked onto the Skiatook fields to begin their journey to State. Everyone knew how important this game was. You could feel it in the air. You could see the fire in the girls’ eyes. They wanted win; they needed to win. They had to beat the Grove Ridgerunners.

Lillie Walker threw the opening pitch at 2 o’clock, kicking off a game that would go down in Inola history. Both teams fought tooth and nail during the required 7 innings. Neither team ever took the lead, so we were left looking at a 0-0 score going into the 8th inning. Strikeout after strikeout kept the score consistent until the bottom of the 13th inning. With no outs, the Lady Longhorns were looking at base runners on 2nd and 3rd. The girls’ coach, Kerry Hallman, intentionally walks the next batter, putting his team in an ideal position to get three outs. As the next Lady Ridgerunner shows a bunt, the Longhorns crash hard and it results in their first out, which is then followed by two looking strikeouts.

The game continues, and we soon find ourselves in the bottom of the 16th inning. The Lady Longhorns are in the same position as they were in the 13th inning, but it doesn’t look like its meant to be this time around. With a dinky little hit over the third basemen’s head, the Lady Ridgerunners score, ending the game. The girls then turn around and play another 8 inning game, ending the season for Ino