Watonga’s Joe Rinehart stole the show Monday evening in Hinton, launching a solo home run to straightaway center field that kept the Eagles in the ballgame.
But the blast wasn’t enough to overcome an onslaught of offense from the Comets, who took game one of the doubleheader by a 16-11 score.
Watonga entered the sixth inning trailing 10-6. The Eagles allowed five runs in the fifth inning, and the Comets were threatening to turn a formerly tight ballgame into a blowout.
Josh Wickware led off the sixth with a routine groundout to third. That’s when Rinehart stepped to the plate and smacked a Gaven Boling offering over the fence in center.
Rinehart had initially stopped at third base, as the umpires were unsure about whether the ball had hit the top of the wall or actually cleared it before bouncing back into play. But after a brief consultation, they signaled for a home run and Rinehart touched home plate.
It wasn’t enough. Despite pulling close again in the top half, the bottom of the sixth proved disastrous for Watonga pitching as it allowed six more runs and walked eight Hinton batters. Even scoring three runs in the top of the seventh couldn’t make the game interesting from there.
Watonga was led at the plate by Rinehart, who also laced a double in the first. Gabe Lockhart also notched a double and a single in the contest.
While game one was generally close, Watonga couldn’t muster any offense in game two of the doubleheader despite allowing even more runs to Hinton. Comets pitcher Levi Taylor threw a compete game shutout of the Eagles, who managed to load the bases with two singles and a walk in the fourth inning but still weren’t able to score.
For Watonga, the Hinton doubleheader followed a weekend spent in Enid for the Merrifield Invitational. The Eagles dropped ballgames to Pioneer, Chisholm and Pond Creek-Hunter but notched a 10-0 victory over Cimmaron while in Enid. It was Watonga’s second tournament victory over Cimmaron for the season.
The Eagles return to the diamond Thursday for a home game against Luther.