Travelers win Pueblo Tournament

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Published on Tuesday, 19 June 2012 10:32

Third year in a row team has won Tony Andenucio memorial tournament

Tracy Renck
The Pueblo Chieftain

Pueblo, CO — Once again, Elk City, Okla., had no equal at the Tony Andenucio memorial baseball tournament.


Elk City beat Cherry Creek 9-1 in five innings Sunday night at Hobbs Field to capture the 33rd annual tourney title and its sixth in the last seven years. 
“We didn’t know what to expect coming in because we had so many new guys,” said Elk City coach Heath Ritchie, whose team has won this tourney three years in a row. “They played their tails off and we got some breaks and we hit the ball well in the championship game.”


Elk City ran its summer record 12-5 and will play in a Norman, Okla., tourney next weekend. 

Creek defeated Elk City 10-1 Sunday morning in a pool-play game, but the championship was a different story. 
Elk City set the tone in the first inning by scoring five runs. 

Creek’s starting pitcher Jake Krantz was his own worst enemy with poor command.
Krantz managed just two outs before allowing five runs — two on wild pitches and three more on a pair of RBI singles by Patrick McClain and Hunter Stephens. Elk City added four more runs in the second off relief pitcher Nick Highberger. 

“We struggled in the first two innings and Elk City hit very well,” veteran Creek coach Marc Johnson said. “We put our backs to the wall.” 

That was more than enough support for Elk City pitcher Austin King.

The crafty lefty allowed just six hits. King had a 3-0 tournament record and was named the tourney’s most promising pitcher.

“Their pitcher was outstanding,” Johnson said. 

King, who is going to Seward (Kan.) County Community College, was just happy to help out his team. 

“I was just trying to challenge hitters with my fastball and for the most part I was successful with that,” the 6-foot-1, 160 pounder said. “It made things a lot easier because I was throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes.” 

Elk City’s Tanner Dearman, the tourney’s MVP, was excited his team continued its success in Pueblo. 

“It is cool that we won this tourney again and we need to keep winning games the rest of this summer,” said Dearman, an infielder/outfielder who is going to play at Wichita (Kan.) State.