Leedey's Colton Hunter pushes limit to win second straight Class B baseball title

Colton Hunter counted down the remaining pitches in his head with each batter.

Nine.

Seven.

Four.

After his final pitch — one shy of the state's pitch-count threshold — Leedey's star senior threw his glove in the air and hugged teammates as the ball landed in Parker Ward's glove.

No. 1 Leedey rode the fatigued and adrenaline-filled arm of Hunter to its second straight spring state championship Saturday afternoon. The powerful right-handed struck out 13 batters on 119 pitches to lead Leedey to a 2-1 win over No. 2 Drummond at Dolese Park.

“Coach told me I've got nine pitches left,” Hunter said about the final inning. “I told him I'll make it work, but the guy behind me is going to get it.”

Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association rules do not allow a pitcher to face a new batter once 120 pitches have been reached.

Leading off the seventh, Drummond star Wyatt Gray popped out on two pitches. Dalton Stites struck out on three pitches. Seth Gray flew out to center field on the third pitch.

“He was all guts,” Leedey coach Bryan Shoaf said.

Before the game, Hunter wasn't sure how much he had in the tank.

His arm had been tired since the end of March. Saturday, it was sore. Teammate Jett Brown was in the dugout massaging Hunter's elbow in pregame.

Then Hunter struggled in the first inning, loading the bases. His command was erratic, but he escaped with the game scoreless. He stranded two more in the second.

From there, he never felt pain. Adrenaline took over. If not for a run-scoring double by Garrett DeHaas in the fifth, he was nearly untouchable.

And all that did was cut Leedey's lead to 2-1 since Ty Goss doubled in two runs in the third.

“The fourth inning hit and I just bared down,” Hunter said.

Even entering the seventh with limited pitches remaining, Hunter was going to make things work. He had struck out eight in the past three innings.

In his final game with Leedey before playing at Cowley College in Kansas, the only thing that would stop him would be the pitch limit.

“It was his heart,” Shoaf said. “He's been a part of four state championships now in baseball. He just has the will to win. Sometimes he's a pain in the rear because the emotions come out, but you put up with it because when it comes time to go he goes.”