The Otis High School baseball team will not have far to travel for regional.
The Bulldogs are the eighth seed in the 16-team Class 1A regional field. They will travel west to No. 1 Akron on Saturday for their regional. They first will play ninth-seed Holly at 12:30 p.m. Akron will play 16th-seed Sargent at 10 a.m. The winners will meet in the regional final at 3 p.m., the survivor advancing to the semifinals Thursday, May 15, at All-Star Park in Lakewood.
Otis is 15-6 after barely losing to Haxtun, 7-6, last Friday in the District 5 semifinal at Prairie. Akron then outlasted Haxtun 17-12 in the district final.
The Bulldogs opened district play last Wednesday with a 10-3 win over Caliche at Haxtun.
Both teams scored two runs in the first inning. The scored stayed tied until the fifth, when the Bulldogs blew it open with seven runs after falling behind 3-2.
JJ Ward went the first four innings on the hill, striking out seven, walking one and yielding two runs on three hits. Gavin Price went the final three innings, ending up with the win. He struck out four, walked two, allowing one run in two hits.
Price had two hits, including a double, with two RBI and one run, Paxton Davis two hits with a double, and two runs, Tayte Smith one hit, one RBI and two runs, Mitchell Stivers one hit, one RBI and two runs, Ward one hit and one RBI, Milo Kendrick one RBI and one run, Emiliano Varela one RBI, Austin Hornung one RBI and one run, and Gracen Bechtle one run.
The Bulldogs gave Haxtun a great battle in the semifinal last Friday at Prairie. They scored three runs in the second for a 3-1 lead, and three in the fourth for a 6-4 lead. They did not score again though, as Haxtun eventually scored the go-ahead runs in the sixth, sending Otis home with a 7-6 loss.
Davis hit two doubles and scored two runs, Kendrick one hit an two RBI, Varela one hit and one RBI, Hornung one hit and two runs, and Bechtle one RBI and two runs.
Ward scattered five hits over five innings, striking out five and walking one, allowing three earned runs. Price threw the sixth, giving up two runs on two hits and two walks, striking out one.