bruins begin regionals later this week; lady bruins head to state tournament
The Bartlesville Bruins are heading to Class 6A regionals later this week. The Bruins ended the regular season 19-14.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
May 5, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
To employ a trite and tried old cliche — and why not, I’m an old writer — the future is now for the Bartlesville High School baseball and slowpitch softball teams.
Well, the future is actually this coming week.
The Bruin baseball crew — which blanked Booker T. Washington, 4-0, in last week’s regular season finale — eyes a scenic spin over to Stillwater to compete in the win-or-done Class 6A regionals.
Bartlesville (19-14) likely could open up at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday against Sapulpa, although the official schedule won’t be set until early in the week.
Meanwhile, the amazing Lady Bruin slowpitch team begins a bid for a state championship when it plays in the Class 6A quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Tuesday against Moore, at the Firelake Fields in Shawnee. The entire tourney will be played in one day, with the championship game set at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The Lady Bruins are revved up to roar to their first-ever state crown.
A little closer look:
BASEBALL
Although they suffered a late slide, the Bruins still go into the playoffs as winners in two of their final three games.
On Friday, Hunter Shea pitched most the way as Bartlesville registered its first non-district shutout of the season.
Bruin head coach Cody Price called on closer Sam Marcella to seal the win.
In addition, Shea stroked multiple hits on offense and Bryce Luelf was among others with impact at-bats.
Bartlesville has won 19 games for the fourth time in five seasons. With a win in the playoffs the Bruins would achieve their fourth 20-win season during the Price Era (2020-25).
In their only regular season meeting, the Bruins powered past Sapulpa, 4-2. After having opened the season at 0-6 and 2-9, Sapulpa recorded a 14-6 record in its next 20 games.
“They’re a lot like us,” Price said about Sapulpa. “Their players compete hard. They’re well-coached. This will be an interesting matchup. … It was not a bad draw for us.”
In the other regional semifinal, host Stillwater takes on U.S. Grant. The winners of Bartlesville-Sapulpa and Stillwater-Grant will meet in the regional semifinal.
Bartlesville split the regular season series against Stillwater.
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Bartlesville High School’s pitcher Karmandy Marscheck (16) checks the infield during an earlier season game. The Lady Bruins leave Monday for the Class 6 A championship.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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SLOWPITCH
Bartlesville blew through the regular season and regionals with a combined 30-9 record.
This week will feature the final and most treacherous stretch to the mountain top. In order to advance the Lady Bruins will have to pull off a sizable upset in the opening round.
The state quarterfinals early Thursday morning or afternoon include Bartlesville vs. Moore, Mustang vs. Southmoore, Broken Arrow vs. Westmoore and Bixby vs. Choctaw.
This is a single-elimination format with all the games played in Shawnee.
Bartlesville comes in as the No. 6 seed. Moore (21-5) is No. 3. In their two regular season meetings, Moore defeated Bartlesville, 12-3 and 11-4. Moore was only one of two clubs to beat Bartlesville twice.
The Lady Bruins appear to have one sizable advantage against Moore. During their two regular season meetings, the Lady Bruins used pitchers other than Karmandy Marsheck.
During the past several games Marsheck has been Bartlesville’s exclusive pitcher and displayed shutdown-ability against all levels of opponents.
Lady Bruin head coach Kyle Minton is confident his pitching and defense can get the job done.
“The biggest thing is to obviously stay confident in our hitting,” he said. “The biggest thing about state is how you swing it in that game.”
If Bartlesville were to put it all together it will be swinging home with the Gold Ball.