SEASON OVER: BARTLESVILLE DOENGES TOYOTA INDIANS QUEST FOR ALWS BERTH ENDS
Bartlesville Doenges Toyota Indians Jaxon Zaun (left), Lathe Griggs and Brenden Asher during the National Anthem in an earlier season game. The Indians’ quest for an American Legion World Series berth ended Friday in Ada.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
July 26, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Fifty-nine days and 50 games after Grant Clark threw the first pitch the Bartlesville Doenges Toyota Indians baseball season reached the end of the road Friday.
The Indians (24-26) finished just two wins shy of winning their first Oklahoma American Legion title since 1978 and their first appearance in the American Legion Mid-South Regional since 2000.
It wasn’t for a lack of fight or grit.
On Friday morning, the Indians knocked off the Ada A’s to advance to the state final Friday afternoon against the Ada Braves, played in Ada.
Ada piled on a bunch of runs late to win, 10-5, and clinch the crown and a spot in the regional.
Had the Indians beaten the Braves on Friday, an ‘if’ game would have been played Saturday to determine the champion.
But Bartlesville didn’t force a Saturday game. There is no more 2025 season for one of the most unique and scrappy Indians’ teams in recent memories.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” said veteran Indians’ manager/head coach John Pannell. “It was a fun bunch.”
The Indians won 14 of their final 19 games to record a sizzling July.
For much of the season they faced tremendous challenges to remain competitive — a 1-5 start to the season, some of the easier teams on their schedule dropping out, going to battle in several games with key players missing, having to fight through the state tournament without one of its top-four batters (Brett Eaves) and a versatile warrior (Bryce Sickler) because they were too old and — perhaps as tough as any of the other factors— playing only two games in the 10 days leading up to the state tourney.
Any team, no matter how good it is, is bound to develop a major case of rust with nine days off between contests.
“We were playing so well,” Pannell said, adding he had tried hard to find some games without luck. "We had three really good practices. We did a lot of hitting and defense.”
Despite their time off from competition, the Indians waged a valiant performance in all four games at state. With just a little tweak here or there in crucial moments and the overall outcome might have been more to their preference.
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Bartlesville Toyota Indians Grant Clark gets a lead off of first base during an earlier season game. The Indians’ quest for an American Legion World Series berth ended Friday in Ada.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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They opened up Thursday by rallying from a 4-1 deficit to beat the Ada A’s, 12-4. They then fell to the Ada Braves, 4-3, in a semifinal thriller.
That set up their consolation final win against the Ada A’s, 9-1, on Friday morning. In the prospective championship game, the Indians surged to a 2-0 lead on the Ada Braves and were tied through four-and-a-half frames, 4-4.
But the Braves — the defending state champions — scored six runs in their final two offensive innings and held on.
The list of Indians’ achievements was impressive — a spot in the finals of two out-of-town tourney and grabbing the championship in the 66th Annual Glen Winget Memorial Tournament in Bartlesville. This was Bartlesville’s first Winget title since 2018 and only its fourth since 1999.
They also fared well in the DBAT College League despite them being the youngest squad in the group.
Next year is set to be the 90th Anniversary of Bartlesville American Legion baseball, which started in the late spring of 1936 with Clark McGregor as the first manager/head coach.
Following are summaries of Friday’s state tourney games.
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Bartlesville Doenges Toyota Indians Kael Siemers tries to pick off a base runner at second base during an earlier season game. The Indians’ quest for an American Legion World Series berth ended Friday in Ada.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BARTLESVILLE INDIANS 9, ADA A’s 1
For the second-straight day the Indians racked up a run-rule win against the A’s.
The A’s opened the scoring with a run in top of the first off Bartlesville starting pitcher Zane Stricklin. Stricklin would pitch the distance with Bryce Luelf as his catcher.
A true two-out rally — highlighted by Zane Griggs’ two-run single to plate Brenden Asher and Sam Marcella — lifted the Indians into the lead, 3-1, in the bottom of the first. Jaxon Zaun also reached base and scored on a wild pitch.
Asher’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second stretched Bartlesville’s lead to 4-1.
Bartlesville added three more runs in the fifth inning, including a two-run single by Kael Siemers to plate Griggs and Grant Clark.
In the bottom of the sixth, Hunter Shea’s long double and Clark’s single helped produce the final two runs to end the game. Sam Marcella scored one of the runs.
Stricklin had struck out the side in the top of the sixth.
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ADA BRAVES 10, BARTLESVILLE INDIANS 5
This evolved into a fierce scrap in the opening four-and-a-half innings. In the top of the first, Marcella and Eddie Rice both drove in a run to power Bartlesville to a 2-0 lead.
But the Ada tied it up in the bottom of the second, 2-2.
Liam Buchanan scored in top of the third to put the Indians back in front, 3-2.
But the Braves scratched home two runs in the bottom of the third to inch out to their first lead, 4-3.
Zane Griggs tallied a run in the top of the fourth to knot the score, 4-4. He came home on Siemers’ fielder’s choice. But the Indians’ left a runner standing in scoring position.
Asher singled in the fifth but Bartlesville didn’t bring him around.
The Braves sprang out to the lead, 6-4, on an extra-base hit in the bottom of the fifth.
With time running out, the Indians rallied to score one run in the top of the sixth — but ran into two outs on the basepath — and still trailed, 6-5.
Ada racked up four more runs in the bottom of the sixth and kept the Indians off the board in the seventh.
That put the capper on Bartlesville’s season.
As far as looking to 2026, Pannell is on the verge of becoming just the second Indians’ head coach to reach 400 career wins. He has the potential of returning several key players for next season.
The Bartlesville Doenges Toyota Indians after winning the Glen Winget Memorial Tournament over the Fourth of July weekend. The Indians’ quest for an American Legion World Series berth ended Friday in Ada.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports