With the threat of rain looming, El Reno baseball coach Mark Ward agreed to play his team’s second game of the Bishop McGuinness Festival — originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon — Friday night.

However, while watching the interim game between McGuinness and Mt. Saint Mary’s, the Indians witnessed an on-field tragedy which ended the festival.

Joe Cook, the 52-year-old head coach of the Irish suffered a fatal heart attack in the third base coaching box during the game’s first inning.

“This is a huge loss to everybody in baseball who knows him. He was a great influence on all those young men,” Ward said.

Ward said his team watched as paramedics spent around half an hour trying to revive Cook.

“Everyone was stunned. They were also concerned about what was taking place. I’m sure most of them had never seen anything like that in their lives,” he said.

“The bus ride home was just silent. Events like this really put life in perspective, and games become really unimportant in situations like that.”

Ward said he spent time with Cook before the game, discussing baseball.

“I spent probably 30 minutes with him before the game, just talking. Everything seemed totally normal. It just seemed like a normal day at the park,” he said.

With the cancellation, the squad gained a free weekend in which Ward said he will give them time to process Friday’s events without worrying about baseball.

“I gave my boys the weekend off. I thought they needed a little break, under the circumstances,” he said.

Ward said his team reacted to Cook’s death with concern, and hopes what they witnessed will encourage them to prioritize their lives.

“We always pray before the games, and when we were getting off the bus, they were pulling their hats off. We just grouped up and said a prayer for Coach Cook and his family,” he said.

“I always talk to the kids about having your priorities straight. I personally always emphasize God first and family second and baseball has to fall under those things.

“I hope they take from this just how fragile life is and how quickly things can change. That's how fast things can go from a normal situation to a tragic one.”

Junior Chandon Vieweg said he thought the incident would bring the team together.

“We were all kind of freaked out. We’d never seen anything like that happen before. No one really knew what to do,” he said.

“On the way home, nobody really said anything. We were just quiet and kept to ourselves. It made everybody start thinking and I think that will help us.”

Junior Joe Halley said he was moved by his team’s response to the tragedy.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the coach's family and players. I'd never seen anything like it before and I hope I never see it again,” he said.

“I looked back on the bus, and saw at least five or ten people on their knees praying. That really got to me.”

Halley said the incident will be on their minds when they return to the field Monday, but would not distract them from playing.

“I think it will be in our thoughts, but it won't affect our play. But I'm definitely going to think about it,” he said.

Collinsville 13, El Reno 2

The Indians opened the McGuinness festival with a 13-2 loss to Collinsville.

“We had just lost a heartbreaker (to Anadarko) the day before, and we knew we’d be mixing and matching our pitching because of where we were in the rotation,” Ward said.

Collinsville scored seven runs in the first two innings, after three batters reached base on errors.

“We’re playing well. We’ve had one bad game in a situation where we’re a little bit tired,” Ward said.

Anadarko 5, El Reno 2

The Indians dropped a 5-2 decision to the Anadarko Warriors Thursday at home.

“I felt like Anadarko was the best game we had played all year. We had seven hits and made six really good plays in the outfield,” Ward said.

Among those plays in the outfield was a catch Mike Hefta made on a line drive to left field.
“He really attacked the ball on that line drive. If he had been timid, he wouldn’t have made that play. Instead, he ran straight through it and caught the ball,” he said.

The Indians had the winning run thrown out at the plate late in the game, which eventually forced an eighth inning in which the Warriors scored three runs.

“We gave our offense two chances to score, and it just didn’t work. Joe came in and relieved Mike, and did his job of getting us to the bottom of the seventh with a chance to win, but we just couldn’t get the runner around,” Ward said.

The 5-4 Indians remain undefeated in 5A play and will travel Monday to face the Harrah Panthers before hosting Harrah Tuesday.