Senior pitcher Kord Fenton helps lead Wister to another strong season

Growing up with two athletic older brothers, Kord Fenton learned the hard way at times about being competitive and standing his own ground. Looking back on that experience, Fenton wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“Me and my brothers are as competitive as they come,” said Fenton, a senior pitcher for the Wister (Okla.) baseball team. “Everything is a competition to us; with that being said, we hold ourselves to very high expectations in our athletic careers.”

Fenton’s older brothers, Kass and Kix, played high school sports at nearby Poteau, mainly football and baseball. Kord also began his high school career at Poteau playing the same sports before transferring to Wister during his junior year.

Because Wister doesn’t field a football program, in Oklahoma the schools that don’t play football can play baseball in the fall. That gave Kord more time to hone his baseball skills, but admittedly, he knew it would be different going from the Friday night lights of a football stadium to playing under the lights on a baseball diamond.

“Playing fall baseball was definitely odd for me,” he said. “I felt like in the fall I belonged on the turf padded up (for football). It took me a while to adjust and get used to playing baseball in the fall.”

But on the flip side, Fenton was joining one of the traditionally strong baseball programs in eastern Oklahoma. Wister made the state tournament in fall baseball and spring baseball his junior year. This spring, the Wildcats are in great shape to make another run at state. As of April 17, they were 17-2 and ranked No. 4 in Class A-I.

Earlier this month, they won the annual LeFlore County Tournament for the fourth time in the past five seasons. It made things even more special for Fenton and his Wister teammates because this year’s LCT was played on the Wildcats’ home field. Fenton was also named to the All-Tournament squad, joining Wildcat teammates Dartyn Meeks, Jagger Dodson, Jayden Byars and Torben Vocque, who was named the tournament MVP.

“Wister is a traditionally talented ball club,” Fenton said. “What separates us from the rest is that we don’t only play for each other, but for the guys in the past who rep the same thing we do today. It’s not often you get a group of kids that all pull on the same rope.”

Fenton signed to play at Connors State, a perennially strong junior college program based in Warner, Okla.

“I know I have made the right decision by attending Connors,” he said. “Playing for a team with such great culture and tradition with a coaching staff that has proven time and time again why they are the best at what they do is something I look forward to every day.”

Fenton also plans to play on a summer league team, the South Plains Nationals, one of the region’s top clubs. He’s hoping to do that after helping Wister win its first spring baseball title since 2011.