Helsley’s ascension to the pros infused with heartbreak, triumph and promise – Tahlequah Daily Press

TULSA He sat in his Sequoyah High School classroom, wondering what would become of his next 12 hours. Further in town, in a stuffy courtroom, Ryan Helsley was having his short-term future pleaded over.

Same went for some of his closest friends and teammates.

Turns out, Nov. 2, 2012 was an unusual day from beginning to end.

A small collection of Sequoyah football players was having temporary court injunctions filed on their behalves, after the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association ruled that Sequoyah players had violated its summer camp policy. The governing body over Oklahomas high school sports had all but neutered Sequoyahs 2012 football season.

The Indians were 8-1 and steamrolling to the Class 3A playoffs with the likes of Brayden Scott at quarterback and Kyle Helsley at running back. Mix in Ryan Helsley, all over the field, Karter Woodruff, Robert Smith, Cody Hooper, Nick Kingfisher, Greyden Elrod and others, and the Indians were well-equipped to wreck havoc on the 3A playoff field.

The Helsley brothers, and their Sequoyah teammates, were granted permission to play in the regular season finale by Cherokee County District Judge Douglas Kirkley. The Indians went out and ambushed Lincoln Christian on Thompson Field, 63-40, thanks to Kyle Helsleys 265 yards and three touchdowns on only 14 carries.

It would be the last time Sequoyah fielded a football team during the 2012 campaign. The OSSAA released a 3A playoff bracket the next day, leaving the Indians off while forcing Sequoyah to forfeit all of its victories it had amassed during the season.

Nearly a year later, the state supreme court ruled the OSSAA acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner, while interpreting and enforcing its rules. By that time though, it was a moot point related to the Indians run that season.

It still irks Ryan Helsley to this day.

At the time, it was heartbreaking, Helsley said. We knew how good we were, and we had a chance to do something special.

Thus, Helsleys football career was over. But as it turns out, baseball has worked out quite well for the Sequoyah graduate.

After a collegiate career at Northeastern State, Helsley was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. On Tuesday night, he made his Double-A debut with the Springfield Cardinals, throwing 92 pitches over four innings while not factoring into the decision in what became a 5-4 Tulsa win.

Its been an awesome journey so far, said Helsley, who gave up one run on five hits with six strikeouts and four walks against the Drillers at ONEOK Field, where several hundred loyal Sequoyah followers flocked on Tuesday.

Monday was trade-deadline day for major league ball clubs, but it was a relatively quiet day for the Redbirds. With trade winds swirling, minor league promotions went under the radar, much like Helsleys promotion from Single-A Palm Beach in Florida.

I got the call-up, and I looked at the schedule and saw the team was here in Tulsa, Helsley said. I called my mom and was a little emotional, just because I hadnt seen them in so long since I was so far from home. But it was a great blessing to be able to debut here in front of my own family.

Helsley, a 6-foot-1 right-handed hurler, began his rapid ascension through the Cardinals minor league system in 2015 after being drafted in the fifth round by St. Louis. In 2015, he pitched at the rookie-league ranks in Johnson City, Tennessee, and that segued into a 2016 season at Class A Peoria last year.

In 17 starts last season, Helsley registered a 1.61 earned run average while logging 109 strikeouts to only 19 walks. That was enough to vault him onto the top 30 list of St. Louis prospects, where he currently resides at No. 25.

For now, Helsley will look to stick with Springfield through the end of this season and re-evaluate from there.

Im going to pitch while Im healthy and make every start I can, said Helsley, who toted a 2.69 ERA in 16 starts for Palm Beach earlier this season. I just want to pitch every five days and see where it goes from there.

And as for the injustice levied by the OSSAA, Helsley sees it as nothing more than a memory now.

For the ruling to come out a year (after we graduated), it was already in the past, he said. It sucked. You think back on it and think, what if? Weve all moved then, even though it sucked then. But it is what it is.

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Helsley's ascension to the pros infused with heartbreak, triumph and promise - Tahlequah Daily Press