Class A Fall State Preview

It has all come down to this. All of those scorching hot practices in temps north of 100. All of those long road trips. All of the extra BP or fielding practice. The 2023 OSSAA Fall State Tournament is here.

Eight teams from around the state will converge in Edmond on Thursday to start the Class A State Tournament. Some were thought to be here while a few weren’t. However, when it was all said and done, one could argue that this is the best field we could’ve seen. Eight of the top nine teams in the final OSSAA rankings of the season qualified for the State Tournament.

Yep, no cupcakes or push overs here.

Let’s take a look at each team in the field.

Oktaha Tigers (30-1); #1 SSBR Super Six; #1 OSSAA Rankings

Record vs Class A teams: 29-1
Record vs State Tournament teams: 12-1
Record vs each State Tournament team: Wright City 1-0; Dale 4-0; Rattan 1-0; Wister 2-0; Silo 1-1; Preston 2-0; Okarche 1-0
Avg Runs Scored/Game: 8.77
Avg Runs Allowd/Game: 1.81

The Tigers have been the class of Class A all season long. They’ve held the #1 spot in the SSBR Super Six for each week as well as the #1 spot in the OSSAA rankings each week.

Head Coach Kevin Rodden has a squad who’s lineup would play in any class in the state. There is no break for a pitcher 1-9.

On the flip side, the Tigers are stout on the mound as well. Oktaha also has 11 shutouts on the season.

What make the Tigers even more impressive is their schedule. Thirteen of their 31 games have come against State Tournament teams along with several other games against teams in or just out of the top 10 at the time.

Preston Pirates (25-4); #7 OSSAA Rankings

Record vs Class A teams: 19-4
Record vs State Tournament teams: 1-2
Record vs each State Tournament team: Dale 1-0; Oktaha 0-1; Wister 0-1
Avg Runs Scored/Game: 11.21
Avg Runs Allowed/Game: 2.52

Preston was one of the last unbeaten teams in the state until they lost their first game vs Latta at the end of August. While they haven’t played the toughest schedule out of the 8 state teams, they do have nice wins vs AmPo (1 in the regular season and 1 at Regionals), Arapaho-Butler, and their signature win at Dale. The Pirates also have wins over Class B State Tournament teams Stuart and Kiowa.

It’s hard to get a gauge on this Preston team. Facts are facts and when it comes down to it, the level of competition that Preston has seen compared to the other 7 teams is significantly lower. Having said that, the Pirates did what they should do against that competition and blew them out, but Preston did lose to Oktaha (7-2) and Wister (11-5) within the last 2 weeks.

Dale Pirates (20-9); #6 OSSAA Rankings

Record vs Class A teams: 16-8
Record vs State Tournament teams: 2-6
Record vs each State Tournament team: Oktaha 0-4; Preston 0-1; Rattan 0-1; Wright City 1-0; Okarche 1-0
Avg Runs Scored/Game: 7.52
Avg Runs Allowed/Game: 3.38

Dale is not a team that is going to “wow” you when you look at them. However, when you watch them play you see a good, solid, fundamental team that plays together.

Dale is the most fascinating team to watch in this tournament. They have the most losses of any team in the field, but 4 of those 9 losses have come to Oktaha. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to see the Pirates playing in the Bricktown Ballpark on Saturday.

Silo Rebels (22-5), #4 SSBR Super Six; #5 OSSAA Rankings

Record vs Class A teams: 14-3
Record vs State Tournament teams: 3-3
Record vs each State Tournament team: Wright City 1-2; Oktaha 1-1; Wister 1-0
Avg Runs Scored/Game: 8.48
Avg Runs Allowed/Game: 3.04

A new head coach and a bunch of new players and Silo is right back in the State Tournament.

Growing pains were to be expected in Silo with a new head coach in Eddie Jeffcoat and a bunch of young, inexperienced players. But the Rebels weather the “storm” and are back in the State Tournament again.

Charlie Gardner has reentered the rotation after being out with an injury and he gives the Rebels a true ace.

Silo is riding an 11 game winning streak into the tournament with one of those wins the lone blip on Oktaha’s record. The Rebels are playing as well as anyone right now.

Rattan Rams (27-4); #3 SSBR Super Six; #3 OSSAA Rankings

Record vs Class A teams: 15-4
Record vs State Tournament teams: 3-2
Record vs each State Tournament team: Wright City 2-0; Dale 1-0; Oktaha 0-1; Wister 0-1
Avg Runs Scored/Game: 9.81
Avg Runs Allowed/Game: 2.06

Rattan seams to be the team no one is talking about. However, the Rams are a legit threat to win the title. Their 4 losses came within weeks 2 and 3 in the season. Also, 3 of their 4 losses were by only 1 run.

Since their last loss on August 25, the Rams have won 18 games in a row. They blew out Ft Cobb-Broxton to start that streak and hadn’t won a game by no less than 3 runs until they beat Dale 4-3 to win their Regional last week. Their margin of victory in those 18 games is 8.67.

Wright City Lumberjax (26-7); #6 SSBR Super Six; #4 OSSAA Rankings

Record vs Class A teams: 15-7
Record vs State Tournament teams: 3-5
Record vs each State Tournament team: Oktaha 0-1; Silo 2-1; Rattan 0-2; Dale 0-1; Wister 1-0
Avg Runs Scored/Game: 8.79
Avg Runs Allowed/Game: 3.00

What to say about Wright City?

The good: the Lumberjax have a 6 game winning streak and 3 – 5 game winning streaks on the season. Five of their 7 losses are to State Tournament teams while the other 2 are to ranked opponents.

The bad: while WC hasn’t lost back to back games, and the majority of their losses are to state tournament teams, the state tournament is a 1 loss and you’re done tournament.

Maybe the third time will be the charm against Rattan?

Okarche Warriors (25-4): #9 OSSAA Rankings

Record vs Class A teams: 17-2
Record vs State Tournament teams: 0-2
Record vs each State Tournament team: Dale 0-1; Oktaha 0-1
Avg Runs Scored/Game: 7.76
Avg Runs Allowed/Game: 2.10

Well, look who joined the party.

Okarche may be the surprise team in the State Tournament, but don’t gake them for granted.

Yes, they’ve played the fewest number of state tournament teams, but that is more about where they are located than anything. The bulk of the top teams in Class A are in the east/southeast part of the state and it isn’t feasible for Okarche to travel that way.

Yes, they’ve only played 2 state tournament teams, but they haven’t had an easy schedule. They split 1 run games with Ft Cobb-Broxton (with their loss a 13 innings affair) and Calumet (Calumet’s only loss). They beat AmPo in their only game and beat #8 Tushka twice in Regionals to qualify for state.

Can you say “Dark Horse”?

Wister Wildcats (24-4); #2 OSSAA Rankings

Record vs Class A teams: 18-4
Record vs State Tournament teams: 2-4
Record vs each State Tournament team: Oktaha 0-2; Silo 0-1; Rattan 1-0; Wright City 0-1; Preston 1-0
Avg Runs Scored/Game: 8.89
Avg Runs Allowed/Game: 1.75

There was a time during the season where it looked like the Wildcats would be the only team to challenge Oktaha. That isn’t the case anymore. With the surge that Rattan and Silo have been on, they are the teams that look like can challenge Oktaha.

Wister did get off to a great start, but their biggest win since beating Rattan in the middle of August is #11 Byng on Sept 8. They did put it on Canute and Preston in the Regional so maybe they’ve gone back to being upper echelon team they looked like in August.

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