Class A State Tournament Preview

Class A has been the most competitive classification across the state this year. Even the head coaches think so by looking at their last poll.

As you can see, the top 3 schools – Tushka, Dewar, and Rattan – are separated by just 7 overall points. Dewar has more 1st place votes than #1 Tushka while 3rd place Rattan has just one fewer than Tushka. This is not to mention that Wright City has over 900 points themselves.

With the State Tournament scheduled to start on Thursday at Shawnee High School, Class A could be the most exciting and wide open field across the Sooner State this postseason.

Tushka Tigers, 27-2

Record vs Class A teams: 11-0; Record vs state tournament teams: 2-0

You could make the case that Tushka has been the most consistent team in Class A for the entire season, and you’d probably be correct. The Tigers have dominated the competition in Class A. Not too many teams can say they’ve beaten the #2 and #3 teams in the final poll like Tushka can. The Tigers beat Rattan, 9-1, on March 7 and Dewar, 4-2, on April 6.

Tushka is a team that can blow the other team out and can squeak out low scoring affairs. They’ve been so good this year, the Tigers are only 2 runs from being undefeated. They lost to (2A, #6) Calera 1-0 and (4A) Ada, 6-5.

I’ll be honest though, while they did win their 3 regional game handily, I don’t like the fact they gave up 15 runs in those 3 games.

Dewar Dragons, 27-2

Record vs Class A teams: 15-1; Record vs state tournament teams: 2-1

If you wanted to make the case that Dewar has been the most consistent team in Class A for the entire season, you might be correct there as well.

The Dragons played 9 games above Class A going 8-1 in those contest losing only to (2A, #1) Oktaha, 5-4, in extra innings. Even when they played Class B competition it was of the top level kind – 3 of their 4 Class B teams came against state tournament teams.

In Districts and Regionals, the Dragons outscored their opponents 74-11 in the five games.

Rattan Rams, 28-5

Record vs Class A teams: 12-2; Record vs state tournament teams: 2-1

Tushka and Dewar may have been the most consistent teams in Class A this year, but Rattan is definitely the hottest team in Class A right now.

Rattan is going for their 16th overall state championship in baseball (8 Spring, 7 Fall) and their 3rd straight overall as they won both the Spring and Fall championships in 2023.

The Rams come into the state tournament winning 19 of their last 20 games. The one “L” in that span came against (2A, #1) Oktaha in a wild, back and forth, extra inning 16-14 affair.

During that stretch of games, the Rams have beaten the likes of Silo (3A), Wright City (A, #4) Calera (2A, #6, Preston (2A, #5), and McAlester (5A).

The Rams come into the state tournament not allowing one single run in their 5 postseason games so far.

Wright City Lumberjax, 25-4

Record vs Class A teams: 7-3; Record vs state tournament teams: 0-3

Wright City is the team out in far southeast Oklahoma that just keeps putting out good season after good season.

The Jax come into State riding a 12 game winning streak that includes wins over 2A’s #6 Latta and #7 Calera, Class B’s #4 Stuart and #8 Caney.

Their four losses on the season are to fellow state teams Rattan (2x) and Dewar along with a loss to 3A’s Valliant who made the Area round.

Okarche Warriors, 22-4

Record vs Class A teams: 9-1; Record vs state tournament teams: 0-1

Okarche is a team that no one seems to talk about yet all they do is win ball games. And when the few time they don’t win, they keep it close and show they can play with anyone.

They are 9-2 against team in higher classes with those losses to one of 5A’s top teams – Elgin, 2-1, and the other to 4A title contender, Elk City.

The other 2 losses came to B’s #1 Ft Cobb-Broxton and fellow state team, Arapaho-Butler.

The Warriors have given up an average of only 2.77 runs per game this year so they will provide a challenge for the Lumberjax put up runs in the quarterfinals.

Amber-Pocasset Panthers, 26-6

Record vs Class A: 17-4; Record vs state tournament teams: 0-1

If there is a team that can claim they had the “toughest” road to State, then it would be AmPo. In their regional, they lost their 2nd game to Sterling and had to come back and win 3 games – 2 against Sterling to just advance to State. Add on top of that, the Panthers didn’t get to play that final game vs Sterling until Monday due to weather issues pushing the game back…and back…and back.

If these players weren’t teenagers, I’d say maybe they were a little spent coming into Thursday, but we know that won’t be the case (at least physically).

AmPo played the vast majority of their games against Class A competition. In the 10 games outside of their class, the Panthers lost to Ft Cobb-Broxton and 3A’s Chisholm.

Arapaho-Butler Indians, 25-2

Record vs Class A: 16-2; Record vs state tournament teams: 1-0

Arapaho-Butler comes into State winning 8 straight games including a win over Okarche. The Indians also have a really nice win over 3A’s Perry Maroons who are a state tournament contender in that class.

To be honest, Arapaho-Butler’s schedule doesn’t really move the needle. They just didn’t play that many good teams. Other than the ones we’ve already mentioned, the Indians 2 losses are to Caddo (A, #8), 7-1 and Shattuck (A, #17) 9-1.

Canute Trojans, 23-4

Record vs Class A: 11-2; Record vs state tournament teams: 1-0

Canute was the only Regional winner that didn’t host and given the circumstances coming into the school year, anything here is gravy (although I’m sure they won’t tell you that).

Canute made both the Fall and Spring State Tournaments in the 2022-2023 school year. However, after those seasons, their head coach left the program and they graduated most of their production.

Coach Bobby Blackburn has done a great job building up the program in his first year. They started off slow in the Fall, but improved over the season and missed out on Fall State by 1 game.

This Spring it only got better. Overlooked all season, the Trojans 14 of their first 15 games and now come into State on an 8 game heater including sweeping Districts and Regionals.

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