The 2024 OSSAA High School Baseball season came to an end this past weekend with the State Tournaments for classes 2A-6A crowning their champions. (For complete results of each tournament, click here.)
The postseason officially got started with Class A & B both having their Regionals the week of April 22 and we haven’t released a Dominant Dozen since then.
Below is the final rankings for the Dominant Dozen since everyone is done playing.
Be sure to check out the write up for each team.
Receiving Votes
- Cashion Wildcats (2A); Dale Pirates (2A)
Final Rankings
T11. Duncan Demons (5A), 33-9 (State Runner Up)
The Demons got hot at the right time. Facing a winner takes all game vs Elgin (after losing the previous night) to win their District, Duncan won the game, 4-3. Duncan lost to Edmond Santa Fe (6A State qualifier) in the “get ready for postseason” game, but didn’t lose again until the championship game to Carl Albert.
T11. Perry Maroons (3A), 37-7 (State Runner Up)
The Maroons played one of the toughest schedules in the state relative to their class and it showed in the way they finished. After losing to 6A Piedmont in mid April, Perry rolled off 10 straight wins against schools more their size including “upset” wins over #4 Heritage Hall and #1 Salina in the State Tournament. For Perry, they couldn’t overcome #3 Washington in the state finals.
10. Tushka Tigers (A), 29-3 (State Runner Up)
Tushka was the class of Class A for most of the season. They beat some of the top small school teams including Dewar who was the #1 team in A at the time they played (Dewar was #2 going in the final rankings). Unfortunately for Tushka, they had to face one of the “teams of destiny” in the postseason, Amber-Pocasset, in the finals where they dropped that game, 7-2.
9. Blanchard Lions (4A), 29-8 (State Runner Up)
What if I told you that at one time this season, the Blanchard Lions were 8-7? If you do the math, the Lions ran off 21 wins in a row before the finals of the 4A State Tournament where they lost to Marlow, 3-2.
It was a heck of a turn around for Blanchard to reestablish themselves as one of the top teams in 4A. Hopefully the loss in the finals won’t leave a bitter taste in the collective mouths of the Lions for too long.
8. Calumet Chieftains (B), 23-4 (State Runner Up)
Calumet was the most consistent team in Class B all season. As Ft Cobb-Broxton “struggled” for various reasons during the regular season, the Chieftains stayed the course losing only to 6A Moore, and 4A powers Elk City and Tuttle.
Going into the postseason as the #2 team in the final rankings, Calumet showed that the gap between them and the Mustangs was considerably closer with a 2-1 loss.
7. Westmoore Jaguars (6A), 25-17 (State Champions)
Talk about a “team of destiny.” The Jags are the classic example of getting hot at the right time. They came into Regional play with 16 losses and finished 3rd in their District. On the road at Edmond North, the Jags lost their first game to the Huskies in the Regional meaning every game after that was an elimination game.
Westmoore did allowed only one run in the next five games beating Eisenhower, 11-0 and Edmond North, 4-0, 3-0, to win the Regional and then Enid, 10-0, and Stillwater, 8-1 in the first two rounds in State.
The championship game was a microcosm of the Jags season as they fell behind to Sand Spring (3-0) early. Down 3-0 in the bottom of the 5th, the Jags scored two. They then had the big inning in the bottom of the 6th, scoring 5 runs and eventually winning the game, 7-4.
T5. Amber-Pocasset Panthers (A), 29-6 (State Champions)
Amber-Pocasset took as long road to get to the State Tournament let alone the State Championship. The Panthers hosted a Regional as the #6 team and they had to wait and wait and wait just to claim the title. The Regional started on Thursday, April 25 and the Panthers lost their game to Sterling. AmPo came back to win two games including a 3-2 win over Sterling to for the “If” game. Because of weather delays, that game wasn’t played until 3 days later where the Panthers won, 6-5.
AmPo had to turn around three days later to face Rattan who came into playing as well as anyone. The Panthers beat the Rams, 3-2 and the run culminated with wins over Arapaho-Butler in the semis and the aforementioned, Tushka in the finals.
T5. Marlow Outlaws (4A), 29-7 (State Champions)
Marlow had the type of season where one could see the potential of this team, but also left one scratching his head at times. Fortunately for the Outlaws, the “potential” of this team showed up for good in the postseason.
After losing game 1 to North Rock Creek in the Areas round, Marlow allowed more than 2 runs only once the rest of the way. That included a 1-0 win to #1 Tuttle in the semis and a 3-2 win over #2 Blanchard in finals.
4. Fort Cobb-Broxton Mustangs (B), 24-6 (State Champions)
The Mustangs had an interesting year. With some key players out, they “struggled” to an 11-6 record through their first 17 games. However, they did show some glimpses of being the team we know them to be by beating squads like Dale, Elgin, and Marlow (twice).
The Mustangs went 13-0 to finish the season and the only game that was closer than 3 runs was the State Championship game vs Calumet which FCB won, 2-1.
This was the Mustangs 3rd Spring title in 4 years and the 2nd year in a row they won both the Fall and Spring titles.
3. Washington Warriors (3A), 34-4 (State Champions)
Rarely does a State Champion go through a season without some sort of adversity. That was the case for Washington this year.
On April 12, the Warriors had to play two games at two sites in the same day. Weather forced the second game of their district series vs Lone Grove to be postponed and the Warriors had to play Heritage Hall in the semifinals of a mid season tournament. Washington lost both games and the Lone Grove loss cost the Warriors to not win the district outright.
Since that day, the Warriors did not lose a game winning 13 in a row. Moreover, they outscored their opponents by an average of 10.5-1.5 per game.
2. Carl Albert (5A), 37-6 (State Champions)
Through the first 19 games of the season, Carl Albert was sitting at 13-6 and had some wondering if this Titan team was vulnerable to not go back to back. Welp, those people were wrong.
Carl Albert reeled off 24 wins in a row to finish the season as the dominant team in 5A. They gritted out a 1-0 win over Sapulpa in the 1st round of State before shutting out another top team in Collinsville, 4-0 in the semis.
In the State Championship game, the Titans fell behind Duncan, 6-2 after the 3rd inning before plating 6 in the 4th and 5 in the 7th to win going away, 13-6.
1. Oktaha Tigers (2A), 32-3 (State Champions)
The purpose of the Dominant Dozen is to try and rank the best teams in the state RELATIVE to their classification. No team was more dominant in their class than Oktaha.
The Tigers dominated schools close to their size going 13-0 vs 2A and A competition. Wins included Dewar (#1, A), Rattan (#3, A), Calera (#7, 2A), Preston (#5, 2A), and Cashion (#3, 2A). They also beat teams in higher classifications such as Bixby (6A), Tahlequah twice (5A state team), and Salina (#1, 3A and state team).
Oktaha’s lineup was loaded with talent 1-9. No where in that order is there a “break” from the talent of Kevin Rodden’s team. And when the Tigers needed someone to stop the momentum of Cashion in the title game, Darren Ledford came in relief and shut the Wildcats down the rest of the game.
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