The weekly SSBR High School Sweet Sixteen is sponsored this season by our partner, Conner Darnell Designs. If you have a need for a graphic designer, photographer, or sports media, give Conner a look at his website: connerdarnelldesigns.com.
When Sooner State Baseball Report started in 2023, one of the things we did was try to evaluate who the best high school team in the state is relative to their level of play. We did that by creating the SSBR Dominant Dozen.
We take a look at who each team’s performance and the level of competition they have played. As the season goes on, head to head competition will obviously become more of a factor as well.
For example, are we saying that teams at the lower classes are better than say the top 6A teams? Maybe, maybe not. Most of the top upper teams have more depth than the lower class teams and they would most likely win a series with them. But relative to their level, those lower class teams may be having a better season than the upper class teams.
It is not an exact science, but when we do the rankings we look at a number of factors. Win/loss record. How is that team doing against their own class? How did they do versus teams in classifications higher than theirs? District play for 3A-6A teams. Head to head.
Using those factors we rank the teams based on how they are doing relative to their level.
As a reminder, our first two Dominant Dozen champs were Tuttle (4A) in 2023 and Oktaha (2A) in 2024.
*The Rankings this year have expanded to 16, thus the “Sweet Sixteen.”
This is for fun, so please treat it as such.
Let’s take a look at the Week 3 rankings.
The Top 8
Newcastle (4A, 9-1) remains at #1 despite suffering their first loss of the season. That loss was a 1 run game (2-1) to Tuttle at Tuttle. The Racers still have played arguably the toughest schedule and they get the #1 spot based on their head to head win over Owasso.
Speaking of Owasso (6A, 12-1), perhaps no other team is playing better than the Rams at the moment. Since suffering that loss to Newcastle at home, the Rams have won 9 straight including going 6-0 on their recent Florida road trip winning the Dan Gainnini Hawk Classic.
Coming in at #3 is Class A-1’s Dewar (A-1, 14-0). The Dragons have been dominant against the lower class teams so far this season and they went 3-0 last week beating Class 3A’s Marlow and Valliant and 5A’s Coweta.
Edmond Memorial (6A, 8-1) drops to #4 this week after a 16-8 loss to Blue Valley in the Edmond Spring Break Festival.
Blanchard (4A, 9-1) rises up three spots to #5 after going 3-1 in the alway tough Tate Aggie Classic in Pensacola, FL.
Elgin (5A, 8-1) moves up to #6 despite a loss this past week. Their loss was to #1 Newcastle, but the Owls did give then SSBR #5 Collinsville their first loss of the season in the BSN Spring Break Festival.
At #7 we have Mount St Mary (4A, 8-3). The Rockets did lose 3 games at the tough Coach Bob Invitational in Arizona, but they did beat then SSBR #16 and Class B power, Ft Cobb-Broxton on the road on Monday.
Rounding out the top 8 is Elk City (4A, 8-0). The Elks have quietly gone undefeated so far, but the Elks made a statement this past week going 4-0 in the Southeast Shootout beating Rejoice Christian, Marlow, Washington, and Perry.
The Last 8
Tuttle (4A, 9-2) and Calera (2A-1, 8-1) make their debuts in the Sweet 16 at 9 and 12 respectively. Tuttle has won 6 straight including wins over Collinsville and Newcastle last week. Calera made it to the semifinals of the Gulf Shores Classic last week before losing in the semifinals. The Bulldogs beat (6A) Norman North and (3A) Salina.
Bixby (6A, 9-2) moves up to #10 after going 3-1 at the Tate Aggie Classic finishing 3rd.
Carl Albert (5A, 6-1) did not play last week and comes in at #11.
Wright City (A1-1, 8-2) and Rattan (A2-2, 5-1) drop to 13 and 14 respectively after they suffered their first losses on the year at the Gulf Shores Classic.
Choctaw (6A, 6-2) reenters the Sweet 16 at #15 after beating Union and Oktaha in the Edmond Spring Break Festival.
Collinsville (5A, 8-2) drops to #16 after 2 losses to Elgin and Tuttle last week. The Cardinals still have an outstanding win vs Carl Albert.
Dropped Out
- Silo: (PR 6) 2-2-1 last week
- Claremore: (PR 12) 1-3 last week
- Washington: (PR 15) 1-3 last week
- Ft Cobb-Broxton: (PR 16) 1-2 last week
Other Teams Considered (in alphabetical order)
- Ada (4A), 10-0
- Canute (A-1), 6-1
- Chandler (3A), 6-0
- Dale (2A-1), 6-2
- Duncan (5A), 10-2
- Edmond Santa Fe (6A), 8-3
- Lone Grove (3A), 11-1
- Navajo (A-2), 10-1
- Preston (2A-1), 8-0
- Ripley (A-1), 11-0
- Sallisaw (4A), 8-0
- Spiro (3A), 8-1
- Stigler (4A), 10-0
- Stillwater (6A), 5-2
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