I’ll admit that before I started Sooner State Baseball Report, my knowledge of small school baseball was not that great. I graduated from Shawnee High School (let’s just say it was a while ago) and my twin boys who graduated in 2022 went to a 6A school. I was used to teams being in districts and how teams finished in those districts was how they were grouped in the postseason.
During the first year of covering Fall baseball for SSBR (in 2023) I soon came to realize that for the Fall season (and Spring season for Classes 2A and lower) that the postseason assignments were based on the OSSAA rankings provided by the coaches. It also became apparent to me that some of the teams’ rankings were “questionable” at best.
These “questionable” rankings became so egregious that I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I began giving commentary on these rankings and continued that through the Fall season of that year. However, while I was giving my “constructive criticism” that year, I thought of some lessons I’ve been taught over the years. Lessons like if you see a problem, find a solution. I don’t know what kind of solution I can provide (other than suggest that coaches’ rankings be made public), but I do know that I can provide what I would think would be a fair rankings for each team.
In 2024 I began to rank my top 10 in each class about half way through the Fall season. Last year I started to shorten that to my top 8 for each class – teams that if the season ended today should host a regional or be a 2 seed depending on the class. Let’s call it my “Eight For State.”
Below you will see who I have as the top 8 in each class. What makes my rankings a little different is they are based not just on potential, but also on results and strength of schedule. At some point those factors have to be considered and teams rewarded or dinged as such.
Class 2A
- Silo 2. Tushka 3. Dale 4. Latta 5. Preston 6. Oktaha 7. Vanoss 8. Colbert
Silo is clearly the class of 2A and all classes at this point. Not saying they can’t be beat in a one game situation, but with the several ways the Rebels can beat a team, it’d be pretty hard.
Tushka and Dale are in the next group behind Silo at this point, and really they are interchangeable at this point.
Latta gets the nod at 4 with a tournament win at Roff this past weekend beating 3 class 2A teams including Preston who I have at #5.
After that, it can be a number of teams, but I have Oktaha at 6, Vanoss at 7 after a runner up finish at Roff, and Colbert at 8.
Class A
- Rattan 2. Union City 3. Navajo 4. Canute 5.Wright City 6. Arapaho-Butler 7. Amber-Pocasset 8. Cameron
Talk about parity. That is what Class A is.
Rattan at this point gets the nod at the top spot as they 2A’s Oktaha and Tushka as well as A’s AmPo and Cameron.
Union City, Navajo, Canute, and Wright City are grouped together in the next 4 spots, but I got UC at 2 based on their Varnum Tournament win which included a win over Wright City.
Navajo gets the nod at 3 over Canute with their win over the Trojans last week.
Canute hosts Union City on Monday night.
Arapaho-Butler is at the 6 spot right now, but they could easily move up in the top 5 with a good week or two.
AmPo and Cameron round out the top 8.
Class B
- Ft Cobb-Broxton 2. Tupelo 3. Dover 4. Leedey 5. Calumet 6. Coleman 7. Asher 8. Drummond
Ft Cobb-Broxton has the top spot right now, but the gap is small between them and Tupelo and Dover.
Tupelo gets the nod at 2 with a little bit of a tougher schedule, but it wouldn’t surprise anyone if Dover were to beat them head to head if they play.
Leedey gets the nod at 4 over Calumet based on their head to head win.
Coleman has an 11-1 record at this point, but their schedule has been “light” compared to others up to this point.
Asher comes in at 7 due to their loss to Coleman last week.
Drummond is at 8 with 4 losses, but they do have wins over Calumet (and a loss) and Leedey.
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