Top Teams in 2009

[chanfan28]

Who will be the teams to contend with in baseball this year? I know Eufaula, Sperry, Chandler are some early favorites, but who else will contend this year? Bethel? Jones? Heritage Hall? Let's hear em.

[MinerBob]

Well we've been to state two of the last three years so I wouldn't count us out. We played Lexington, Sulphur, and Tishomingo in a very contested regional last year. I know Sulphur lost some good players but if Lex and Tish didn't lose much they could be tough this year.

[chanfan28]

Oh, yes...can't forget Hartshorne. Good. Thanks. They have been really good lately. Who is the coach there and how long has he been there?

[MinerBob]

Our coach is Justin James a Hartshorne alum and I think this is his seventh year. Here's a story on him and family published before state last year: http://newsok.com/article/3241033/ We are lucky to have him here he's a great coach.

[chanfan28]

Great article. What courage and strength Hartshorne baseball can draw from this coach and I pray his son is still in remission and that horrible disease is far removed from the little man. Best of luck this season!

[h-h-s]

i wouldnt count heavener out either. They lost to hartshorne in districts but they only lost 2 seniors. Replace easily but one that started some and a freshman move in from caddo

[MinerBob]

We start the season today against Checotah I'm excited to see who steps up on our team we have a few holes to fill but have a solid core of players that should be very good as the year goes on. Anyone know when the first rankings come out? The eight teams that went to state last year were: Hartshorne, Keys, Chandler, Coalgate, Bethel, Beggs, Eufaula, and Sperry. If Keys still have that lefty they'll be hard to beat, Chandler I don't think lost a lot, Coalgate will be senior laden, Bethel lost a lot I know a few are playing at Eastern, I know nothing about Beggs. Eufaula would have to be around the top along with Sperry even though the lost the older Bundy. I think this year is more wide open that last good luck to everyone it's going to be a great year.

[MinerBob]

Hartshorne wins its opener against Checotah 6-1. A solid win our defense and pitching looked good our hitting was a little shaky but a lot of our players were playing basketball Saturday.

[Mmgord77]

A win is always a good start... very nice.

Washington delayed their start to the year to get in another scrimmage or two with the basketball guys. The Warriors should be a decent team. I don't know if they'll be State team, but decent. Had some health problems to start... when they are healthy, it will be up to how pitching holds up.

[MinerBob]

We lost a hard played game last night against 2A #6 Pocola 15-14 in 14 innings a game that took over 5 hours to play. Both teams showed a lot of heart and stamina this early in the season. I'm glad we don't have a game today good luck to Pocola against Wister 2A #13 today hope you have some pitching left I know we were spent. Here are the first rankings of the season from OKRanking.com:

Rank School W-L
1 Sperry 1-0
2 Chandler 1-0
3 Eufaula 0-0
4 Keys (Park Hill) 3-1
5 Verdigris 3-1
6 Heritage Hall 3-1
7 Jones 2-1
8 Cascia Hall 3-2
9 Coalgate 1-0
10 Hartshorne 3-2
11 Henryetta 1-1
12 Beggs 0-4
13 Sulphur 2-1
14 Sequoyah Tahlequah 3-0
15 Valliant 4-0
16 Vian 0-0
17 Spiro 0-0
18 Plainview 0-0
19 Perry 0-1
20 Kingfisher 0-0

[Mmgord77]

Washington boys are now 2 - 0 with wins ver Lindsay and Pauls Valley. Warriors have done it on good hitting and solid D. The defense was the major area of concern before the season started. The guys have started addressing that issue, and to start out the year, its actually one of their strengths.

The team may be a little better than I thought. They are definitely off to better start than I thought.

[Mmgord77]

Who have Chandler and Eufaula lost to? I saw each has one loss... kind of surprised me.

Washington is 6 - 2. Lost to Altus and a bad loss to Tecumseh. In the loss to Tecumseh, we had a lot of errors and had 3 players leaving Tecumseh to go collect their Academic All-State trophy at the Big House.

This is a LOT better start than most figured we would have. A name to watch out for... Cole Williams. He's legit... good candidate for All-State.

[Strik3]

Eufaula to Deer Creek and Chandler to Clinton

[chanfan28]

Yes Eufaula and Chandler both lost but I think both losses were to highly ranked larger schools. I think Eufaula lost in extra innings and Chandler lost at the very end of the seventh inning on an error after leading the entire game. Tough losses for both programs but those are the kind of losses that make you better.

Rest in Peace, Coach Howard.

[Mmgord77]

Oh yeah... losses this early aren't too big of a deal. I just hadn't heard that they lost.

[h-h-s]

Heavener finished the week 4-1 with wins over Whitesboro salina muldrow idabel and then losing to eufaula 5-0 on saturday. Close game could have gone either way just two innings of walks led to heaveners loss. They have talent this year and could make some noise come playoff time