It is that time of season and we have finally reached the State Tournament and congratulations to all the teams that have made it back to the state tournament. Follow along as I preview the State Tournament matchups and hear from the coaches as they give their thoughts. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be at Noble High School and the state championship will be at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
Tuttle vs Cushing
Thursday at 11:00am
Last Appearance: Tuttle (Fourth consecutive since 2021) Cushing (Second consecutive)
Tuttle’s road to state
Tuttle’s playoffs started with wins over Douglass 17-0, Madill 10-0 and Kingfisher 10-1, Defeated Broken Bow 14-0 twice to advance to the state tournament.
Our road to the State Tournament is one these guys were pretty motivated to travel down. We played a pretty tough schedule during the regular season to try and challenge ourselves against different styles of competition and different levels of competition. We have had a lot of guys play different roles. A lot have had opportunities in some high-level games so I think that helps our group at the end of the year. Our starting lineup has changed a ton throughout the year, and I think our coaching staff has a pretty good feel for who needs to be in there in certain situations. Hats off to our players to make it really challenging to pick 9 or 10 guys everyday because it Is a difficult task. That Is a testament to the work they put into what they do and how much they care about our ballclub. I think the anticipation leading up to the tournament is something this group started getting excited about back in August. Our guys knew there would be a lot of different faces in the lineup after losing some massive pieces to graduation. They really accepted that challenge. As a coach it is awesome to see them get to the state tournament again. It is not something that is easy to do and these guys deserve all the credit for making it happen again. It really has become an expectation In our program to be here, but our guys know you can’t just show up and make it here. I think that is what has made this a great year. It is very easy to just go through the motions and try to turn it on here and there. This group didn’t go about their business that way and our staff is very proud of them. Our group like every other has had some serious ups and downs here and there. But these guys care a lot about each other and found a way to put it all together to get to this point said Tuttle coach Breck Draper.
Cushing’s road to state
Cushing started their playoffs with wins over Jay 12-2 and Bristow 18-8 and 12-5, Defeated Stigler 4-3, Fell in game two 17-14 but won the if game 7-6 to advance to the state tournament.
We were district champs this year in a very tough district with 4 of our teams in our district winning regionals and having the opportunity to play in an Area Tournament. We scheduled a tough non district schedule to help prepare us for the post season. Our team has worked hard since last year state tourney in our off season program and the boys done a great job all year competing during season. We have set high expectations and goals for ourself and our program as a whole and I’m very proud of our team for continuing to strive to reach our goals on a daily basis. We won a good regional at Cushing and was ranked a #8 seed which allowed us to host an Area Tournament. We were very excited to win our Area tournament as well at home. We faced a very good team from Stigler that had a good rotation and was coached well. Our team had grit and we had boys come through when needed. It’s an awesome experience for our team to head back to the state tournament this year. I’m very happy for my players, assistant coaches, school and community. Pressure is a privilege and we are very appreciated to get where we are. We are not satisfied and looking forward to the challenge this week ahead of us said Cushing coach Bryce Scalf.
Hilldale vs Marlow
Thursday at 1:30pm
First Appearance: Hilldale (First since 2017) Marlow (First since 2022)
Hilldale’s road to state
Hilldale started their playoffs with wins over Ft. Gibson 20-10 and Tecumseh 10-0 and 21-2, Defeated Sallisaw 13-2, Fell in game two 14-8 but won the if game 8-3 to advance to the state tournament.
Going into this year we thought we had a chance to be solid, just weren’t sure how quickly we would get it figured out. We returned 3 everyday players and don’t have a senior on the team. We started the season playing really well and kind of realized we had a chance to have a good year if we could continue to get better and we have been able to do that. Our guys are really pumped to get to the state tourney and are looking forward to go compete. Once the ranking came out and we were able to host they were super pumped. The last few years we have had good teams, just haven’t been able to finish at the end. This group seemed to be different all year. This group gets along great and has been bought in all year. They are a fun group to coach cause they compete so hard and get along so well. I am super proud of what they have accomplished to this point and excited to see it continue said Hilldale coach Nathan Frisby.
Marlow’s road to state
Marlow started their playoffs with wins over Bridge Creek 8-5 and Byng 8-1 and 3-2, Fell to North Rock Creek 7-1 but won the next two 8-4 and 4-2 to advance to the state tournament.
Well, we won our district so we had a regional with bridge creek and byng hs. We were lucky to beat both and played pretty decent. This week, we had what I call a super regional much like what college has to make it to the CWS. We hosted North Rock Creek, lost the first game. We regrouped and won game two. Then had a gutty performance on the mound by Mason Holding. Got a few timely hits and held on to win. For most of these guys they’ve seen Marlow make the state tourn and I think they expected to go and get into it. They played pretty calm through it said Marlow coach John Morgan.
Elk City vs Chickasha
Thursday at 4:00pm
Last Appearance: Elk City (Third consecutive since 2022) Chickasha (First since 2015)
Elk City’s road to state
Elk City started their playoffs with wins over Purcell 10-0 and McLoud 9-0 and 23-0, Defeated Mannford 4-0 and 11-3 to advance to the state tournament.
We played a tough schedule this year, we played three of the teams in the state tournament. We go play these guys for this reason. We want to see the best competition we can, so we are in a position to play in the state tournament. We are trying to treat it like any other week. Our guys are excited for the opportunity. Our guys will be ready for the games ahead. The feeling of getting another opportunity to play in the state tournament never gets old. Our guys have worked hard all year to give us the opportunity to get back to state tournament said Elk City coach Jay McClure.
Chickasha’s road to state
Chickasha started their playoffs with wins over Seminole 10-0 and Weatherford 7-2 and 13-2, Defeated Bethany 6-1 and 9-8 to advance to the state tournament.
Had a tough draw in regional with Weatherford, Seminole, and Ardmore. Came through it 3-0 Tough draw in Area with Bethany 2-0 and came back from a 5-0 deficit in the 2nd game!! Super proud our our kids and Coaches!! said Chickasha coach Kevin James.
Blanchard vs Newcastle
Thursday at 6:30pm
Last Appearance: Blanchard (Third consecutive since 2021) Newcastle (First since 2019)
Blanchard’s road to state
Blanchard started their playoffs with wins over Woodward 10-0 and Plainview 11-0 and 23-0, Defeated Ada 10-0 and 10-1 to advance to the state tournament.
I think our road to state this year is a little bit different than what we’re accustomed to, If anybody knows our schedule or our roster, We had everybody coming back and then had a couple of additons to our program this year but we battled through a couple injuries losing a key pitcher and a key starter on defense and started the year 3-6 and again we played a very difficult schedule the first nine games. Obviously we went to Pensacola and played and it takes those guys some adjustment to some changes in the lineup and things like that but we finished 23 out of our 24 and won 19 in a row so I think we’re playing good when we need to be said Blanchard coach Josh Raney.
Newcastle’s road to state
Newcastle started their playoffs with a win over Anadarko 10-0, Lost to Harrah 6-5 but won three straight over Pauls Valley 15-1 and Harrah 10-0 and 9-3, Defeated Perkins-Tryon 9-6 and 2-0 to advance to the state tournament.
We believed since August we were talented enough to compete for a state championship. We have been working hard everyday to put ourselves in position to make it. We went through a tough regional and super regional with a young team that believed in each other and stepped up when games were on the line. The boys are excited to punch their ticket but want to continue toward a state championship said Newcastle coach Jarod King.
The OKPreps Rundown 
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