Catching up with da local boys…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
When Harrah wrestling coach Bryan Miller started to tell me about his fund-raising event more than a month ago, I was pretty excited.
Not necessarily for the event but because of the names I was hearing. It was going to give me a chance to check in with some of the former Oklahoma high school standout wrestlers.
It was a blast from the past in one aspect and then a look at the future in another at the Harrah Fight Night on Saturday.
I was at Shawnee during Gary Frazier’s senior season. I’m happy to hear he is landing on his feet. He’s still quite the presence. Frazier was a two-time state champion for Shawnee and won his MMA bout by first-round TKO.
Former teammate Aaron Smith also was a two-time champion and went on to Oregon. Frazier told me Smith is thinking about heading into the MMA world, even coming to the gym last month.
The two used to battle each other and both were made the better for it. Frazier said they used to play “toetaps” where you see who can tap the other’s toe from the standing position. He said it really helped out in footwork and movement.
Smith is shooting for a degree in petroleum engineering, so he has a future somewhere, be it there or in MMA.
Frazier trains with Matt Grice and said his favorite fighter is Anderson Silva. Good choice. He said Silva because of the way he can attack with the knees.
Also spoke with Harrah product Tony Quintero. He’s hoping to go to Bacone to wrestle, but he looked impressive in his first-round TKO on Saturday.
Quintero has a solid, compact frame and said his favorite fighter is B.J. Penn. Penn is not just his favorite, he’s Quintero’s all-time favorite. He’s trying to model his game after Penn, but you know that’s not easy to do.
Most impressed with Harrah graduate Levi Queen in his win Saturday. He’s going to be a sophomore at Central Oklahoma this year and hopes to perhaps play football.
He missed out on sports last season because of a communication error, but he’s been training and looks in great shape.
His favorite fighter is Forrest Griffin. Griffin is the working man’s hero, for sure. It’s not surprising how big of a following he has.
Caught up with Shawnee coach Jeff Chamblin. He pretty much nailed it: “I would prefer these kids not get involved. But they’re grown men now and make their own decisions. If they’re going to be in it, might as well go in the full way.”
That’s true, just have to accept this is what the kids want and support them. Always good to speak with Chamblin and his assistant, Jason Merrell.
It was the first MMA event for Thunder P.A. announcer Jim Miller. Most know him as the Thunder guy, he’ll always just be the Harrah tennis coach for me. Always enjoy chatting it up with Miller.
Now turn my attention to four-time state champion from Harrah, Matt Grice. He’s fighting at UFC 100 on July 11 in Las Vegas. And I’m going to head to one of his training sessions this week.
For a more detailed account of the Harrah event, check out this Boneman’s Bout Blog entry as I stayed for the whole event and watched every fight.
Manship a cut above the rest…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Another Saturday, another trio of all-state softball games. This time it was the slowpitch variety at the OU softball complex.
And once again, it was the Small East winning, followed by the Middle West and Large West coming out on top. Pretty conclusive where the power of the respective sides were at this season.
My No. 1 thought after watching all six games: Southeastern got the steal of the state in getting Ali Manship of Harrah.
She is ridiculously good. She showed it last Saturday with her pitching, hitting and base running.
Then two days ago, it was her fielding. She threw out two runners from her knees at shortstop, showing tremendous arm strength.
Her bat was as strong as ever, knocking in four runs on a two-run single and a pair of RBI singles in a 20-3 whipping of the Large East.
I talked to Harrah coach David Shannon around the time of All-City selections, and I’ll never forget what he said about her: “she’d cut your throat if it meant a win.”
Good stuff. The Manship family is not gone from Harrah as Ali’s younger sister, Beth, will be a senior next season. Shannon said Beth’s swing is more natural than Ali. That’s a scary thought.
I focused on Southmoore’s Brittany James because two things: 1. Thought it was interesting for her to leave Moore to go to the first-year school. 2. Wondered what her thoughts were about playing with those Moore and Westmoore girls again.
The MVP was probably Kayla McKinley of Westmoore. She drove in four runs but oddly enough, it was her pitching that raised my eyebrows.
She pitched six of the nine innings and only gave up one run. More importantly (well, to me), she threw so many strikes that the game flew right on by.
It was a Moore (and Westmoore) thing. Leslie Martini of Moore missed a HR by inches and had to settle for a two-run 3B. WM’s Taylir Ross had a two-run double.
Jay’s Samantha Robertson had the biggest blast of the game, a solo home run that was gone as soon as it hit the bat. It didn’t clear the bleachers, but it was pretty high up there.
In the middle contest, it was a Morrison thing as Adrian Henington, Meagan Wright and Megan Snowden drove in five of the 13 runs in a 13-9 win.
Henington had the big blast. Other than that, it was simply playing station to station as Washington’s Taylor Hancock and Caitlyn Marcum, Fletcher’s Lauren Whitefeather, Hobart’s Jamie Bingham, Wayne’s Amara Martin and Healdton’s Andrea Pemberton all had RBI singles.
Rachelle Reeve knocked one out of the park for the East.
The small version was just the opposite as the East put it on the West good, 14-7.
Cameron’s Kenetta Vickery had a home run while Red Oak’s Sarah Mauzey and Cayce Coleman each brought home a couple of runs. Tupelo’s Josie Soukup had two hits, including a triple.
Bethel athletic director and longtime softball coach Tommy Block was one of two coaches to be inducted into the Oklahoma Slowpitch Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as well.
Prague’s David Smith was also honored. He led Prague to a state championship in 1994 and was inducted into the hall of fame for fastpitch in 2002.
The OSSCA also named its coaches of the year. Moore’s Robert Wakefield received the large schools honor. He led Moore to the semifinals.
Paul Watts of Rattan earned the middle schools award while Bobby Sifers of Moss was named for the small schools.
West softball pitchers live up to billing…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Eerie feeling all day Saturday at the All-State fastpitch softball games at the University of Oklahoma Softball Complex.
The ridiculously humid atmosphere had me fearing for the worst. Fortunately, none of the girls succumbed to the heat. However, a couple of umpires did. Both had to leave the field because of heat-related struggles.
I was told both recovered after a lot of ice and fluids, so that was good news.
As for the games, I dare you to find a better pitching quartet than the Large West squad. Their scheduled pitchers were Kaci Quintero of Westmoore (my Big All-City Player of the Year, going to Seminole State), Katie Lynn of Moore (Southern Nazarene) and Choctaw’s Kalynn Schrock (Tulsa). Then just for fun, coach Steve Schwarz of Westmoore threw in Alex Jones of Enid (Kansas) into the mix.
Yeah, talk about domination. They showed what they were all about in shutting out the East squad.
Most interesting thing to note was East star Ashley Brokeshoulder of Shawnee still has not signed. She missed the game because of injury, but the injury has no impact on her recruiting.
Had a chance to speak with her father, Eddie Brokeshoulder, about everything. He said they are still weighing their options, and it’s definitely not because of a lack of offers. Enjoyed watching Brokeshoulder when I worked in Shawnee and was happy she was able to put it all together and help Shawnee reach the 5A championship last year.
In the middle school’s game, it was a Harrah thing. Ali Manship has long been one of the Boneman’s favorites, and she did it just about every way possible.
She had an RBI single, scored a run on a great slide at the plate and of course, on the mound.
Manship pitched the first three innings and was lights out. Then, former Washington coach Mike Lawless put Manship in to finish the job.
The West entered with an 8-5 lead in the bottom of the ninth. At 8-6 and two runners on, Manship was called to get the final out and did so.
Her teammate, Aaron Adams (headed to Oklahoma State), had a two-run single as well.
The small east was dominant in shutting out the west.
Coaches of the Year: Large Schools: Randall King, Broken Arrow. No shock as led Tigers to yet another state championship.
Middle Schools: Jerry Bates, Tuttle. This was supposed to be the down year for the Tuttle program. Tigers will be loaded next season in quest for three-peat.
Small Schools: Steve Pybas, Ringling. This is cheating, all he did was give the ball to Hope McLemore and let her do the rest (I kid, but Hope is special). Ringling also won a state championship.
I focused on Schrock for my story as I felt she kinda got left in the cold every now and then because of how good some of the other teams were. For my money, Schrock and Quintero’s battle in the state semifinals is still the best high school softball game I’ve seen.
This Saturday is the slowpitch version of everything. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and everything will run smooth.
Slowpitch softball conundrums…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
Couple of things stood out when making my selections for the All-City Slowpitch Softball team.
Most notably, the first team is nine seniors and one junior. Don’t know why I thought that was so shocking, but I did. The teams that did well were senior-laden squads with girls that wanted to make that final run memorable.
Slowpitch selections are almost as tough as fastpitch. Not enough teams play slowpitch to justify a “Little” and “Big” team, so inevitably, some girls get left out.
And what happens as is the case in just about every sport, it’s “position heavy.” What I mean by that is I could have had six, seven teams absolutely loaded as infielders.
It’s a shame that players like Blaike Boles of Wayne and Haley Broyles of Blanchard (to name a couple) couldn’t find a home on the first two teams.
It’s just like in football where there might be seven, eight QBs and RBs that you can’t find a spot for. Just the way it goes.
Not an easy process, but I’m happy with my selections. Some girls were just on the cusp, so figured I’d give ‘em some love here on the blog. Here is my slowpitch “Third Team.”
P: Breanna Drew, Harrah
C: Kristen Calton, Harrah
IF: Katie Curry, Washington
IF: Haley Broyles, Blanchard
IF: Blaike Boles, Wayne
IF: McKenzie Solberg, Chandler
OF: Ashley Rangel, Washington
OF: Beth Manship, Harrah
OF: Michali Thompson, Bethel
OF: Macey Wilson, Crescent
No doubt in my mind that the Player of the Year was Leslie Martini from Moore. The 22 home runs and 78 RBIs are more than enough. For her story, go here.
Fun year in softball. It’ll be interesting to see what some teams do without some names I feel like I’ve been writing about forever.
Be back tomorrow to talk a little bit about any tennis issues may have had.
