Connie Mack state baseball bracket
Here’s the bracket for the Connie Mack State Tournament, which begins Tuesday at Enid’s David Allen Memorial Ballpark.
Tuesday
Game 1: Southmoore vs. Woodward CM, noon
Game 2: Enid Minors vs. Edmond Stars, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: WW Minors vs. CC Shockers, 5 p.m.
Game 4: OKC Broncos vs. Enid Majors, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Game 5: Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser, noon
Game 6: Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser, 2:30 p.m.
Game 7: OKC Sandlot vs. Game 1 Winner, 5 p.m.
Game 8: Game 2 Winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday
Game 9: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Loser, 5 p.m.
Game 11: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 7 Winner, 7:30 p.m.
Friday
*After Thursday’s play, pairing will be determined by AABC rules
Game 12: TBA vs. TBA, 5 p.m.
Game 13: TBA vs. TBA, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 14: TBA vs. TBA, noon
Game 15: TBA vs. TBA, 2:30 p.m.
Game 16: TBA vs. TBA, 7 p.m.
Sunday
Game 17: Championship, 1 p.m.
Game 18: Championship, 6 p.m. (if necessary)
Champion advances to South Plains National Regional in Fort Worth
Moore Player of the Week
Player of the Week: Moore Zone
Kaylan Haywood, Southmoore
Haywood led the SaberCats in scoring at the Edmond Open over the weekend, totaling 35 points. Her 13 points in the tourney opener against Edmond North and her 12 points in Saturday’s finale against Edmond Memorial were both team-highs. She managed double figures in every game and helped the SaberCats to a 69-20 win over Tulsa Central on Friday.
Norman Player of the Week
Norman Player of the Week: Hayley Scott, Norman North
Norman North girls basketball player Hayley Scott set the tournament single-game scoring record at the Altus Lady Bulldog Classic. The senior scored 35 points in Thursday’s first-round win over Childress (Texas). She scored 12 points in a win over Wichita Falls (Texas) and added 11 in the championship game against Western Heights. Norman North won the tournament title.
Volleyball: Another new No. 1 in 4A
Three weeks and three different No. 1 teams in the Class 4A OKRankings volleyball coaches’ poll.
Cascia Hall earned the preseason vote, with Heritage Hall taking over last week. Now, it’s Oklahoma Bible Academy, which will put its No. 1 ranking on the line tonight at Bethany.
The Enid-based school is 15-3, coming off a strong run to win the Clinton Tournament in which OBA 8-0 against Oklahoma teams. The only loss was at the hands of Pampa (Texas) HS. And among their victims were 4A’s defending champ, Clinton, No. 4 Cache (twice), No. 8 Corn Bible (twice) and Bethany.
The Trojans also knocked off another top-10 team in Santa Fe South last Tuesday. I’ll be catching up with coach James Ward this week to get his thoughts on the season.
No other major excitement this week in the 4A poll, though Christian Heritage stepped up another spot to No. 4. Big Pasture is in the top 10 with its 13-0 start.
And the 5A and 6A polls stayed mostly the same as well. In 6A, Norman North (11-1) moved up another spot to No. 7.
Shawnee is enjoying the move back down to 5A, jumping up to No. 9. Last year, the Wolves probably would have been state tournament contenders before getting bumped up to 6A just before the season started.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Scrimmage report: John Marshall vs. Bridge Creek
Before I get into the scrimmage itself, I’ve got to give the game ball of the night to the field crew at Taft Stadium. It was as green and plush as any grass field I’ve seen this time of year. Great work. That field will take a beating over the course of the season, so it’s a good head start to have it in such great shape early.
As for the football, both teams looked better than I expected. I thought John Marshall would be in for some growing pains with 12 new starters in the lineup. Sure, they had their moments when they looked a little lost, and the coaches were working hard after every play teaching better technique, better positioning, better reading of the situations. But overall, the Bears were farther along than I thought they’d be.
And I thought Bridge Creek’s offensive timing would be a little off, because QB Ryan Spangler had so much going on in the summer between football and basketball camps, AAU tournaments and recruiting. But from the outsider view, he looked sharp. He was intercepted by Alandis Bell and Emmanuel Denson on two throws that were more bad decisions than bad execution.
But Spangler and WR Caden Locke kept hooking up all night, including the three big scoring plays. Spangler was also moving outside the pocket well. RB Blake Henderson is a hard runner who produced a few big gains, but overall, I think John Marshall should be pleased with its run containment.
Of course, that’s going to be the strength of the Bears defeense, with guys like Dejon Brison and Denzelle Johnson in the front seven. Johnson is a big, strong athlete who will help out the offense in some running and receiving situations as well.
Here’s the three-piece roundup from Friday’s paper:
Big pass plays for Bears, Bobcats
All the four touchdowns scored by the first-team offenses in Thursday’s Bridge Creek-John Marshall scrimmage covered at least 30 yards, topped by a 65-yard hook-up between Bridge Creek quarterback Ryan Spangler and receiver Caden Locke.
Spangler and Locke connected for three TD passes for the Bobcats and John Marshall answered with one, but the Bears came away pleased with the performance in the first scrimmage of the season at Taft Stadium.
“I thought we competed well,” coach Bruce Troxell said.
A four-receiver spread offense like Bridge Creek runs requires some game-planning, but no one’s doing that right now.
“You can’t run your base defense against these guys,” Troxell said. “Once we saw what they were gonna do, I thought our defense picked it up and we were running to the ball well.”
For Bridge Creek coach Jerry Wallis, the early season mistakes stuck out more than the big pass plays by his veteran offense.
“I think we can play a lot better,” Wallis said. “We did a few good things, but we made some mistakes. With the seniors we have, we shouldn’t make those mistakes.
“I want to see some improvement in our offensive line play. We’ve got to run crisper routes and defensively, we had a few breakdowns. But we’ll get better.”
Blue Chip Report: Bridge Creek QB Ryan Spangler
The 6-foot-7 quarterback had a busy summer split between football and basketball, but he was in sync with his wideouts Thursday night.
He was intercepted twice, but connected with Caden Locke on a pair of 30-yard touchdowns, then when Locke got behind the defense, Spangler found him for a 65-yard score.
“(Spangler) is gonna throw for another 3,000 yards,” Troxell said. “If you give him time, he’ll find open receivers, and that’s what happened.”
Filling the Gaps
Having graduated a large senior class from last season’s 9-3 squad, John Marshall coaches are looking at a variety of holes to fill, whether it’s replacing linebacker Ken Berry, who had 172 tackles, or quarterback Brendon Jordan, who rushed and passed for 1,200 yards each.
The linebacker corps, led by senior Denzelle Johnson, was moving to the ball well most of the night.
At quarterback, junior Dion Vickers and freshman Davion Smith both had good and bad moments, highlighted by Smith’s well-placed 35-yard TD pass to Kody Shields.
Troxell was also pleased with the play of his two new starters at cornerback, one of whom is a freshman.
“At the spots where we had question marks on defense, I think the potential is there to really solidify the defense,” Troxell said.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Santa Fe’s Josh Richardson on Rivals 150
Edmond Santa Fe's Josh Richardson
Edmond Santa Fe’s Josh Richardson is ranked No. 103 on the current Rivals 150 for the basketball recruiting class of 2011.
Richardson, a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who helped the Wolves to the Class 6A state semifinals last March, is the only Oklahoma player currently on the list. He also ranks as the No. 29 shooting guard in the country.
Playing for Athletes First, Richardson has drawn national attention this summer after a strong junior campaign that earned him a spot on The Oklahoman’s Super 5. Aside from several local and regional colleges that are keeping an eye on Richardson, he also has strong recruiting interest from the west, with programs like Arizona State and UCLA.
Based on a couple of reports from BruinBlitz.com, UCLA really likes Richardson, and vice versa, because of both the athletics and academics. Richardson is a very intelligent student considering a medical career. And that’s not just talk. The kid already has a basketball scholarship offer from Harvard. Right now, his other offer is Arizona State, but there are more to come.
The Athletes First team will not be able to participate in the Dallas Showtime Tournament this weekend, but on July 12-15, they’re scheduled to be in Augusta, Ga., for the infamous Peach Jam, an invitation-only Nike tournament.
The team includes a lot of talented players, like Richardson, Obi Emegano of Edmond Memorial, Ryan Spangler of Bridge Creek, Nino Jackson of Ardmore, Stephen Clark of Douglass, Matt Christiansen and Joe Edmonds of Bishop McGuinness, and several others.
Looking back on the Faith 7
Star Spencer product and Oklahoma Christian signee Kendre' Talley in the Faith 7 dunk contest.
The Faith 7 game has always been one of my favorite all-star type events, going all the way back to my days working in Shawnee, so getting the chance to go cover it again was a lot of fun, even though most of the fun for Oklahoma ended shortly after the dunk contest.
So let’s start there… Kendre’ Talley was as much fun to watch as any player I saw this year because of all the things he can do, and his performance in the pregame dunk contest showed it.
The Star Spencer product who has signed with Oklahoma Christian is only 5-foot-9, and he even looks shorter than that now that he lost the flat-top haircut. He used his creativity and his leaping ability to earn a second-place finish behind Texas’ Trevor Fuller. After Talley jumped over a kid with his final dunk, Fuller won it by jumping over a taller kid.
I wish that either Xavier McClish or Amric Fields would have joined the dunk contest, because both of them put on a good show at the Big All-City game.
Aside from that, it was fun watching Fields and PC West teammate Tyler Neal play together again.
One of the most impressive high school basketball duos to come through in recent years, Fields and Neal are enjoying their last few opportunities to play on the same team before Fields heads off to TCU and Neal to Oklahoma.
While Neal’s future teammate — fellow Oklahoma signee T.J. Taylor — was on the other side of the Faith 7 Basketball Bowl in Shawnee Saturday night, Neal relished the opportunity to team with Fields again.
Fields played well around the basket on both ends and scored 24 to earn team MVP honors. Neal had 13 with the pair combining for 19 rebounds, though it wasn’t enough for Oklahoma in the 130-88 loss. The PC West duo will be back together for the All-State game in late July.
“Anytime you get to play with somebody like that is fun,” Neal said of Fields. “We play together so well after playing so long together. I’m excited for him. I think he’s gonna do well at TCU.”
Overall, the Oklahoma team wasn’t as bad as the score might sound. It’s just that the Texas squad had more talent, and a lot more guys heading off to D-I programs.
But the Okies had some strong efforts. Muskogee’s Oren Faulk played well, finishing with 10 points and four rebounds. Talley and Garber’s Bryce Lamer combined for 13 points and five assists, and neither missed a field goal try. Oklahoma couldn’t buy a 3-pointer, going 2-of-22 while Texas was 8-of-29.
And Texas hit more than 50 percent of their total field goals. They got to the line more, they didn’t turn the ball over as much… all the things you would expect in such a lopsided game. It was the biggest margin of victory in the game’s 45-year history, which previously belonged to Oklahoma in a 35-point victory in 2007.
In that game, the Okies had future Sooner Cade Davis, future Cowboy Nick Sidorakis, as well as Midwest City star Xavier Alexander who went on to George Washington and is now at Southern Nazarene. Oh, and some kid named Blake Griffin.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Piedmont community still relishing girls track title
More than a week after their girls track team repeated as the Class 4A state championship, the excitement their accomplishment generated in the Piedmont community is still fresh.
When the Piedmont girls won the 2009 state track title, it was only the second state championship in school history, and the first since the girls basketball team won it all in 1967. Now they’ve got three.
“Winning the first one was special,” Piedmont coach Trinity Johnson said. “This year, with several returning girls from the 2009 team, we had a bull’s-eye on our back. It was very rewarding to see our girls withstand that amount of pressure and rise to the occasion with everything on the line.”
The Wildcats got contributions from the entire team. They scored points in 10 events, with Jori Davis, Sarah Peoples, Madison Berryman, Delarice Staley, Amanda Estes and Raven McDaniel earning gold medals either individually or on relay teams.
Chat Recap: High school sports writer Ryan Aber
Signing List 2010
It’s still a work in progress. Know a signing we missed? E-mail me at raber@opubco.com and we’ll get it added. We’ll run the signing list several times over the next few weeks:
