Published: June 12, 2009 05:21 pm      

Coach, players prepare for All-State

NORMAN — Six players and one coach who helped their respective high school softball programs become three of the state’s most successful over the past four years will be part of a star-studded Small East squad for Saturday’s first fast-pitch All-State Game at the University of Oklahoma.

Latta coach Jim Foster, whose Lady Panthers were runners-up to Ringling in Class 2A last fall, will direct the Small East against the Small West in a game due to begin at 10:30 a.m., and three of Foster’s former players — pitcher Autumn Lawrence and infielders Caitlyn James and Tara MacCollister — will be on the field.

The Latta players — the fourth, fifth and sixth fast-pitch All-Staters to come out of Foster’s program over the past four years — will make up half of the area delegation to Saturday’s game. The three Lady Panthers will join Tupelo’s Josie Soukup and Lindsey Davidson and Roff’s Tyla Truett.

“I’m excited about it,” Foster said of coaching in the All-State game. “This honor is from fellow coaches, so it says you’re doing something right to even be considered for it, much less picked for it.

“I’ve been looking forward to this since I got named to coach,” added Foster, whose last three Latta teams reached the fast-pitch state tournament (the first in school history do so) and whose 2008 squad finished 24-7 and lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Ringling ace Hope McLemore in the championship game. “Hopefully, we can make our program look like we deserve to be there. It’s not tough to look good in slowpitch because it was just over, but they haven’t played fast-pitch in awhile. Hopefully we can look presentable and have a fun day.”

One of the state’s top pitchers the last three fast-pitch seasons, Lawrence was 23-7 with an ERA under a run a game last fall, and she didn’t allow an earned run in three state tournament starts. Like James, Soukup, Davidson and Truett, she will also play in next Saturday’s slowpitch All-State contest, where she was chosen as a third baseman.

James, a three-year starter at shortstop in fast-pitch and an outfielder on Latta’s state tournament team this spring, led the Lady Panthers in RBIs (28) and hit over .400 last fall.

Soukup, who started her career at Coalgate, made the most of her only fast-pitch season at Tupelo, hitting .451 with an on-base percentage of .626 and leading the team in doubles (8), triples (4) home runs (2) and stolen bases (26) as the Lady Tigers finished 30-6 and also reached a third straight (Class B) fast-pitch state tournament .

Davidson, a four-year starter at Tupelo who went to seven straight state tournaments to close out her career and was a member of the 2006 slowpitch state championship squad, hit .329 with three doubles, 21 runs scored, nine stolen bases and a team-high 26 RBIs last fall. She also made just one error and had seven outfield assists as a senior.

“(Soukup and Davidson) have been coming in and hitting the last week trying to get ready (for Saturday’s game),” said Tupelo softball coach Brian Davis, whose program has produced four dual (fast-pitch and slowpitch) All-Staters over the past three years. “You can get as many practices as you want, but it’s not like the real thing.”

Truett didn’t have the offensive numbers of the other area players chosen to the All-State team, but she established herself as one of the state’s best defensive players over the past two years. She had nine outfield assists and just three errors as a senior and hit .293, posted an on-base percentage of .461, scored 28 runs and drove in 11 for Roff, which had had only one other fast-pitch All-State selection (Kayla Balthrop in 2006) in school history.

“Defensively, Tyla is definitely one of the best outfielders in the state regardless of class,” Roff coach Kathy Gregson said after Truett was chosen to the All-State squad last fall. “Her offensive stats werenít flashy. It was mainly her defense that got (All-State) for her.

“Defensively, she’s just one of those kids that wows you,” Gregson added. “She had nine outfield assists this season, and three of them were outs at first base where she just robbed somebody of a hit and threw them out at first base. You don’t hear of that too often for a center fielder.”

Each team in the All-State games will have three pitchers who will work three innings apiece, and the 18 hitters chosen to each team will simply bat in succession, even when they aren’t in the game on defense.

“We’re supposed to practice (today) at Mustang, and I’ll get a look at (the East squad) then and come up with a batting order,” Foster explained.

McLemore will start for the West squad, and Foster said Lawrence will follow Red Oak ace Kayce Coleman in the Small East rotation, with Kalee McCarroll of Dewar pitching the final three innings.

“Looking at the rosters, it should be an even game,” Foster predicted. “(The West) will start (McLemore), so our challenge for the first three innings will be to stay close enough that when they change pitchers maybe we can score some runs.”

Foster also said he is looking forward to coaching girls his teams have played against over the past three or four years.

“It’s going to be fun, because we played against them and I know what they can do,” he said. “Now they’re playing for me, and that should give me a step up on the other coaches.”