Published: May 19, 2008 06:16 pm            

Area All-Staters named

Baseball, soccer teams announced

Ada — Five area players who were fixtures at the state baseball tournament during their careers were named to the Small East squad that will face the Small West in the first of two All-State games to be played July 28 at the Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.

Tupelo’s Randy McCury and Cameron Mann, who went to eight straight state tournaments and won three Class B titles during their high school careers, were named to the East squad, along with Latta’s Dalton Brown, Roff’s Colton Lancaster and Stonewall’s J. P. Maples. Brown was a starter on the Panthers’ last state championship team as a freshman in the spring of 2005 and finished his career with four straight state tournament appearances, Lancaster was the top run producer on Roff squads that reached the Class B title game last fall and this spring, and Maples was one of the leaders on Longhorn squads that went to the Class A state tournament in the spring of 2007 and 2008.

McCurry finished his career with 105 home runs, just one off the state record, and he was almost untouchable on the mound at the state tournament as a junior and senior. After allowing just one hit in back-to-back shutouts — the second a one-hit, 9-0 pasting of Lookeba-Sickles in the title game — in leading Tupelo to the title last spring, he blanked Roff, 6-0, last fall in the championship game for his fifth career shutout at the Big Show.

McCurry was 7-1 last fall and 5-1 this spring with a combined ERA of about 1.20, and he hit a total of 35 home runs and drove in 116 runs in leading the Tigers to 64 wins in 68 games during his senior year.

“Randy was our No. 2 starter as a freshman (when he pitched a semifinal shutout to help Tupelo to the 2005 spring title) and our No. 1 the last three years,” Tupelo coach Clay Weller said of McCurry. “He was an outstanding pitcher, hitter and defensive player — all the things you look for in a high school baseball player. He’s well-deserving of this honor.”

Like McCurry, Mann played a key role in Tupelo’s 2005 championship (the school’s first spring title in almost 40 years), hitting over .400 and driving in key runs in both the semifinals and championship game. He was one of the state’s top catchers in any class over the past four years, and he capped his career by hitting .421 with 12 homers and 35 RBIs this spring, on the heels of a fall campaign in which he hit .482 with 12 homers and 46 RBIs. Mann also won games on the mound at the last three state tournaments for Tupelo and was a combined 16-1 with a 2.02 ERA as a senior.

“Cameron has been kind of the glue that has held things together around here the last four years,” Weller said of Mann. “He’s been the leader of the group, even when he was a freshman. He’s been one of the state’s best catchers for four years, and he’s had some big hits for us.

“We knew when this group of guys came in that Randy and Cameron would be special players,” he added. “They have meant a lot not only to our program at Tupelo but to baseball in Oklahoma in general.”

Brown was a fixture at shortstop for Latta during his career, starting on a senior-dominated squad that won the 2005 spring title (Latta’s third straight) the leader of two state tournament teams as both a junior and senior. He hit .402 with eight homers, four triples and 34 RBIs this spring (despite missing the first four games of the season following an appendectomy) and was 5-2 on the mound after going 7-2 last fall.

“Dalton started at shortstop as a 14-year-old freshman and was a four-year starter for us,” veteran Latta coach Eddie Collins said of Brown, who was the tough-luck loser on the mound in a 2-1 loss to Washington last spring and a 3-2 loss to Ripley last fall in the first round of the state tournament. “He’s a multi-talented kid who’s going to be hard to replace.

“He might have been the best pure infielder I saw this spring in any class,” added Collins, whose 20-12 club this season played one of the state’s toughest small-school schedules. “He’s going to be hard to replace because he did so many things. He’s meant a lot to our program.”

Lancaster played only sparingly on Roff’s last state championship team (which won the Class A title in 2006), but he emerged as one of the undisputed leaders on young squads that reached the Class B title game last fall and again this spring. One of the state’s best all-around catchers last fall (when he had a career season with 15 homers and 64 RBIs), Lancaster was the Tigers’ third baseman this spring, hitting 14 home runs and driving in 46 runs. He also pitched 24 innings in relief this spring and got the save in Roff’s 9-8 victory over Dover in the Class B semifinals earlier this month.

“Colton is a program guy,” Roff coach Ead Simon said of Lancaster. “He’s been at Roff every since I’ve been here. He was an eighth grader when I came here, and he’s probably the most improved player I’ve ever coached. He just loves the game.

“He’s probably as good a defensive third baseman as I’ve coached,” Simon added. “He’s worked hard to become an All-Stater.”

Maples most of the biggest games on the Stonewall schedule as a junior and senior, and he had several of the best moments of his career in the postseason this spring.

After shutout out Weleetka in the regional title game, Maples came back to hit two home runs and pitch a complete game in the first round of the Class A state tournament, but he took the loss, 7-5, to eventual state champion Ripley. Maples finished the season with a .482 batting average, seven home runs and 31 RBIs, and he was 4-3 on the mound.

“I think J. P. earned it,” third-year Stonewall coach Chuck Barton said when asked about the first All-Stater his program has produced. “His career built up to this.

"He had a really good high school career," Barton added. "We don't carry a big record around because of the schedule we play, and sometimes a kid gets lost because he has a .500 record, but look at who he pitched against.”

Ada’s baseball squad failed to land a player on the All-State team, but the Cougar girls and boys soccer teams will have one player each at the 5A All-State games on Friday, June 6, at Tulsa Memorial High School, with Chad Leonard and Susan Cope members of the West squads.

Cope earned All-State honors despite seeing her senior season cut short by injuries that forced to her to miss five games during the Lady Cougars' 9-5 season. Ada coach Tom Morrison said Cope -- a right fullback known for her defensive prowess -- earned postseason honors for her body of work during her varisty career.

"She was a shutdown defensive player -- she actually played wherever we needed to shut down somebody," he said. "She only played in nine games this year, but the other coaches had seen her before and agreed she should be an All-State player.

"She's a great player, a great student and a great citizen," Morrison added. "Shke's a quality leader and a quality person."

        

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