Published: June 13, 2008 02:38 pm      

All-State starting lineup has southern flair

Norman — The starting lineups for Saturday’s small-school All-State games at the University of Oklahoma softball complex will have a decidedly south central Oklahoma flavor.

Konawa’s Jennifer Matthews, who coached the Lady Tigers to their school’s first-ever fast-pitch state title last fall, will coach the Small East in the second of three All-State contests. The large schools (Class 5A and 6A) will begin the day at 11:30 p.m., with the Small East and West (representing Classes B through 2A) squaring off at about 1 p.m. and the Middle East and West (from Classes 3A and 4A) due to play at about 3 p.m.

Two of Matthews’ stars, pitcher Hilary Kuestersteffen and outfielder Erin Fixico, will start for the Small East, along with Tupelo shortstop Katie Campbell and Latta outfielder Kahla White.

Kuestersteffen, who along with Fixico and Campbell will also compete in next Saturday’s slowpitch All-State game, was Class 2A’s top pitcher last fall, posting a gaudy 40-1 record and 0.53 ERA for the 42-1 Lady Tigers.

She also hit .331 with 33 runs scored, 32 RBIs, eight doubles, four triples and a home run as Konawa’s clean-up hitter.

Fixico capped an outstanding fall season with an impressive effort at the state tournament. She had two hits and drove in two runs in Konawa’s 3-1 victory over upstart Haskell in the championship game, capping a season in which she hit .333 with 22 runs scored and 14 RBIs.

Campbell, a two-sport star as a freshman at Byng and for the last three years at Tupelo, was one of the leaders of the Lady Tigers’ 2006 slowpitch state championship squad, and Tupelo reached the state semifinals in fast-pitch the past two seasons.

The first Tupelo player ever to start in a fast-pitch All-State game, Campbell was also the second double All-State performer in school history. She hit a sparkling .564 last fall with nine triples, 17 doubles, 36 RBIs and 57 runs scored.

She was also a standout on the mound, winning 17 of 18 starts and teaming with freshman Shanna Davidson to give Tupelo one of Class B’s best 1-2 pitching combos. For her career, Campbell was 45-10 on the mound and hit .488.

White was the center fielder and leadoff hitter on Latta state tournament squads in the fall of 2006 and 2007, and she hit .396 as a senior, as the only senior on a young Latta squad.

“Kahla was our sparkplug,” Latta coach Jim Foster said after White was named to the All-State team last fall. “The way she went was pretty much the way our team went.”