Published: August 11, 2008 12:50 pm      

Simon won't accept trophy yet

But Roff head coach realizes 2008 could be special season for Tigers

Roff — When Roff coach Ead Simon walked off the field following a disappointing run-rule loss to Red Oak in the Class B title game at Dolese Park in May, he could take some consolation in the fact that all but two members of his back-to-back state runner-up squads would return when the 2008-2009 school year began in August.

Although Simon lost a pair of major contributors off his last two Roff teams — All-State third baseman Colton Lancaster and versatile two-hole hitter Michael Albritton — to graduation, he figured to welcome back three members of one of Oklahoma’s best sophomore classes in Blake Logan, Dayne Parker and Aaron Cornell and four other starters from last year’s club. This summer, that group of talented juniors-to-be added a fourth future All-State candidate when former Tupelo standout Brendan McCurry moved to town, and, suddenly, a consolation prize won’t be good enough any more for this current group of Tigers.

“We’ve got a chance to do some special things, but we have to keep our perspective and not listen to the people who are trying to hand the trophy to Roff before the season starts,” Simon said last week as he prepared for Tuesday’s opener against a talented Latta club at Tiger Field. “It’s baseball, and on a given day anybody can beat anybody. Our biggest hurdle is staying grounded and going about our business and not getting ahead of the game.”

But with McCurry in his camp, Simon appears to be ahead of the game already.

One of the state’s most heralded freshmen when he began his varsity career at Tupelo in the fall of 2006, McCurry was a key member of the 2007 spring state championship team and came back with perhaps the best sophomore year in the history of Oklahoma baseball in 2007-2008. In addition to being a key member of a talented pitching rotation, he banged out 41 home runs and drove in 123 runs in helping Tupelo to the 2007 fall state title and a the semifinals last spring (where Red Oak rallied to shock the top-ranked Tigers, 12-11).

This summer, McCurry played with Parker and Logan on the Elk City-based Oklahoma Travelers, setting a team record for a sophomore with 16 home runs as the Travelers won 67 of 72 games and captured the national 18-and-under championship for the second time in their 45-year history.

“He’s been a tough out for us for the last two years — that whole (Tupelo) bunch was,” Simon said of McCurry, who homered in Tupelo’s 6-0 victory over Roff in last fall’s Class B title game. “It’s nice to have him on our side now.

“Brendan and Aaron (Cornell) played together when they were younger, and this summer (McCurry) played with Blake and Dayne at Elk City,” Simon added. “Those kids got to see some real good pitching (with the Travelers). I think it was a great opportunity for all of them, and I can see right now they’re playing at a real high level.”

Simon won’t have to wait to find out just how good this Roff team is. In Latta, the Tigers will face a team coming off four straight state tournament appearances (fall and spring) and, like Roff, a club boasting an exciting nucleus of young talent.

“We opened with Latta the last couple of years,” Simon explained. “Every time you play them, they’re going to be well-coached, and they play the game right. I like it as an opener, because we can find out where we are right off the bat.”

The Roff-Latta showdown kicks off a big opening week for baseball and fast-pitch softball in the area, and the Panthers are just one of the marquee names on a solid fall schedule for the Tigers.

“We’re playing everybody that we’ve always played in the fall,” Simon — whose club will face traditional powers Dale, Latta and Byng and will also travel to Red Oak for a two-day Labor Day weekend showdown Sept. 5-6 — said in appraising his fall schedule. “I’m sure we’ll play a schedule as tough as anybody.”

Tuesday’s baseball lineup also has Byng hosting Stonewall and Tupelo visiting Vanoss. Other highlights of the opening week of the season include Stonewall’s visit to another Class A power, Silo, Thursday and the Longhorns’ home opener against Kiowa Friday; Latta and Byng, two of the favorites in Class A this fall, competing in a tough field at the Dale Tournament Thursday through Saturday; and a young Asher squad that could be one of the area’s most improved teams hosting Vanoss Thursday.

South central Oklahoma should have several of the state’s top softball teams in their respective classes this fall, and all of them will be in action this week.

New Ada coach Scott Simpson and the Lady Cougars will travel to Tecumseh for their opener Tuesday, and Ada will join Byng, Coalgate, Latta, Stonewall and host (and defending Class 2A state champion) Konawa in a strong field at the Konawa-Byng Back 2 School Classic Thursday through Saturday. Ada’s first home games will come on Monday, when the Lady Cougars host Dale and Latta in a three-way.

Konawa, which lost just once in 41 games last fall en route to the area’s first fast-pitch state title in more than half a century, lost All-Staters Hilary Kuestersteffen and Erin Fixico and three other seniors to graduation, but the Lady Tigers return a solid nucleus and will be among the favorites in 2A again this fall. Jennifer Matthews’ club will host Latta and perennial Davenport in the Konawa Festival Tuesday to open the season.

Tuesday’s softball schedule also has Holenville at Coalgate, Asher at Vanoss, Byng at Stonewall, Allen at Calvin, Roff at Turner and Stratford at Elmore City. Tupelo, like Roff one of the favorites in Class B this fall, opens its season Thursday at Stuart, and the Lady Tigers open their home schedule Friday against Victory Life.

Simon, who won Class A spring state titles at Roff in 2004 and 2006, reached the semifinals in the fall of 2006 and the spring of 2007, then saw his 2007-2008 squad lose championship games to Tupelo in the fall and Red Oak this spring. He said the addition of McCurry to his returning talent gives this group of Tigers a chance to take another step forward.

“They’ve accomplished a lot, but they still haven’t won a state championship,” Simon said of his newly-turned juniors. “That’s our goal. We’re not going to pencil that in, though, because there’s a lot of baseball to be played.

“I’m happy with where we are right now,” he said. “All of our guys had a good summer, and we’re excited about the possibilities. It’s probably all going to come down to team chemistry. My biggest task is to get everybody on the same page and working hard.”

Parker, whose brother Dearth was a key member of Simon’s first two Roff state championship teams, evolved into one of the area’s best clutch hitters this spring and hit a gaudy .515 for the Travelers this summer. In addition to being among Oklahoma’s top shortstops, he joins McCurry and Logan (who was 9-1 in the spring and pitched six complete games in his first season for the Travelers) to give Roff an outstanding 1-2-3 punch at the top of the pitching rotation.

“Dayne is a different guy — his discipline at the plate is great,” Simon said of Parker. “I don’t think Blake got beat this summer, and Brendan was also one of (the Travelers’) key players. Aaron lifted weights and put on some weight, and he’s got a lot more pop. I think everybody did what was best for them this summer.”

Despite the addition of McCurry, Parker will be the undisputed leader of this Roff club as the season opens. The strong-armed junior seemed to always come up with a big hit when the Tigers needed one last spring, and Simon said he expects more of the same this fall.

“Dayne didn’t have as good a state tournament as he wanted to, but he had a phenomenal summer with the Travelers,” Simon said. “I look for him to have a big season.

“Some people walk around like they’re tough and confident, and some people really are,” he added. “Dayne is just a confident kid, and it’s not bravado. He wants to be THAT guy in THAT spot, and that’s probably why he’s so good in that spot.”

Logan has made steady progress since joining the varsity squad, and he took a huge step forward this spring to become the undisputed ace of the Roff pitching staff. He won nine straight games, including the state tournament opener, before failing to survive the third inning against Red Oak in the title game while pitching on two days rest for the first time in his career.

“Blake got better as a pitcher this spring — he matured and hit a different level,” Simon noted. “He wasn’t as good as he had been (during the season) on the last day, but Red Oak (which scored 26 runs in its last nine state tournament at-bats) was hot. They might have hit Nolan Ryan that day.

Cornell is one of the state’s most versatile position players and the Tigers’ leadoff hitter, and he will join Logan, McCurry, Parker and seniors Ryan Cornell and Caleb Burrows to fill out what should be the state’s best small-school pitching staff.

“Aaron’s not as physically strong as the others, but he’s just a baseball player,” Simon explained. “He’s on the same level as the others in what he’s able to do. He’s a great athlete and he’s real versatile. He’ll probably play short when Dayne pitches, third when Brendan pitches and center when Blake pitches, and there aren’t a lot of kids you can ask to do that.”

Other than the obvious talent of Parker, Logan, Cornell and McCurry, the most impressive thing about this Roff squad is the supporting cast for the Tigers’ “Big Four” — which is really a Big Five when hard-hitting senior catcher Taylor Whitis is thrown into the mix.

“He’s a hard-working kid,” Simon said of Whitis, who hit over .400 this spring after sitting out a year following a transfer from Latta. “He’s kind of got the attitude I like and he plays the game the way I like it to be played. He has a real hard-nosed attitude.”

Senior Kord Kile (whose brother, Atlee, was an All-State performer at Roff in 2007), will move from left field to take over for Albritton at second base, Ryan Cornell and Shawn Thurman will share time at first, and Cole Ensey and Dalton Day will split time in Kord’s old spot in left field. Burrows will be in right field, and Linzey Peterson — coming off a broken leg that kept him out last year — should also see a lot of playing time in the outfield.

Simon said his latest Roff squad will enter the season with the same high expectations his 2005-2006 club faced on its way to the school’s last state title, but he added that the 2008-2009 Tigers have a little different personality than their predecessors.

“That (2006 team) was a more mature bunch,” Simon recalled. “We probably have more fun with this group. Their mark is going to be what happens in the next two years. (The juniors) got beat in semis twice when they were freshmen and twice in finals when they were sophomores, so hopefully that progression will continue this year.”

And, Simon said, the loss to Red Oak in the title game this spring should provide plenty of incentive.

“It’s still not sitting well with me,” Simon said of the 15-5 setback to the Eagles. “I think about it often.

“Time will tell how it affects us, but we’ll probably get another shot at them,” he added. “We haven’t talked about it a lot, but if they’re competitors like I think they are, they think about it from time to time.”