Published: October 09, 2009 06:35 pm      

Class A State will kick off today at Dolese

OKLAHOMA CITY — Despite storms that drenched most of Oklahoma Thursday, the rain-delayed first round of the Class A state baseball tournament will be played today at Dolese Park in Oklahoma City.

Latta coach Eddie Collins said he was informed this morning by officials at Dolese that the field there was playable, even though central Oklahoma received more than two inches of rain from about 3 p.m. Thursday through early this morning.

Collins said a tarp covered the infield at Dolese and kept it dry during the storms, but he admitted he was concerned about the condition of the outfield.

“A tarp will only keep what’s under it dry,” he said. “The rest will drain into the outfield.

“They said it was dry under the tarp and the outfield was wet but it was ‘adequate’,” Collins said. “If you’re a mudder in the outfield, you’re going to be okay.”

Four Class A quarterfinal games will be played today, beginning with Oktaha-Sterling at noon. No. 4 Latta will face No. 6 Fletcher at 2:30, No. 1 Silo will play Okarche at 5 p.m., and Soper and Dale will wrap up the first round at 7:30.

The tournament will conclude Saturday with semifinal contests at 12 noon and 2:30 p.m., and the championship game will be played at 5 p.m. If Latta beats Fletcher, the Panthers will square off with the Silo-Okarche winner at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

“I talked to Mike Whaley at the OSSAA, and he didn’t like the idea of playing on Saturday and coming back on Monday,” Collins said. “He said he didn’t want to penalize the teams who had a lot of pitching by allowing somebody else to throw their ace twice.”

The new schedule presents a ‘worst nightmare’ scenario for Collins, whose No. 3 starter, junior Reed Johnson, isn’t available because of a sore shoulder. In addition, senior Tyler Reeves — Latta’s ace since his freshman year — made only two starts (one in the district tournament and the other in the regional) all season.

Collins said Wacey Henderson — who probably would have started in the quarterfinals and finals if the Panthers survived in the original Thursday-through-Saturday schedule — will pitch today, with Reeves — who has started Latta’s last three state tournament openers — scheduled to start in the semifinals if the Panthers advance.

“We just have to grin and bear and go on,” Collins said. “It’s the same for everybody.”

Collins said the championship game could be pitching-by-committee if his team gets that far.

“Whoever is left, whoever is available,’ he said when asked who would start the championship game.

The original state tournament schedule had first-round games for Class B at Yukon High School, butnow all games for both classes will be played at Dolese. Class B will open its state tournament Monday at noon, with No. 2 Red Oak (the defending fall state champion) meeting Lookeba-Sickles. No. 5 Tupelo will meet Granite at 2:30, Arnett will face Caney at 5 p.m., and area rivals Roff (ranked No. 1) and Asher (No. 10) will close out the first round at 7:30 p.m.

The Red Oak-Lookeba and Arnett-Caney winners will meet at 12 noon Tuesday, with the other two semifinal winners to square off at 2:30, and the Class B title game will be played at 6 p.m.