Elgin, Duncan, Marlow open State action today

Elgin and Duncan will begin their bids for a Class 5A State title today when they gather at Edmond Santa Fe for the four quarterfinal contests that will start to whittle down the field before a champion is crowned Saturday.

The Owls have drawn Collinsville for their first-round opponent and they will hit the Edmond Santa Fe field at 1:30 p.m. Duncan has drawn the night game and the Demons will face Coweta at 6:30 p.m.

The other two 5A quarterfinals have Carl Albert facing Sapulpa at 11 a.m. and Noble meets Tahlequah at 4 p.m. Carl Albert is the defending 5A State champion and the Titans are coached by Eisenhower grad Ryan Whiteley.

The lone area team in the Class 4A field is Marlow and the Outlaws will tangle with Hilldale at 1:30 p.m. at Noble High School.

5A field loaded with talent

While there are some talented players in the 5A field, many of those good players are underclassmen so the caliber of competition won’t drop off much in the next couple of seasons.

One thing the Owls did last week was overcome adversity after a miserable effort against Guthrie in a 10-0 loss in the 5A Regional that wound up being played all three days at Eisenhower which has a new all-weather surface.

Elgin struggled on the mound in that loss as Coach Levi Garrett wound up using four players to close out the game and give the Owls a chance to regroup before Saturday’s “if” game. And while the Owls struggled on the mound a day earlier, the only pitcher Garrett needed was Grady Thomas who went the distance allowing three hits and fanned six.

Garrett was thrilled after the outing that Thomas put together in the rematch with Guthrie.

“Grady just throws a ton of strikes and today his curve ball was really working,” Coach Garrett said of Saturday’s win. “He also can feature his changeup but for the most part today he was going with his fastball and curve. When his curve is working like it was today he’s tough to hit.”

Thomas, Jaxon Southerland, Tres Lorah and Ritson Meyer have been the most-used arms on the Elgin staff and all four have pitched in key contests this season including Lorah who had a strong outing in a district battle with Duncan.

The Owls come in playing solid defense as well and they will need to be clean in the field to challenge Collinsville which is 30-4 on the season including taking two straight from McAlester to win its regional.

The Cardinals are also known for strong defense with Colton Hollenbeck who runs things from his catcher post. He also has a good bat in the middle of the lineup. The Collinsville pitching staff is built around JT Davis who played for Owasso last season before moving to Collinsville.

Duncan’s club is srong up the middle led by centerfielder/pitcher Eli Ramirez and middle-infielder Chago Barham who has signed with Cowley County.

Marlow faces tough field

The 4A bracket is loaded like the others anbd Marlow will have to play well to stay with Hilldale. Both these clubs are loaded with young talented and maybe both are a year away from being title contenders.

For the Outlaws two of their top hitters are freshmen Jaxson Murray and Clint Ladon. The pitching staff is a mix of Hudson Morgan who is a 2026 Oklahoma State commit who has become a strong arm from the fight side. He will need to get some help from the younger arms if the Outlaws are going to make a deep run this week.