Fletcher sending six teams to State OK Kids tourneys

FLETCHER — Four or five years ago Fletcher’s youth programs started getting a makeover and when the OK Kids program begins State tournaments across Oklahoma on Tuesday there will be six teams from the Comanche County town chasing titles at parks across the state.

Friday night the oldest team in the program, the Fletcher Gold 10U, capped off a perfect run through the 10U Regional that was held in Fletcher by beating the Fletcher White 10U team by the scores of 12-1 and 11-1.

The good news for the town of Fletcher, both teams are advancing to the 10U State Tournament that begins Tuesday in Sallisaw.

“We are so happy that both our 10U teams are getting to go to State,” local league president/10U Gold Coach Hayden Herrin said. “I tell you what, those kids on our 10U White team have improved so much from the first part of the season. TJ (Coach Acker) and those guys have worked hard and we are so happy they are going to State.

“And it doesn’t end there, both our Gold and White 8U teams are going to State at Clinton and we have our 6U softball and our Tee-ball team going to State as well. Everyone has worked hard this season and taking this many teams to state is great for Fletcher.”

Herrin’s Gold 10U team is no stranger to the State Tournament, reaching the title game last season before falling to the Purcell Legends.

“That team moved up so we are focused on getting to the championship game; that’s been our mission all season and I feel good about our chances,” he said. “We lost an early game to the Midwest Mafia of Oklahoma City by a 6-4 score but we haven’t lost since.

“While our bats have come and gone some, the thing we do is fill up the strike zone. We don’t walk very many and we play good defense. I think in that one game we lost we committed five errors and had five balks but we’ve come back and are 27-1 heading to the State Tournament.”

The Gold 10U team was held down in a 3-1 win against the Tri-City Bombers from the Newcastle area in the winner’s bracket semifinals when the bats weren’t faring well.

“We have been used to kids who throw 55 or 60 and when we came up against a pitcher throwing a little slower, we had trouble adjusting,” Herrin said. “We told our guys to move closer to the front of the box and let the ball travel more and hit to right. We made those adjustments during last night’s final game and really hit the ball well.”

Pairings for all the Fletcher teams headed to State should be released Sunday by the OK Kids office in Weatherford.