Yellowjacket baseball tourney begins today

The teams are split into two pools and each team will play their three opponents from their pool. Each team is guaranteed three games and the first, second and third place finishers from the pools will play a fourth game.

The 2012 version of the tournament features the third, 15th and 17th ranked teams in Class 6A, and the second and fourthranked teams in 5A.

Pool A consists of No. 15 Choctaw, the Oklahoma City Bronchos, the Norman Tigers and Word of Life Traditional School of Wichita, Kan.

Pool B consists of No. 3 Edmond Santa FE, No. 17 Moore and Class 5A’s secondranked Carl Albert Titans and fourthranked Guthrie Blue Jays.

The tournament kicked off today because of heavy rains that hit the area earlier in the week.

The revised schedule has Moore and Guthrie playing at 2:30 p.m. today followed by Choctaw and the OKC Bronchos at 5 p.m., and Norman and the Bronchos at 7 p.m.

Friday’s action starts at 10 a.m.; with Edmond Santa Fe and Carl Albert followed by Guthrie-Carl Albert at noon. Moore and Edmond Santa Fe play at 2:30 p.m. with the Bronchos and Word of Life playing at 5 p.m. Choctaw and Norman will play the late game at 7 p.m.

On Saturday, action begins at 10 a.m with Choctaw and Word of Life. Norman and Word of Life will play at noon followed by Carl Albert-Moorre at 2:30 p.m. The night games are Edmond Santa Fe-Guthrie with the championship matchup slated for 7 p.m.

The winner of the “A” bracket will play the winner of the “B”: bracket for the tourney title.

This is one of the oldest tournaments in the state,” Choctaw Head Coach Mark Craft explained. “We have teams come from all over the state and a team from Kansas and we’re excited about another successful tournament.”

Craft’s Yellowjackets (5-4) come into the tournament riding their most impressive win of the season against No. 10 Norman North last Friday. Choctaw is 3-4 against teams ranked inside the state’s top 20, but they have two wins against Moore, who is in Pool B.

“I’m enthusiastic about our team,” Craft said. “We feel like we can play with anybody in the state. The key is consistency.

Some games we have put it all together, but here early, that’s been our downfall. The games we’ve lost have been because of inconsistency, but now that April’s here, we are looking to get better and start heading down the stretch to the playoffs.”

Craft explained that no matter what time of the year, pitching is always the key in high school baseball.

“Baseball is built around pitching. If you come in and get good pitching you’ll be in the game and have a chance to win. When we’re consistent, we have a good chance to win with who we put on the mound.”

Trey Hunter is a freelance writer for