State action was financial success

A sluggish economy didn’t keep Shawnee from having a financially-rewarding showing as a baseball state tournament host.
Shawnee Athletic Director Steve Fluke said the school sent a $17,000 check — following expenses — to the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association.
That was the gate portion for Shawnee’s role as a three-day state tourney host at Memorial Park.
The entire first round of the Class 4A state tournament (four games) was held at Memorial Park on Thursday, May 14.
On Friday, May 15, the class 3A and 4A semifinals were held at Memorial Park while Saturday’s card featured state championship encounters in 2A, 3A and 4A.
Shawnee’s Baseball Booster Club retained all of the concession sales from the 11-game, three-day tournaments.
“We really had pretty good attendance this year,” Fluke said. “We had several teams participating here that got good support and traveled well.”
Two Tri-County teams were among the squads featured in Shawnee.
Dale, which won its first two state tourney 2A games at Oklahoma City’s Dolese Park, lost to Silo, 3-0, in the Saturday, May 16 finale at Memorial Park.
Chandler, which played its Thursday state-tournament opener at Mustang, defeating Wilburton, 13-0, then moved to Shawnee. The Lions upended Eufaula 9-8 in semifinal action, then dropped a 5-1 decision to Sperry in the championship game.
Memorial Park also reaped good attendance figures in the 4A and 5A state finals.
Two well-supported teams from the west side of the state, Tuttle and Weatherford, met in the 4A showdown and Tuttle prevailed, 8-2.
In the 5A championship game, Carl Albert was a 4-1 victor over fellow Suburban Conference member Chickasha.
“Overall, we were very pleased with the attendance throughout the tournaments,” Fluke said.
Fluke said Shawnee has hosted baseball state tournament action in 16 of the last 17 seasons.