LADY TIGERS SOFTBALL 'ON RIGHT TRACK' HEADING TO STATE TOURNAMENT

Coach Randall King and the Lady Tiger softball team are going back to the place they expect to be during second week of October – the OSSAA Class 6A State Softball Tournament.

After missing the championship tournament for the first time in 21 years a season ago, Broken Arrow made a statement in the three-team regional it hosted Monday and Tuesday. The Lady Tigers beat Jenks, 14-0, in Monday’s winners’ bracket game. A day later BA popped Sapulpa, 23-1, in the regional championship.

“We did what we had to,” King said following the title game. “We swung the bats real well. Mary (Collins, the winning pitcher in both games) pitched well. We’re on the right track. We have things going in the right direction.”

After winning 20 in a row, the Lady Tigers stumbled in their final regular season game against Edmond Deer Creek, 4-2, in the OCU Festival. Uncharacteristically, BA committed six errors in the game to a Deer Creek team that is currently 16-15 on the season and still in regional play.

“You don’t want to say it’s what we needed because it’s not, but it got us back on track,” King said. “We were flat. We didn’t swing the bats well and got on our heels defensively. It definitely got our attention.”

Apparently so, as the Lady Tigers steamrolled through regionals and head into next week’s state tournament at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City with a 33-4 record, the best in Class 6A.