Coming off a season that saw them make it all the way to the Class 3A State Tournament in Shawnee this fall, the Pocola Lady Indians will move into the 2019-20 fast pitch season facing a whole new set of District opponents after the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Athletic Association announced the new Class 3A conference assignments last week.
Pocola, as one of the smaller schools in the classification, remains in the 3A ranks but only one District opponent from the 2018 season remains in the same conference as the Lady Indians...the Heavener Wolves. The Pocola squad will contend with five new league (District 7) foes including Keys-Parkhill, Vian, Haskell and Westville along with Roland, who drops down from the 4A ranks and will be one of the larger 3A teams by enrollment in the state.
"We're excited," said head coach Mark Reichert, whose team lost 10-4 in the first round of the 3A state tournament to eventual state champion Tahlequah -Sequoyah. "We lost two seniors (Shakyrah Gladness and Dache Benge (who both signed to play at the next level) but we have a really solid core of players coming back from what was a pretty good team. We feel like we have a chance to be pretty good again."
Reichert's attitude is that you have to play whoever shows up on your schedule, and as evidenced by playing non-conference games and in tournaments against several larger schools in 2018, the inclusion of a former 4A squad into the fray and four other "new" opponents is just business as usual.
"We schedule tough, larger teams on purpose," said Reichert. "We use the regular season as a building block for the post season. It's all about getting better and the better teams you play the more experience you get. So a new set of district teams is no big deal. We just want to compete hard and become a better team."
"The travel aspect is as good or better," said Reichert. "At least we don't have to make that trip to Valliant anymore."
The new teams in the District will replace Antlers, Hartshorne, Spiro, Valliant, and Wilburton.
Spiro will remain in Class 3A, but much like the Lady Indians the Lady Bulldogs will be facing a whole net set of District (6) foes.
Spiro's new league will include Beggs, Eulaula, Henryetta, Okmulgee, Kiefer and Morris.
Class 4A teams from the Today in Fort Smith coverage area, for the most part, will face each other in the newly aligned 4A-5. That league will consist of Muldrow, Sallisaw, Poteau, Checotah. Broken Bow, and Fort Gibson.
When it comes to the travel aspect of the Class 4A Districts next season, Stigler got the short end of the stick and will take on Hilldale, Verdigris, Inola, Wagoner and Locust Grove.
In the 2A ranks, Panama, Central (Sallisaw), Howe and Wilburton will now match-up with teams from Hulbert, Chouteau-Maze and Colcord in what will be another far spread geographical set uo for some teams,
The Class A and Class B fast pitch 2019-21 district assignments were not announced last week.