Oxford baseball and softball teams sweep the SCBL-WJL standings
2023 Oxford baseball team.
2023 Oxford softball team.
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — It is a sweep for the Oxford baseball and softball teams. Both teams are perched on top of the final SCBL-Walter Johnson League standings. There is one more makeup game between Cedar Vale-Dexter and Udall, but that won’t affect the top of the standings.
The Oxford baseball team will share the championship with Central-Burden. Both teams have 11-3 league records.
The Oxford girls finished 13-1 to win the SCBL-WJL outright.
Both teams will go into next week’s annual SCBL-WJL tournament as either the No. 1 or No. 2 seed. The brackets for that tournament are not out yet. However, the Oxford baseball team has the best overall record at 13-3 while Central Burden is 12-4. If that is how teams are seeded, Oxford will be rewarded the top seed. If not, it will not be lower than No. 2.
Oxford girls are guaranteed the No. 1 seed.
Also, this gives both teams the inside track to be the No. 1 seed in the more important regional tournaments to be held on May 15-16. That will be the tournament that determines which team goes to State. The regional tournament brackets probably won’t be finalized until the last regular season game, which technically includes the SCBL-WJL tournament.
Here are the standings of the regional as of May 2:
BASEBALL
SOFTBALL
Baseball regional analysis: The No. 1 seed at the Central Burden Regional in Class 2-1A baseball is still up for grabs. The top four seeds are interchangeable, with Medicine Lodge being the outlier since it is in the Central Plains League. The KSHSAA has Medicine Lodge with 14 games played. Customarily, teams will have 18 to 20 games at the end of the year. In the first round, Oxford will host one of the four bottom-tier regional teams. If Oxford advances to the second round, all games thereafter will be at Central. There is still plenty of baseball to be played.
Softball regional analysis: Oxford is 15-1 but still must keep its eye on Leon-Bluestem, which is 14-1, to secure the No. 1 seed. Sedan sits closely behind at 12-3, but overtaking Oxford would be pretty difficult. Oxford’s likely first-round opponent is either Udall or Central Burden.
