Probably since its inception, the most enduring debate about the Glen Winget Memorial Baseball Tournament has revolved around just the right amount of teams.It started out in 1959 as an 12-team event and varied between eight squad to 12 squads in the next 60-plus years.By an unexpected late drop-out, the 65th Annual Winget tourney — which starts on July 4 — will feature 10 teams.The two longest-participating crews are the host Bartlesville Doenges Ford boys and the Springfield (Mo.) Hillcrest Merchants — both of which have played in all 64 previous editions.The rest of the field — made up primarily of 19-and-under American Legion Baseball teams — is dynamite as well.“It’s a good Winget,” said Doenges Ford head coach John Pannell, who has participated nearly Wingets, as either a kiddie spectator, Doenges Ford batboy, Doenges Ford player, Doenges Ford assistant coach, Winget tourney director and, as mentioned, the team’s head coach/manager. “I’ve had a lot of guys say winning the Winget is as tough or tougher than winning the state championship.”A positive about having a 10 team tourney is the ease of scheduling only five games per day with each team playing a total of three pool games, Pannell noted.This year’s field, divided by state, includes:Oklahoma: Bartlesville Doenges Ford, Elk City Mudcats, Southern Elevation, Three Rivers Bandits.Arkansas: Bryant BlackSox, Fort Smith Sportsman, Greenwood Yardcoats, Mt. Home Lockeroom.Missouri: Springfield Kickapoo Baseball Club, Springfield Hillcrest Merchants.Play is set to get underway at 11 a.m. Thursday with a promising high-powered showdown between Greenwood and Three Rivers.Bartlesville will play the 8 p.m. game the first three days.Fireworks are planned at 9:45 p.m. Saturday evening.Following is the full Thursday through Saturday schedule:Thursday11 a.m. — Greenwood vs. Three Rivers; 1:15 p.m. — Ft. Smith vs. Elk City; 3:30 p.m. — Mountain Home vs. Hillcrest; 5:45 p.m. — Southern Elevation vs. Bryant; 8 p.m. — Bartlesville vs. Kickapoo.Friday11 a.m. — Hillcrest vs. Ft. Smith; 1:15 p.m. — Bryant vs. Elk City; 3:30 p.m. — Kickapoo vs. Southern Elevation; 5:45 p.m. — Three Rivers vs. Mountain Home; 8 p.m. — Bartlesville vs. Greenwood.Saturday11 a.m. — Hillcrest vs. Bryant; 1:15 p.m. — Greenwood vs. Elk City; 3:30 p.m. — Three Rivers vs. Southern Elevation; 5:45 p.m. — Kickapoo vs. Ft. Smith; 8 p.m. — Bartlesville vs. Mountain Home.Sunday will be finals’ day. The seventh-place game is planned for 9 a.m., followed by the consolation championship battle at 11 a.m. The semifinal times are 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. The 65th Annual Winget Championship showdown is planned for 5 p.m.The Bartlesville boys (13-10-1) will be vying for their first Winget title since 2018 and their fourth since 2003. The Doenges Ford program owns 18 Winget crowns in total, almost three times as many as any other participant since 1959.As Pannell suggested above, this year’s Winget is top-heavy with powerful teams.Doenges Ford has already played four teams in the field (Bryant, Mountain Home, Ft. Smith and Three Rivers). They have beaten Mountain Home and Ft. Smith, but are 0-3 against Three Rivers.But Pannell’s Posse always seems to rustle something up special in Winget competition.“Our last six pool games (at the Winget tourney) were decided by one run and we won them all,” Pannell said about 2022 and 2023. Bartlesville heads on a wave of momentum into this year’s Winget by coming off a 4-4 tie against college-age team Lonnie Cobble.“Like I told the guys after that game, ‘You’re going to have play like that every game in the Winget to have success, just like the way you played tonight.’”Pannell’s roster coming into the season was a stark contrast between summer majors baseball experience and rookies. Of course after 24 games the past four-and-a-half weeks, none of the Bartlesville boys can be considered greenhorns.On the top end of experience are Brenden Asher, Luke Fox, Kaleb Bashford, Kael Siemers and Eric Olenberger. Olenberger is playing his first season with Doenges Ford, but is going to be a sophomore in college and excelled for Bartlesville High’s baseball program.Fox has been recuperating from an injury, “but he should be fine by the Winget,” Pannell said.Asher and Olenberger have been leading the offense and Jaxon Zaun is coming off a big hitting game against Lonnie Cobble, Pannell said.Bashford is always a threat to rip opposing pitching like thunder. Siemers “has been in a slump, but he’s been lacing some balls hard,” Pannell said.Pitching-wise, Pannell said Grant Clark might get the nod in Thursday’s opener and be available again for relief duty on Sunday. Asher is an ace hurler as well, but has seen limited mound action so far this summer. He is preparing for his freshman year playing for Oral Roberts University.Several other players have pitched quality innings this season and Pannell said he’s not scared to throw any of them in any situation. Pannell said they’ve all been pounding the strike zone and doing what they were supposed to.Weather-wise, the forecast for Winget appears to be both promising and a bit of a white elephant.The mid-range forecast is for the temperature to be 94-or-lower all four days, including a relatively comfortable 87 on Friday. But rain chances are elevated for the night before (Wednesday), the opening day (Thursday) and the final day (Sunday). Other than Wednesday, the precipitation chances are in the lower range.
Most Popular
Comments / 0