• North bounces back from loss to down Wolves

When Norman North coach Brian Aylor was growing up, he played baseball all the way to August. That was the way it was back then. Baseball players played in the American Legion.

The American Legion system is still around, but a new league was formed several years ago by former North coach Shannon Enfield called the Pure Prairie League. Almost all the metro area schools play in this league.

“I guess there was a rift between a lot of the coaches and the American Legion. They weren’t happy with a lot of the rules,” Aylor said. “They weren’t happy to have to play so long. They wanted some sort of a break.”

That was the thing with the American Legion league. It started almost as soon as the spring season ended and lasted past the start of the new school year in August, depending on how good a team was.

The Pure Prairie league ended last weekend, while the American Legion playoffs have just started. In the Senior Division of the PPL, North lost in the title game to Edmond Santa Fe Sunday at Tull Lake Park. North also finished second in the Junior Division at Enid.

But North’s season isn’t over. The North varsity is hosting an American Legion Triple A Zone Tournament with Edmond Santa Fe and Putnam City North. The winner advances to the state tournament in Choctaw next week.

North gets to host the event because they were in the Triple State Tournament last season.

“It just gives us a chance to play some more baseball,” Aylor said. “A lot of teams stay and play in the Triple A postseason just because of the tradition of it. This allows us to continue to work and grow and hopefully end the season on a positive note.”

The Timberwolves lost to Putnam North Wednesday 8-0, but stayed alive by beating Santa Fe 10-2 Thursday. North beat Putnam North 7-2 Thursday night. The two teams meet again today at 6 p.m., with the winner moving on to the state tournament.

North is 24-7, so they’ve seen plenty of playing time this summer. The PPL may be shorter, but the schedule still packs in the games. During the PPL schedule, most teams play doubleheaders on nights when they are scheduled to play.

“When I played, it seemed like we would play all the way until the end of August,” Aylor said. “Now with the Pure Prairie League the season has become shorter. But we still play a lot of games. I think everyone played about 30 games and three tournaments, so we play a lot of games in a shorter period of time. American Legion was kind of strung out over a longer period of time.

“But playing in this Triple A tournament just allows us to get in just a little bit more baseball, just a littler bit more work, which is always beneficial.”

Thursday, the T-Wolves had little trouble with the Wolves.

North led 5-0 after two and half innings before Santa Fe got on the board with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third.