Ada — Roff coach Ead Simon didn’t have to make the tough choice after all when it came time to pick two of his team’s four stars for this year’s All-State baseball team.

Instead of nominating three of those four — Brendan McCurry, Dayne Parker, Aaron Cornell and Blake Logan — for All-State as is the norm, Simon simply sent the names of all four to the Oklahoma Coaches Association and let his peers decide. In the end, McCurry and Parker were named to the team, while Cornell and Logan — two of the stars of the Tigers’ record-setting season and third straight state tournament victory — were left off a talented Small East squad that also includes Latta standouts Wacey Henderson and Tyler Reeves.

“It’s the price you pay,” said Simon, whose veteran squad won 38 of 39 games this spring and 69 of 72 going back to last fall. “Us and Silo (the Class 2A state champion) both have more than two All-Staters; when you get down to it, we might both have five or six.

“It’s unfortunate, and I hurt for those kids who didn’t make it,” he added. “I wish they could all get in, but that’s not the way the system (which restricts each team to two All-State selections each season) works. I think you satisfy some of that to win a championship sometimes.”

McCurry hit a team-high 27 home runs this spring (on a club that set a national single-season record of 131) en route to the state career record and also posted a 9-1 mark on the mound capped by a 1-0 shutout of Red Oak in the championship game; Parker, meanwhile, hit a mind-boggling .561 against one of the state’s toughest small-school schedules and also managed to crack 21 home runs — the 21st a walkoff in a 10-0 first-round victory over Shidler at the state tournament, after McCurry’s three-run shot had made it 9-0.

“Their numbers speak for themselves — they deserve it, and they both earned it,” Simon said of McCurry and Parker. “Brendan is the all-time home run leader, and Dayne had a huge spring, so you can’t argue with their credentials. It’s bittersweet for me. Those two deserved it, but I’ve got two more who deserve it.”

Cornell, who struck out 25 hitters — including a school state tournament record 14 last fall — in winning the Tigers’ last two state tournament openers, hit a team-high three home runs in this spring’s state tournament, including a walkoff against Tupelo in a 12-1 semifinal victory, and finished behind only McCurry on the team with 23 for the season. Logan was the winning pitcher in the victory over Tupelo and also homered for the game’s only run in the win over Red Oak in the championship game.

McCurry emerged as the ace of the state’s best small-school pitching staff as a senior, winning 18 of 19 decisions and shutting out Red Oak in the championship game last fall (16-0) and again this spring.

“When you throw a shutout in the fall and spring to win the state championship, what more can you ask?,” Simon said. “Brendan is just one of those kids who can turn it up a notch when he has to. He’s better the bigger the game.

“Not a lot of kids are blessed with the ability to turn it up a notch at crunch time, and that’s what sets him apart,” he added. “He’s a gamer. That’s special.”

Parker was a four-year starter at shortstop for Roff, and as a junior and senior he was one of the state’s best hitters in any class — especially with runners on base.

“Dayne hit some home runs, but his natural swing is a line-drive swing,” Simon noted. “He didn’t hit the home runs that some of the other guys did, but he hit more line drives and got more hits (77 in 39 games this spring, many of them cut short by the run rule).

“Dayne is a tough-minded kid,” he said. “His mental maturity for a high schooler is really impressive. As good a shortstop and as good a hitter as he is, he’s also mentally tough. He’s a warrior.”

With only three senior starters on a team that reached the Class 2A semifinals for the second straight spring, Latta coach Eddie Collins didn’t have to make the tough choice that faced Simon. Henderson and Reeves were two of the leaders of his squad for four years and helped rebuild the program after it was gutted by graduation losses following three consecutive spring titles from 2003-2005.

“They both had great careers, and you won’t find two better kids,” Collins said. “They’ve been great representatives for Latta.

“I’m happy for both them,” he added. “It’s good for them, good for our program and wonderful for their families.

“When a kid makes All-State, he’s representing an area, and this area is loaded,” he added. “Both kids are very deserving. For a kid to make All-State, he also has to have kids around him who put him in a position to succeed.”

Henderson capped an outstanding spring (15 home runs, 50 RBIs, 47 runs scored, 11 doubles and a .428 average) with an impressive showing at his final state tournament. He hit two home runs and drove in five runs from the leadoff spot in the batting order while also earning the save in a 7-5 quarterfinal victory over Lincoln Christian, and he had two of the Panthers’ four hits in an 11-0 loss to eventual state champion Silo in the semifinals.

“Wacey had a career spring,” Collins said.

Reeves was the ace of the Latta pitching staff for four years, and he posted a 6-3 record this spring despite battling health issues that slowed him as both a junior and senior.

“Tyler battled injuries all spring, but he was great down the stretch when it mattered,” Collins said.

When the All-State games are played at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa on Monday, July 26, McCurry, Parker, Henderson and Reeves will be part of a loaded Small East squad. Reeves will join a pitching staff that will also include Silo’s Logan Oller and Oktaha’s Cale Elam (the winner and loser on the mound in this spring’s Class 2A championship game); Henderson, Parker and McCurry will be part of an infield rotation with Dale’s Turner Coon and Ripley’s Kaleb Hoffman; the outfield will be made up of Oktaha’s Shane Leach, Dale’s Dalton Streber, Zane Nelms from Soper and Aaron Chalk from Caney; and Silo’s Trevor Bowen and Red Oak’s Dakota Knight (the Eagles’ only senior this season) will do the catching.

In contrast, the Small West squad will have only two players — pitcher Taylor Smith and infielder Kas Sanders from Class A champion Fletcher — who played on a team that reached the title game in Classes B through 2A this spring.