CHAFFEE LEGION READY TO TAKE A SHOT

Chaffee Medicap Pharmacy manager Jeff Graviett realizes his American Legion baseball squad will be going up against the best of the best when the eight-team Mid-South Regional begins today in Enid, Okla.

After all, the tournament features seven state champions along with a solid host squad.

"You get this far, and there will be nothing but excellent teams there," said Graviett. "There shouldn't be any pushovers."

That being said, however, Graviett expects Chaffee to hang right in there with some of the nation's top teams.

"If we play like we have been, I think we'll be right in there," he said. "I'm sure we wouldn't be considered the favorites, but I'm confident that we can play with those teams."

Chaffee plays the tournament opener at 10 a.m. against Mississippi state champion West Point, which will mark the first of three days of pool play for each squad. Chaffee's other pool games will be at 1 p.m. Friday against Nebraska state champion Omaha and at 8 p.m. Saturday against host Enid.

The top two finishers in each division advance to Sunday's semifinals, with those winners meeting for the championship Monday. The champion moves on to next week's American Legion World Series in Yakima, Wash.

"It should be a great tournament," Graviett said. "Our guys are really excited."

Chaffee comes in with a 51-11 record, which is second-best in its pool behind Omaha's 54-7 mark. West Point is 37-8 and Enid is 35-30.

In the other pool, Oklahoma champion Midwest City is 59-13, Arkansas champion Pine Bluff is 30-11, Louisiana champ Merrero is 29-4 and Texas champ Texas City is 20-3.

Texas City, the defending regional champion, has only played a limited number of games because it is an area all-star team that was only put together a couple of weeks before districts began.

Graviett said he likes the pool-play aspect of the tournament, which makes for a spread-out affair as every team will play only one game per day.

"I think it's definitely a better format for us than double-elimination because I think you can set up your pitching a lot better," he said.

Chaffee's top two pitchers all summer have been Matt Stroup and Justin Simpher. One of those will start today, with the other getting the nod Friday. Both hurlers threw quite a bit Saturday as Chaffee won two games to capture the state title and Graviett said the decision on who gets the ball today will depend on who is freshest.

"We'll just see which one is the most ready to go," said Graviett. "I've got confidence in both of them, and I've got a lot of confidence in some of our other pitchers like G.P. Glueck and Scott Eftink."

Graviett said what last year's Missouri champion -- Dunklin County -- did in the regional should cause people to take notice of Chaffee. Dunklin County made it all the way to the 2000 regional championship game before falling to Texas City.

"People might not automatically think of Missouri as one of the better baseball states, but I think what Dunklin did last year should prove that we're right up there," Graviett said. "It says people have to watch out for Missouri."