Woods’ breakout year leads Choctaw back to tournament
CHOCTAW — Hudson Woods heard the message from Choctaw assistant Travis Beckel for three seasons. But that didn’t make following the instructions any easier.
Keep his hip from flying open when he swung. Stay down on the baseball. Have confidence.
And randomly he did just that during an atbat. He had no explanation to why or how, but it was exactly as he’d been instructed.
It all worked to perfection.
So, Woods, a senior at Choctaw High School, stayed with it and turned out the best season of his career.
“Maybe he knows a little something,” Woods said. “It might have been a mental block I’ve had. I’ve hit the same way I’ve hit for so long. I just felt it and took it and ran.”
Known more his ability as a quarterback, Woods has helped lead the Yellowjackets back to the Class 6A state tournament for the first time since 2014. They open 4 p.m. Thursday against Tulsa Union at Oral Roberts University.
“We’ve seen the potential with the body, arm, mechanics and the lefthanded stick,” Choctaw coach Shane Hawk said. “I think he understood confidence was the key. That’s how he’s been doing it ever since. It’s something I’m thankful for because he’s led our team to where it’s at.”
Woods was used primarily as a pitcher the past two seasons. He’s a power right-hander with a power curveball. He was stuck near the bottom of the batting order.
But now he’s the No. 3 hitter in the lineup and the school’s singleseason record holder for triples. He has 10, breaking the mark of nine set in 1988. He’s also batting .441 with four homers.
It’s the type of breakout season that has opened more doors at college. He’s signed to play quarterback at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Now, he plans to also play baseball.
“The past couple of years I haven’t had bad stats or been a bad baseball player, but that obviously helps tremendously,” Woods said about his season.
Now, Choctaw (23-11) enters the state tournament on a six-game winning streak. It’s easy to label the Yellowjackets underdogs while lacking the Division I star power teams like Owasso, Westmoore and Mustang bring to the tournament.
But that can be a good thing for them.
“I’d like to think we’re an underdog, but we’re not,” Hawk said. “We’ve got good guys, too. We’re still going to go out and fight and compete. There isn’t much to it. Just playing baseball, I guess.”
Woods fully buys into that idea.
He’s led Choctaw to the playoffs in football. Now, he’s got a chance to capitalize on a recordbreaking season on the biggest stage.
“Records don’t mean anything if you don’t show it with wins and losses,” Woods said. “We’ve gotten wins and now we’re at the point in the state tournament the record is behind me now. If I don’t get another triple in this state tournament, I won’t care as long as we win games.”