Winning their regional with timely hitting and solid pitching, the Salina Wildcats have qualified for the Class 3A high school baseball state tournament that opens Thursday.

The Wildcats’ first-round opponent is Plainview, according to the bracket released Monday by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association. Game time is 4 p.m. at Edmond Memorial High School.

The single-elimination tournament will move to Shawnee Friday with the championship game scheduled there Saturday.

The field boasts eight of the top nine schools in the OkRankings.com poll of coaches.

Only two teams — defending champion Verdigris and semifinalist Jones — are returning from the 2011 field.

Verdigris carries the No. 1 ranking into the tournament and No. 4 Henryetta takes the longest winning streak —13 games.

The most notable omission from the tournament is No. 2-ranked Eufaula. Last year’s runnerup was eliminated in the regional by No. 9 Spiro. Eufaula lost two of three regional matchups with Spiro.

Jones and Marlow each had to play five games to advance through their regionals.

Marlow, ranked eighth, walked the most precarious of lines, losing its regional opener, then surviving four straight elimination games.

Salina (1992) is one of five former state champions in the field.