Owasso soundly defeats Sand Springs for district title

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School baseball team (20-14, 6-7) was out of the conversation for the district championship, but still had the opportunity to spoil it for top-seeded Owasso (24-5, 11-1) if they could win Wednesday afternoon. Of course, that would give Bixby the chance to win it, and the Spartan-Sandite Rivalry is quickly catching up with the Highway 97 Rivalry in terms of intensity. 

While Sand Springs has been on a bit of a slump as of late, they managed to put up one of their most impressive performances of the season earlier this week in a home game against the Rams, hitting three home runs in an 11-10 loss that came down to the wire. The Sandites hoped to build on that performance Wednesday and took a 2-0 lead early on, but the home team rallied with nine runs in the bottom of the third that proved to be more than enough for the win.

Sand Springs went through three pitchers, each throwing two innings, with the loss going to Jake Ward (4-3) who got the start. Ward gave up five hits, seven walks, and seven earned runs in his time on the mound. Kyle Petty got the win for Owasso, pitching six hits against seven strikeouts in six innings.

Sand Springs started out solidly as Josh Taber singled and survived four pickoff attempts before stealing second, and advancing to third on an error by Jake Enzbrenner. Treyce Tolbert hit a line drive double into right field to bring Taber home, but was left stranded as Petty got his second strikeout of the inning. 

Ward gave up a single and two walks in the bottom of the first, but managed to strand loaded bases as Hunter Greathouse forced out a runner at third. Petty added two more strikeouts in the top of the second, but gave up a double to Tyler McCallie that scored Mack Thompson, who also doubled.

Finally the Rams got on the board with five hits and five walks in the bottom of the third for the go-ahead. Brock Youngblood (4-1) relieved Ward as the boys trailed 5-2, but was unable to stem the Owasso tide. In his two innings on the mound he gave up only three hits, one walk, and two earned runs.

Josh Cordell (2-3) got his turn at pitching in the bottom of the fifth and gave up three walks and a double to expand the deficit to 11-2. Jake Terry managed a double in the top of the sixth but was left stranded. Cordell walked two and struck out one in the bottom of the sixth, but the Sandites were held scoreless in the top of the seventh and the Rams held on for the win. 

The Sandites will return to action Friday at 5:00 for Senior Night. Photo galleries from this season can be found at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/