Sandite Baseball season comes to a close at the hands of Broken Arrow
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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
The Charles Page High School baseball team (22-16) came out on the losing side of a well-fought shootout in Owasso Thursday evening and was eliminated from the Regional Tournament.
The Sandites took an early lead in the top of the first as Joey Montgomery singled in Rhett Rutledge to draw first blood. The Broken Arrow Tigers (23-16) quickly tied things up, however, as Mack Chambers scored on a double by Colton Croft.
Ty Fain advanced to home on a throw for the Sandites in the second inning to retake the lead, but the Tigers would retaliate with four runs in the bottom of the inning for the advantage.
Jake Ward (4-3) got the start on the mound for the Sandites, but was replaced by Brock Youngblood after loading the bases in the second and giving up two singles and three walks, and two runs.
Youngblood (4-2) pulled out the inning without allowing too much damage. He walked in Brady Bean for one run, and Drew Lowe batted in Devon Johnson, but Croft was put out at second on a fielder's choice and Tucker Dunlap flied out to Josh Taber to bring the inning to a close at 5-2.
The Sandites quickly made up for the last inning with five runs in the top of the third to reclaim the lead. Ward sacrificed to score Treyce Tolbert, Fain doubled to score Hunter Greathouse, and Trevor Tolbert reached on sacrifice bunt to score Tyler McCallie and tie the game up. Rutledge doubled in Fain and Taber sacrificed to score Trevor Tolbert before the inning came to a close.
Broken Arrow put in work as well in the third with Bean reaching on a fielder's choice to score Landon Hulet and Chambers hitting a double to bring in Bean for the 8-7 advantage.
The back-and-forth continued in the top of the fourth as the Sandites took their fourth lead of the game. Treyce Tolbert and Greathouse singled and Ward smacked a double to bring in Tolbert. Fain grounded out to short to score Greathouse and once again the boys were back on top.
The scoring frenzy finally took a break till the bottom of the sixth. Sand Springs put up an impressive effort in the top of the inning with a double from Treyce Tolbert and a single from Greathouse, but both runners were caught stealing and Ward flied out.
The Tigers came out big in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back doubles from Chambers and Croft to tie things up. Lowe singled and scored on a double by Dunlap, Hulet was hit by pitch, and the Sandites sent their third pitcher of the night to the mound.
Montgomery caught CJ Ivy stealing at third, but Connor Dennis (1-0) walked one batter and struck another to load the bases. Hulet scored on a passed ball, Bean hit a sacrifice, and Johnson scored one on a dropped third strike. Josh Cordell (2-3) became the fourth Sandite to go to the mound and only pitched at one batter, who flied out to right field to bring the inning to a close.
It was down to the top of the seventh for the Sandites, and they went down swinging. McCallie reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly from Trevor Tolbert, but Rutledge struck out swinging to bring the game (and the season) to a close 14-10.
