Sandites place fifth in Broken Arrow Tournament, Pennington homers in 3-1 win over BA

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity softball team (5-3) let their bats fly against Broken Arrow Saturday evening at the Arrowhead Softball Complex. Felicity Horn, Sydney Pennington, and Jacie Taber all hit doubles and Pennington added a home run in a 3-1 victory over the tournament's host team. 

After going 3-2 in pool play, the Lady Sandites found themselves competing against the Lady Tigers for fifth place in the sixteen-team tournament. The Sandites defeated Choctaw, Putnam City North, and Edmond North, but lost to Owasso and Durant. Owasso won the tournament.

Sophomore Jacie Taber (2-1) got the win on the mound, giving up six hits against one strikeout. 

Horn, a freshman, got on base in the first plate appearance of the game with a line drive double into left field, and advanced to third on a single from Pennington, but both were left stranded.

The Lady Tigers stranded one in both the first and second innings and threatened heavily in the bottom of the third. Mary Collins and McKenzie Carney singled and Aleigha Brown reached on an error to load the bases with one out. The Sandites pulled out of the tight spot, however, as Pennington caught a fly ball in foul territory and Kimi Presnell scooped up a groundball from Abby Parks to put the runner out at first.

Pennington got the Sandites on the board in the top of the fourth with a lead-off homer, her first of the season. In the top of the sixth, Sabrina Usher reached on a fielder's choice and scored on a double from Taber. Pennington doubled in the seventh to score Jessica Collins. Mary Collins put Broken Arrow on the board with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the seventh, but the next three batters flied out and Sand Springs secured the win.

The Lady Sandites will return to action Tuesday at home with a double-header against Norman beginning at 5:00 p.m. The Highway 97 Rivalry match-up will be a double-header Thursday at home, also at 5:00 p.m.

Sandite Softball trumps defending State Champions from Choctaw, 4-1

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity softball team (2-2) split their first two games at the Broken Arrow Tournament Friday morning. A knock-down drag-out game against Owasso ended in a 2-1 loss after being tied up at 1-1 for four innings. The next game started out the same as the first with Sand Springs taking an early lead before being tied up for several innings once again. This time, however, they were able to go-ahead for a 4-1 payback win over Choctaw, who defeated the Sandites 4-3 in the State Championship finals last year. 

Madelyn Blair (1-1) got the loss on the mound against Owasso, giving up nine hits against two strikeouts. The girls had a tough time getting on base, landing only two hits over the course of the game.

Senior Jessica Collins reached base in the bottom of the second after being hit by a pitch, then scored on an RBI double from freshman Sabrina Usher. The Lady Rams (2-0) quickly retaliated with an run in the top of the third, then took the lead in the top of the seventh for the win.

Jacie Taber (1-1) picked up her first win of the season against Choctaw, pitching five strikeouts against three walks and only two hits. 

The Lady Sandites took an early lead in the top of the first as Sydney Pennington reached on a fielder's choice and scored off an RBI double by Madelyn Blair. Janessa Larman got the Yellowjackets on the board with a sacrifice to score Brooke Edwards in the bottom of the second.

In the top of the fifth freshman Felicity Horn smacked a beautiful RBI double to score Cameron Clemons. Sydney Pennington hit her first homerun of the season in the top of the sixth and Collins sent a double into the left field fence to score Madelyn Blair for the fourth and final run. 

The defending State Champions threatened in the bottom of the sixth. Josie Swafford reached on an error at shortstop, Kennedy Henry drew a walk, and Lainee Brown reached on an error at second base to load the field with only one out. Haleigh Scott sent a big hit into the waiting glove of Horn in left field, and Taber struck out Megan McAffrey for the win.

The tournament is only playing to six innings. 

Weather pending, the Lady Sandites will take on Putnam City North (0-3) at 5:30 p.m. On Saturday they'll play Durant (2-0) at 9:00 a.m. and Edmond North (2-2) at 12:30 p.m. before beginning bracket play at 6:00 p.m.

Sandite Baseball season comes to a close at the hands of Broken Arrow

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.