Hughes & Hilton Pitch No-Hitter Against Bartlesville

Addison Hughes could have gone the distance for a solo no-hitter against Bartlesville (10-20), but in the seventh inning she gave up the circle so Kelsi Hilton could close out her final game on the home field.

The senior didn’t drop the ball, tossing two strikeouts to secure the 4-0 victory Tuesday on Teacher Night.

Hughes struck out ten for her tenth win of the season with what was nearly her third perfect game of the year. The only blemish was a fourth-inning hit-by-pitch. That runner was put out on the next at-bat with a 5-2 double-play by Lakelyn Harger.

The Sandites stranded five runners over the first three innings before Kenzie King scored on a passed ball. Hilton padded the lead with a solo homer in the fifth.

Kaylei Rake hit an RBI double in the sixth to bring home Savannah Ramsey, then scored the final run of the game on a single from Hilton.

Hilton and Kenzie King both went 3-of-4 at the plate while Kylie King was 2-of-3.

On Thursday the girls fell 2-1 to Collinsville (11-15) on the road.

Bailey Copeland tagged up to score the lone run on a line out by Harger in the top of the first, but the girls stranded two runners to end the inning.

A two-run homer from Brie Smith gave Collinsville the lead in the third inning and the Sandites were unable to even the score.

Ashlyn Clark and Hilton both went 2-of-3 at the plate as the Sandites tallied seven hits.

Hughes (10-7) took the loss, surrendering five hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 2.2 innings. Hilton closed out the game and struck out six with one hit and no walks.

Sand Springs will wrap up the regular season Friday morning at the Bixby festival with back-to-back games against Pryor (14-18) and Piedmont (28-3) starting at 9:00 a.m.

Sand Springs also received its Regional Tournament assignment Thursday and will be taking to the road for a three-team playoff in Edmond.

The Sandites will play Stillwater (18-13) and Edmond Memorial (22-8) in a double-elimination round-robin tentatively scheduled for October 5-6th.

Sandite Volleyball Places Third at Claremore, Evyn Morrow Named All-Tournament

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Evyn Morrow has been named to the All-Tournament team at both tournaments this season. (Photo: Charity Emigh).

The Charles Page High School volleyball team (11-7) entered the 6A rankings at No. 16 on Monday after going 5-3 on the week and finishing in third place at the Claremore Tournament on Saturday.

The Sandites suffered a close 3-0 loss to Union (3-6) in a conference match on Tuesday, then went 2-2 on Friday.

In the first match of the tournament they won 25-10 and 25-16 against Collinsville (4-18), but fell 25-23 and 25-12 in a Highway 97 Rivalry match with 5A No. 4 Sapulpa (17-7). They’ll get the opportunity to pay back that one, however, when they host the Chieftains on September 26th in conference action.

“We didn’t play our best,” said head coach Skylar Jackson. “One of our six rotation players got injured in the Sapulpa match. But the girls did pretty well picking up the slack with new people in new places.”

Sand Springs got back in the win column with a 25-22, 25-18 win over 5A No. 11 Edison (12-8) before falling 25-18, 25-23 to 5A No. 3 Claremore (18-3) in a battle of spouses, as the Zebras are coached by former Sandite head coach Derek Jackson, current coach Skylar Jackson’s husband.

On Saturday the Sandites went 3-0, winning 25-18, 25-11 against Memorial (3-8) in the first match of the day.

Next they won 25-18, 25-22 against 4A No. 7 Verdigris (12-7) in a match against another former Sandite head coach, Caleb Horton. Finally they won 25-10 and 25-9 against Will Rogers (3-12).

“Winning is important and we are in a very, very tough conference,” said Jackson. “At the end of the day you have to figure out how to win…having more opportunities in front of us in one weekend is good for our confidence.”

Evyn Morrow picked up her second All-Tournament accolade of the season.

“She’s super devoted and works hard nonstop,” said Jackson. “She’s just one of our strongest leaders.”

Also impressing throughout the tournament was freshman Adelynn Ray, who recorded 7 aces in the final match against Rogers.

“The best thing about Adelynn is she just loves to play volleyball,” said Jackson. “It doesn’t really get too big for her, and for a lot of underclassmen that’s one of the worries is that they’re not going to handle the pressure. The pressure doesn’t exist for her and she’s just out there playing ball.”

Sand Springs will take on another top 5A team in No. 5 Regent Prep (8-4) Thursday on the road before hosting 6A No. 7 Owasso (6-3, 2-0) in a return to conference action on September 7th.

Sandite Volleyball Falls 3-0 to Union in Thriller

For the second match in a row, the Sandite volleyball team played excellently as a team but just couldn’t quite find an answer for their opponent’s star power.

Last week it was a 3-2 heartbreaker to 5A No. 11 Booker T. Washington (5-2, 1-1), whose sophomore star Arriana Brown put up 29 kills.

This Tuesday it was a 3-0 sweep by Union (3-5, 2-1), whose senior star Brittney Smith recorded 22 kills.

Sand Springs dropped to 5-5 on the young season and is 0-3 in conference play.

The RedHawks jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first set but the Sandites battled back to take a 10-9 advantage on a kill from Brooklyn Shope.

The most the Sandites would lead was 12-10, however, before Union went on a nine-point run.

Sand Springs got the side out on a kill from freshman Adelynn Ray, who has been showing high potential this season. The visitors made the rest of the set competitive but couldn’t quite dig out of the hole, falling 25-18.

Game two was neck-and-neck from the very start with 12 tie scores and six lead changes. Neither team led by more than a point till Union went up 8-6, but the Sandites responded with a three-point run and an ace from Evyn Morrow.

The RedHawks finally began to build momentum late in the game on a deadly combination of low set-pieces by Jayden Smith (each team had their own Jayden Smith) and hammer-fist kills by Brittney Smith that were nearly impossible to dig.

After falling behind 21-16, Sand Springs clawed its way back with kills from Claire Day, Ray, and Averi Tippit before Alia DeBerry served an ace to tie it 22-22.

Brittney Smith and Ray traded kills to tie at 23-23 and again at 24-24, but Brittney Smith got the final kill of the set and Jayden Smith served an ace for the win.

In game three Union jumped out to a fast 5-1 lead, Sand Springs cut it to 8-6, then the RedHawks went on a six-point run to make it 14-7.

Day and Shope scored three kills in a row and Morrow added an ace to cut it to 14-12, but the Sandites never could quite tie it up and ultimately fell 25-20 on an ace from Bailee Mueller.

Day led the Sandites offensively with 10 kills, followed by Jayden Smith with 8, and Ray with 7. Hannah McKelvey had 19 assists and Ray had 17. Morrow recorded 17 digs.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at the Claremore tournament in a battle of the spouses as current Sandite coach Skylar Jackson leads her girls against her husband, former Sandite coach Derek Jackson.

The Sandites and 5A No. 2 Zebras (11-2) will play at 4:00 p.m. but first the Sandites will take on Collinsville (1-13) at 9:00 a.m., 5A No. 4 Sapulpa (11-5) at noon, and 5A No. 12 Edison (8-4) at 2:00 p.m.

On Saturday they will play Tulsa Memorial (2-2) at 9:00 a.m., 4A No. 7 Verdigris (7-5) at 11:00 a.m. and Tulsa Will Rogers (1-5) at 2:00 p.m.

The tournament will be a small world reunion of Sandites as in addition to the Jacksons, former Sand Springs coaches Wally Poplin (Collinsville) and Caleb Horton (Verdigris) have both coached in Sand Springs and Memorial coach Audra Estrada lives in Sand Springs.

Union 3 CPHS 0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-20)
Kills: Union 43, CPHS 40.
Blocks: Union 2, CPHS 1.
Aces: Union 3, CPHS 9.
Errors: Union 12, CPHS 28.

(Sand Springs stats)
Kills: Day 10, Smith 8, Ray 7, Tippit 5, DeBerry 5, Shope 4, Pearce 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 19, Ray 17, Morrow 2, Smith 1.
Blocks: Ray .5, Pearce .5.
Digs: Morrow 17, Smith 6, Pearce 5, Ray 3, DeBerry 3, F. McKelvey 2, Day 1, H. McKelvey 1.
Aces: DeBerry 3, Ray 2, Smith 2, Morrow 2.

Hughes Strikes out 8, Sandites Throttle Collinsville 8-0

It was a dominant trip to Claremore for the Charles Page High School softball team (7-1) as the Sandites didn’t allow a single run in either game of the Rogers State University Festival.

After defeating Coweta 3-0 in the first game, Sand Springs won an 8-0 shutout against Collinsville (3-3) to wrap up the day. It was the sixth consecutive victory for the Sandites and the third shutout of the season.

Addison Hughes (5-0) kept her undefeated season alive in style, pitching a four-inning two-hitter with eight strikeouts to drop her already-impressive ERA to only 0.77.

Bella Wilson, Morgan Rector, and Lakelyn Harger all recorded two hits apiece with Rector batting in a team-best three RBIs while Kylie King and Bailey Copeland scored two runs apiece.

Wilson hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the first and came in soon after on a two-run single from Harger. Rector hit a two-run single in the second to score Kylie King and Copeland.

In the third inning Kenzie King hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Harger, then Kylie King hit a double to score Kaylei Rake. Wilson’s second double of the day brought home Kylie King, then Copeland scored on an RBI single from Rector for the final run of the game.

The game clock ran out midway through the bottom of the fourth as the Sandites had one on base and no outs.

Sand Springs is off to its hottest start since 2020 and will continue its busy week with a three-game outing at the Owasso Festival.

On Friday the Sandites will play host Owasso (9-0) at 10:00 a.m. in their biggest test of the young season. The Rams have won their last four meetings with Sand Springs, last losing to the Sandites in 2020.

Sand Springs will also play Bartlesville (1-5) at noon on Friday and Jenks (4-3) at noon on Saturday.

Sandites Shut Out Coweta 3-0 at RSU Festival

Sandite Softball picked up its fifth consecutive win and second shutout of the season Thursday morning in Claremore, winning 3-0 against Coweta (1-6) in the Rogers State University Festival.

Sand Springs improved to 6-1 after out-hitting the Tigers 6 to 3 in the time-limited six-inning affair.

Freshman Kylie King (1-1) got her first win in the circle, surrendering 3 hits with 1 strikeout and no walks.

Ashlyn Clark scored the opening run on a single from Bailey Copeland in the top of the second but the Sandites stranded loaded bases after a force at home and a strikeout from Karsyn Lydens.

Sand Springs put two on base in the third but gave up a double play and stranded one, then stranded two more in the fourth. The Sandites ultimately left seven runners on base throughout the game.

Kaylei Rake hit a sacrifice fly in the fifth to bring in Kelsi Hilton and Copeland added another RBI with a single to score Kenzie King in the sixth.

The Sandites will return to action at 11:45 a.m. against Collinsville (3-1).

Lakelyn Harger Sparks Sandite Offense in District Sweep of Southmoore

Sand Springs stretched its win streak for four Tuesday afternoon in Moore as Charles Page High School (5-1, 2-0) opened district action with a double-header against perennial powerhouse Southmoore (3-5, 1-2).

The first game was a close 2-1 win for the Sandites but the bats got hot in game two, which Sand Springs won 14-2 via five-inning run rule.

Freshman star Lakelyn Harger showed off her hitting skills as well as her speed throughout the day, going 4-of-7 with 4 doubles, 2 runs, and 5 RBIs.

In the first game the Sandites trailed 1-0 after a fourth-inning homer from Lainey King before Kenzie King tied it up on an RBI single from Bella Wilson. Kelsi Hilton scored the go-ahead run in the sixth on Harger’s first double of the day.

Junior ace Addison Hughes (4-0) continued her undefeated start to the season, surrendering 5 hits and no walks while striking out four in the complete game. Through her first four games her ERA is sitting at only 0.91.

Hilton made her season debut in the circle for game two, tossing 5 hits, 3 walks, and 1 strikeout for the win.

Wilson got the Sandites on the board with a two-run double in the bottom of the second, followed by a one-run triple from Morgan Rector, a two-run double from Harger, and a one-run double from Kaylei Rake to make it 6-0.

The Sabercats averted the shutout with a two-run double in the top of the fourth, but the Sandites got those runs back and more in the bottom of the inning.

Harger led off with a double, then Rake and Ashlyn Clark singled to load the bases. Bailey Copeland hit an RBI single, then Rake and Clark scored on errors to make it 9-0.

Kenzie and Kylie King scored on a single from Rector, Hilton singled to reload the bases, and Harger hit a bases-clearing double for the final runs of the game.

Wilson, Rector, Harger, and Rake had three hits apiece for the team’s first run-rule win of the season.

The Lady Sandites will return to action Thursday in Claremore at the Rogers State Festival. They will play Coweta (1-5) at 10:00 a.m. and Collinsville (3-1) at 11:45 a.m.