Sandite Baseball celebrates Teacher Night, beat Midwest City, Bishop Kelley, Broken Arrow

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The student-athletes of the Sand Springs baseball team put an emphasis on the “student” part of their title by acknowledging the teachers in their lives Friday night at the Sandite Baseball Complex.

Each senior member of the Charles Page High School squad selected their all-time favorite teacher to come throw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to a 10-2 run-rule win over Midwest City.

Keaton Campbell selected CPHS English teacher Heather Miller as his all-time favorite. 

“Keaton was such a great kid in class,” said Miller, who taught the shortstop during his sophomore year. 

“He was always energetic and enthusiastic about learning. It just felt really nice that he thought I impacted his whole educational experience.”

Sixth Grade Center principal Angelia Noel was honored to be chosen by third-baseman Gabe Glenn, who she taught in fourth grade before moving into administration. 

“I hope I’ve made a pretty positive impact on him,” said Noel. “He’s a great kid and he’s going to do great things.”

“These seniors are amazing and we are so proud of them, and we are excited to see what they do in the future.”

Center-fielder Jacob Shields selected his seventh-grade math teacher Rebecca Davis as his all-time favorite teacher. 

“She was really nice and I always came and talked to her even when I didn’t have her class,” said Shields.

Other teachers recognized by the Sandites included Atticus Dellinger, Lorrie Bailey, Kendra Roulet, Katie Dickerson, Laurie Starling, Starr Corbin, Ben Riggs, and Jerie Carter.

After the ceremony, the Sandites (15-3) gave up two unearned runs to the Bombers (5-8) in the top of the first inning before settling down and dominating the rest of the game.

Brody Rutledge, Dom Ornelas, and Keaton Campbell all hit home runs in the game, and Brooks Dudley pinch-hit a two-run double to end the game in the bottom of the sixth inning.

John Keim (2-0) got the win on the mound with six strikeouts, three hits, no walks, and no earned runs in four innings. Gage Elliott tossed two innings of relief and only surrendered one hit with no runs or walks.

On Saturday the Sandites won 6-3 against Bishop Kelley (11-5) behind a three-hit performance from Ty Pennington. The senior left-fielder went 3-of-4 at the plate with three doubles and three RBIs.

Jace Arnold (4-0) got the win on the mound with six hits, two strikeouts, and four walks in 4.2 innings. Kayden Campbell (2-0) threw two hits and three strikeouts in 1.1 innings, and Eli Buxton got the save with one hit, two walks, and two strikeouts in the seventh.

The Sandites also picked up a pair of huge district wins against Broken Arrow (11-7, 4-2) on Monday and Tuesday to improve to 4-2 in district action.

Monday’s road battle went 11 innings, with Jabe Schlehuber (3-0) tossing seven hits, four strikeouts, and three walks in 6.1 innings before Buxton took over. The closer got his first win of the season with two hits, five strikeouts, and four walks in 4.2 innings.

Broken Arrow took a 2-0 lead in the first inning but Pennington tied it up on an RBI single from Ornelas in the third, then hit an RBI double to bring in Keaton Campbell in the fifth.

The Tigers tied it back up in the bottom of the fifth and the game remained scoreless till Kayden Campbell scored the winning run on a double from Schlehuber in the eleventh. 

In Tuesday’s rematch the Sandites won 5-3 behind a four-hit, two-strikeout performance from Carson Seabolt (2-1) in six innings. Kayden Campbell tossed two hits and two strikeouts in the final inning to earn the save.

The Sandites took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run homer by Glenn, but the Tigers tied it up in the sixth. Two walks and an error put the Sandites back on top and Kayden Campbell threw a clutch strikeout to strand two runners and end the game.

Sandite Baseball will return to district action Monday and Tuesday with a home-and-away series against Jenks, followed by non-district home games against NOAH on Friday and Union on Saturday.