Matt Brown Moves to Admin, Scott Watkins Takes Over Sandite Baseball

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Matt Brown (left) will be the new CPHS Assistant Principal while Scott Watkins (Right) will be the new head baseball coach.

Matt Brown is going out on top, stepping down from the position of Head Coach of Sandite Baseball following an historic State Runner-Up performance just last weekend.

After a five-year stint in his first head coaching job, and eight total years with the Sandites, Brown retired with a 113-52 record after leading the Sandites to their first-ever district championship in 2023, followed by their first State Tournament appearance since 2011 and first Finals appearance since 1978 this season.

Brown will be staying with the district and stepping into an administrative role as the new Assistant Principal at Charles Page High School.

Now, longtime assistant Scott Watkins will be taking over.

Watkins is a Sand Springs native who played collegiate ball at Oral Roberts University, Seminole State College, and Oklahoma State University before a ten-year professional career highlighted by a season playing with the Minnesota Twins in 1995. He has been a Sand Springs assistant since 2004.

Sand Springs Falls 7-4 to Westmoore in State Championship Finals

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Head Coach Matt Brown speaks to the team following a 7-4 finals loss to westmoore saturday evening at Chickashaw Bricktown Ballfield in Oklahoma City.

For four innings, things couldn’t have gone much better for the Sandites.

Starting pitcher Kayden Campbell (6-3) surrendered only one hit and no walks while fanning five. The Sandites held a 3-0 lead with five times as many hits as the Jaguars.

But a fifth inning spark against Campbell and a sixth-inning flurry off of reliever Wyatt Rutledge gave Westmoore the edge as the Jaguars claimed their first State Championship since 1994, 7-4, to deprive the Sandites of their first ever crown.

“That’s a really good team over there and they capitalized when they had chances and that’s kind of the way that baseball works,” said head coach Matt Brown.

It was going to be a Cinderella story for either team, as both finished third in their districts and had to go on the road for their Regional titles.

Westmoore (25-17) was making its fifth finals appearance after coming up short in 2015, 2017, and 2018. Sand Springs (29-12) was making its first finals appearance since 1978 and first State Tournament appearance since 2011.

Sand Springs struck first in the top of the second after a lead-off walk from Jackson Turney and a line drive single from Alex Dudley set up freshman Sutton Cook for a three-run blast over the left field wall.

Gatlin Gunn and Jace Arnold also singled in the inning but were left stranded. The Sandites put two on base in the third, but stranded Turney after Rutledge was doubled off at second on a line drive from Dudley.

Runs were in short supply for both teams and the Sandites held their 3-0 lead through the top of the fifth.

Then Westmoore loaded the bases with no outs on a single, an error, and a walk. Dudley turned a 6-4-2 double play, but not before Jacob Wehba scored from third. Oklahoma-commit Josiah Kemp added an RBI single to make it a one-score game before Campbell caught Tanner Fallwell looking to end the inning.

Rutledge took over on the mound in the sixth and surrendered three singles and a walk to tie the game with bases loaded and no outs. Gage Geiger tagged up on a pop fly for the lead and Deacon Frazee added an RBI single before Arnold took over on the mound.

“Wyatt’s been awesome for us all year,” said Brown. “If I could do it again, I’d go back and put him right in the game again.”

Frazee scored off another sacrifice fly to make it 7-3 before the inning ended on an offensive interference call against Kemp.

Sand Springs didn’t go down without a fight. Gunn hit a one-out single, took second on a passed ball, and scored on a double from Arnold. Then Rutledge singled on a pop fly to center field to bring the tying run to the plate.

But, it wasn’t meant to be. Jackson Turney flied out to Kemp in center field to end the game.

“This team’s full of fighters,” said Brown. “This team just competed their absolute tails off all year. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

“These kids went out and won the games that were put in front of them, they’ve done everything they were asked to do, they played their absolute hearts out.”

It’s hard to beat a good team three times, a fact that Owasso learned the day before after falling 2-0 to Sand Springs, who it had swept 5-0 and 8-3 in the regular season.

This time it was the Sandites who had to learn that lesson against Westmoore, who it had beaten 6-1 and 24-13 just a month ago.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times in a year,” said Arnold. “We had them two-nothing, but they got us the last time.”

Arnold, together with Gunn, Campbell, Eli Buxton, Miller Tavaglione, Jackson Stewart, Connor Graham, Cole Pearson, Jesse Manuel, and Rutledge, make up a senior class that went 107-50 over four years, the Sandites’ winningest record since the Class of 2012 went 104-44.

“What a great testament to our kids,” said Brown. “Our seniors have set a standard of excellence that falls to the guys who are younger now to hold that standard of excellence. These guys that are walking out the door have won 89 games in three years…these guys have set a bar for the program.”

“I’m just proud of our kids. I’m proud of the way they that played today, I’m proud of the way that they represented our school and our town and they should be proud of themselves as well.”

Sandites Upset Owasso 2-0 for First State Finals Appearance Since 1978

Jace ARnold flings His glove in celebration as the Sandites defeat Owasso 2-0.

Two outs away from the Sandites’ first State Finals appearance since 1978, Easton Webb gave up a ground ball single to Reace Martinez. With the tying run now at the plate, the sophomore pitcher took a step back and called time.

“Just the nerves. Regardless of how you try to avoid them, they’re still always there,” said Webb. “They’ll get to you, but you’ve just got to be able to flush it out, go out there and play still.”

After a quick chat with his infielders, the Oklahoma State-commit stepped back up on the mound and finished up. A sacrifice hit moved the runner to second, but Miller Tavaglione caught Bodie Anderson’s pop fly in left field and the gloves went flying.

Final score 2-0. Charles Page High School (29-11) paid back a pair of regular season losses and took down the district champions from Owasso (35-7) in front of a large crowd at Norman North’s Tull Lake Field Friday afternoon.

“My last outing against them wasn’t good,” said Webb (7-1), who gave up five walks and two hits in a three-inning start against the Rams on April 15. That game ended in a 5-0 defeat, his only recorded loss of the season.

“I was trying to throw it by them, but I knew I couldn’t do that this game. They’re a bunch of good hitters, so I had to be able to mix up my pitches, throw everything for a strike, let them get themselves out. If I strike them out, I strike them out. But just throw everything for a strike.”

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EAston Webb and Matt Brown embrace after the sophomore pitcher’s win.

This time around he did indeed throw 68% strikes, only giving up one walk and three hits while striking out two. Not getting too deep in the counts allowed him to stay fresh, throwing just 88 pitches while going all seven innings.

Taking the loss for Owasso was Arkansas-commit Luke Williams (7-2), who struck out 10 but surrendered six walks and five hits.

Williams reached his max pitch count in the top of the seventh after walking Kayden Campbell and giving up a sacrifice bunt to Wyatt Rutledge. Jaiden Gustafson closed things out, getting Jackson Turney to pop out to left, while Tavaglione grounded out to short to leave Campbell stranded at third.

As much as Sand Springs was hoping for insurance runs, leaving eight runners stranded over the course of the game, the two they plated were enough as Owasso was shut out for only the second time this season and the first time in over two months.

“The kids played great,” said head coach Matt Brown. “We’ve been preaching all day just to stay in the moment. The kids are doing a great job of that. They played fantastic so I’m just proud of them.”

A raucous dugout appeared to get in Williams’s head early in the game as senior lefty gave up singles to Alex Dudley and Webb, then walked Gatlin Gunn and Jace Arnold for a free run.

The Rams nearly got a run back in the second after an error at short and a walk put the Sandites in a bind with no outs. Webb sent a ground ball to first and struck out the next two batters to strand the threat.

Owasso stranded a single runner in the third, fifth, and seventh innings but never made it past second base following the second inning.

Rutledge padded the Sandites’ lead in the fifth, reaching on a ground ball to center field. He took second on a passed ball and scored on a single to left from Tavaglione.

Rutledge, a Northern Oklahoma College at Enid-commit, reached base three times with one walk and a team-best two hits. He also came up big in Thursday’s quarterfinal, going 2-of-2 for two runs and an RBI against Edmond Santa Fe.

“I don’t know how long it’s been since we’ve gone to the finals,” said Rutledge. “We’re just going with the flow. We’re hot and we’re hoping to stay hot.”

Sand Springs has won eight games in a row, including shutouts, shootouts, and blowouts. Now they’re only 21 outs away from potentially bringing home the first gold ball in school history.

“The last two years we had a hard Regional and ended up losing both Regionals,” said Rutledge. “It feels really good to come out here and be in the finals.”

Sand Springs will take on Westmoore (24-17) Saturday at 5:00 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ball Park in Oklahoma City.

Sand Springs is making its first finals appearance since 1978 while the Jaguars are in the finals for the fourth time since winning their only title in 1994.

“We’ve got tough kids and they’re going to go toe-to-toe with anybody,” said Brown. “It doesn’t matter who shows up in the other dugout.”

Sand Springs previously defeated the Jaguars 6-1 and 24-13 last month.

Sandites Win First Regional Championship Since 2011

For the first time since 2011, the Charles Page High School baseball team is headed back to State after knocking off Union 2-0 Wednesday afternoon in the Regional finals.

Sand Springs (27-11) went 3-0 in the tournament, eliminating the host RedHawks (22-16) who had to battle back from the losers’ bracket to get to Wednesday’s game.

“It feels amazing,” said senior pitcher Kayden Campbell, who earned the win on the mound. “I’m still shocked.”

Campbell pitched a complete game, surrendering only five hits with two strikeouts and no walks.

“Kayden has been so good for us for so many years that there’s nobody else that we wanted to have the ball here besides him,” said fifth-year head coach Matt Brown. “He threw exactly like I thought he would. He’s been great all year.”

Campbell (6-2) had already defeated the RedHawks once, a 7-4 non-district meeting in March. A familiar opponent and the Sandites’ suffocating defense helped him keep his nerves down in the big game.

“I just knew I had my brothers behind my back,” said Campbell. “I knew they were making defensive plays and I just had to throw it in the strike zone. That’s all I was really worried about - just throwing it in the strike zone and let the big things come.”

Sand Springs turned three double plays over the course of the game and committed zero errors, only allowing the RedHawks into scoring position once.

“We’ve got really good athletes out there and they play great in the biggest moments,” said Brown.

Easton Webb was hit by pitch to lead off the third inning, advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Gatlin Gunn and third on a passed ball before scoring on a fly out by Jace Arnold.

Union had a chance to tie it with a runner at third in the bottom of the fourth, but Alex Dudley turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning, his second double play of the game, and followed it up with a leadoff line-drive triple to right field.

The Sandites were unable to capitalize on their fifth-inning opportunities though, as Dudley was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice. Webb and Gunn drew walks to load the bases, but Arnold grounded into a double play.

Boston Kissee tagged up on a fly out by Miller Tavaglione to pad the lead in the top of the sixth. Union put one runner on base in the bottom of the inning but Arnold turned the Sandites’ third double play of the game, tagging the runner on his way to second before making the throw to first.

After two pop-outs in the seventh, Dylan Baldridge gave the RedHawks hope with a single, but was left stranded to end their season when Arnold snagged a line drive at second.

Sand Springs hosted Regionals the past two years and was a game away from the State tournament each time, but came up two runs short each time.

Last year the Sandites snagged their first district title in school history and this year they snagged their first Regional title in over a decade.

“It’s all about the kids,” said Brown. “The kids win and lose the games. The kids have turned this program into what it is now and I’m just so proud of them. The guys before them paved the road, and these guys got it done.”

The Minutemen have never won a gold ball, settling for runner-up in their only finals appearance in 1978. The boys in black and gold will be looking to make history next weekend.

Sandite Baseball Splits With Broken Arrow

The hunt for the 6A-3 district title is still wide open as the Charles Page High School baseball team (11-5, 4-2) split a district series with Broken Arrow (13-3, 5-1) last week.

“One of our goals every year is always to finish in the top two and host a Regional,” says head coach Matt Brown.

“We’ve put that opportunity right in front of us. When we go and play how we’re supposed to play, we’re going to end up in a good place at the end of the year.”

The Sandites have now split series with two of the top three teams in the district, making next week’s games against district-leading Jenks (12-6, 6-0) crucial. Sand Springs will play the Trojans at home on Monday and Tuesday on the road.

“Jenks hasn’t lost a district game yet so obviously they’re good,” says Brown.”And we’re pretty good too, so it should be some fun baseball games.”

On Monday the Sandites fell 7-1 to Broken Arrow despite an eight-strikeout effort from Eli Buxton (1-3). Rhen Rutledge scored the lone run on an RBI single from Schlehuber in the bottom of the first.

Schlehuber (3-0) got the win in Tuesday’s rematch with Easton Webb recording the save in a shootout.

“We’re really deep on the mound,” says Brown. “We’ve got a lot of experience on the mound and I think that’s our strength. We’re really pretty well rounded.”

The teams combined for 23 hits as the Sandites scored the most runs of any Broken Arrow opponent this season.

After falling behind 2-0 in the first, the Sandites took the lead once and for all in the second on a two-run single from Wyatt Rutledge. Elliott and Rhen Rutledge added one-run singles to go up 5-2.

The Tigers cut it to 5-4 in the third but Rhen Rutledge added his second scoring hit in the fourth to bring in Brody Rutledge, who tripled. Dom Ornelas’s fifth homer of the year put the visiting Sandites up 8-4.

“Dom is obviously our leader offensively for sure and Rhen and Brody have pretty great years so far. We’ve worked really really hard in the weight room all year long and it’s nice to see that translate out on the field.”

Broken Arrow scored two more in the fifth but Rhen Rutledge added an insurance run in the sixth on a single from Ornelas.

The Sandites had a Thursday game against Lincoln Christian rained out before winning a 6-4 non-district battle against Muskogee (4-10) on Friday.

The Sandites stormed out to a 6-0 lead before a sixth-inning Rougher rally flipped the script from blowout to nail-bitter.

“In Oklahoma, everyone’s good,” says Brown. “Every time you show up, there’s someone in the other dugout who’s capable of beating you.”

“Everybody in 6A has good kids…You lose focus for even a second and mess around - you’ll get beat.”

Four walks, a sacrifice hit from Schlehuber, and a two-run single from Wyatt Rutledge put the home team up 4-0 in the bottom of the first.

Jackson Turney added an RBI double in the second and Brody Rutledge scored on a sacrifice fly from Ornelas after a leadoff triple in the fourth.

Gage Elliott (4-0) got the start and win on the mound, fanning four with one hit in three innings.

Jace Arnold (1-1) entered the game in the fourth and struck out five before getting in a bind in the top of the sixth. After loading the bases with two walks and a single he struck out a sixth before Doc Estes blasted a bases-clearing triple to get Muskogee on the board.

Arnold ended with seven strikeouts to three hits and two walks in three innings. Webb recorded his second save of the week to close out the game.

“I really like where our program is at,” says Brown. “I feel like we can compete with anybody. I know for sure our kids aren’t scared of anybody. We’re at a place right now where our kids show up and expect to win and it doesn’t matter who’s in the other dugout. They expect to win every single time.”

Sand Springs will host Glenpool (7-11) Thursday at 5:00 p.m. before traveling to Edmond Deer Creek (10-8) on Saturday.

Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Wrestling Dominates Season-Opening Duals

The Ty Bowling era opened with a bang this week as the No. 13 Sand Springs wrestling team won its first two duals convincingly Thursday at the Ed Dubie Field House before placing sixth out of 35 teams at the Mid America Nations in Enid over the weekend.

In the first dual of the season the Sandites rolled to a 49-18 win over 5A No. 8 Duncan (1-1), going 10-4 in individual matches with six wins by fall.

The teams traded blows to an 18-18 tie after seven matches before Mitchell Smith won a 10-1 major decision to kick off a seven-match win streak.

That streak carried over into the next dual as the Sandites opened with three-straight wins in a 60-12 romp against the defending Arkansas Dual State Champions from Rogers Heritage (4-2)

Colt Hood won a 9-2 decision against defending State Champion Ethan McCrary at 120 pounds to take a 12-0 lead before the visitors got on the board.

The Sandites only lost three matches, all by close decisions, two of which were to returning State placers.

Jaden Allen and Mason Harris both pinned returning State placers and the Sandites totalled eight wins by fall.

At the Enid tournament the Sandites finished with four wrestlers in the top four of their brackets.

David Ritchey placed third at 113 with two pins, Smith placed third at 150 with three pins, Mason Harris finished third at 285 with five pins, and Ethan White finished fourth at 165 with four pins.

Jaxon Trotter placed 7th, Jayden Pait 10th, Ali McCoy 11th, Dawson Briscoe 18th, Allen 18th, Hood 18th, Jackson Burdge 19th, Preston Reyna 22nd, Jace Simms 23rd, Brody Ensten 25th.

The Keystone Kids wrestling club placed third at the Rumble in the Jungle tournament in Coweta over the weekend.

Hudson Waag, Hagan Wolfenberger, Sutton Hawley, Ryder Richardson, Ayreson Reiss, Ryker Dawes, Collin Randall, Brackton Upton, and Kydon Harness all won their brackets.

Dance

The Charles Page High School dance team took second place in 6A Small School Hip Hop at the OSDTDA State Championship on Saturday and the JV/JH team won its division.

Baseball

Sand Springs varsity baseball coach Matt Brown was recognized as the OBCA Region 7 Coach of the Year following the Sandites’ 31-8 season in 2022.

“Coach of the Year awards don’t happen without the best assistant coaches, great players, amazing families, and supportive administration,” tweeted Brown.

Football

Brody Rutledge was named the 6A-II District 2 Wide Receiver of the Year after catching 51 passes for 748 yards and eight touchdowns this season, averaging 14.7 yards per pass. He also had 18 carries for 131 yards and a score.

Jacob Blevins was also named an All-District receiver with 47 catches for 659 yards and four total touchdowns.

Drake Fain was named an All-District linebacker with 101 tackles. RJ Smittick was named an All-District defensive back with 64 tackles and two fumble recoveries.

Dominic Ornelas and Charles Gaylord made the All-District defensive line. Ornelas had 14 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. Gaylord had 33 tackles and two fumble recoveries.

Jabe Schlehuber (WR/DB) and Cody Cramer (DB) received Honorable Mentions. Schlehuber had 27 catches for 369 yards and three touchdowns, as well as two interceptions. Cramer also had two interceptions to go with 57 tackles.