Sandites Pummel Edmond Santa Fe 9-3 in State Quarterfinals

It was a fitting first-round assignment for Charles Page High School Thursday morning in the 6A State baseball tournament.

The last time Sand Springs played at State, it was Edmond Santa Fe who sent the Sandites packing in 2011, prevailing 9-7 in a loser’s bracket game of the old double-elimination tournament.

This time around the tournament is single-elimination and it was the Sandites (28-11) who sent Santa Fe (27-11) home in a 9-3 beatdown at Norman North.

Arizona State-committed senior Eli Buxton (6-3) went the distance on the mound, fanning eight while surrendering only four hits and three walks.

Meanwhile Oklahoma-committed sophomore Savion Sims struggled with ball control early in the game, issuing nine walks, despite striking out eight Sandites and only allowing one hit in his 3.2 innings.

Sims walked four in the first inning, giving Jace Arnold a free run. Buxton walked three and gave up a two-RBI double to Cole Britton before dialing things in for the remainder of the game.

Sims walked the bases full once again in the second, setting up Wyatt Rutledge for an RBI single, then Arnold scored on a passed ball for the 3-2 lead.

Santa Fe tied it again the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice hit from Jorge Balcazar but that would be the last run for the Wolves.

Teddy Doe took over on the mound for Edmond and surrendered a walk and three singles in the fifth, putting Sand Springs firmly out front.

Alex Dudley plated Rutledge on a bunt, Miller Tavaglione stole home, and Dudley scored on a ground ball from Easton Webb to make it 6-3.

The Sandites combined for five singles in the sixth, including an RBI hit from Tavaglione, and Rutledge tagged up on a sacrifice fly from Dudley for the five-run lead.

Gatlin Gunn and Arnold hit back-to-back doubles in the seventh with the latter scoring the former for the final run of the game.

Buxton stayed potent in the seventh, striking out two to end the game.

Sand Springs will take on Owasso Friday at 1:30 p.m. at Norman North High School in the State semifinals. It will be a rematch of the Sandites’ last trip to State, when the Rams won 6-1 in a 2011 winner’s bracket game.

Owasso (35-6) won both meetings with the Sandites in the regular season this year, 5-0 and 8-3 in district play. The Rams have won nine in a row and 21 of their last 22, including a 7-1 thrashing of Edmond Memorial (25-10) in their quarterfinal.

The last time the Sandites made it to the State semifinals was 1988 with a 5A victory over Edmond. Sand Springs is in pursuit of its first finals appearance since 1978 and first-ever championship.

Wrestling Roundup: Junior High Lady Sandites Place 2nd at Home Tourney, Keystone Kids 2nd at State

Chanute, Kansas edged out No. 5 Westmoore 211.5 to 207 to win the second annual Sand Springs girls high school wrestling tournament Saturday at Clyde Boyd Middle School.

The defending champions, Springdale Har-Ber, slipped to 17th this year while host No. 10 Sand Springs placed 21st in the field of 42 teams.

In junior high action the Sandites finished runner-up to Norman by a margin of 228 to 214.5 after calling down a pair of varsity freshmen. Defending junior high champion Perry tied for third place with Bixby at 173 points. 37 schools participated in the junior high tournament.

Sand Springs went 3-1 in the finals while Norman was 1-2, but the Tigers had the edge in consolation with seven top-five placers to the Sandites’ five.

High School Girls

Kelsi Hilton led the varsity team with a fourth place finish at 140 pounds, with both of her losses coming to Har-Ber’s Kinalisa Lokot. Hilton previously pinned Lokot for first place at the Diamond State Invitational in December, but the junior State placer got the upper hand this time with a pair of second period falls.

Laila Mirza went 5-2 at 115 for fifth place, with all of her wins coming via fall. Trinity Owens placed eighth at 110, Audree Robinson placed 10th at 125, and Emily Ambriz placed 10th at 235.

Junior High Girls

Kenzie Johnson won at 89 pounds with two falls and an 8-7 semifinal decision. In the finals she pinned Ponca’s Bailey Ward in 4:10.

Bailey Copeland won at 96 pounds, pinning her first four opponents before dominating Cleveland’s Hannah Stephenson 8-0 in the finals.

Ambrielle Chambers won at 102 pounds, pinning all five of her foes. In the finals she stuck Norman’s Rylie Hillis in 2:41.

Copeland and Chambers, both freshmen, usually wrestle with the varsity team.

Rylee Allen was runner-up at 117, pinning her first four opponents before getting pinned by Norman’s Claire Lancaster in the finals.

Kyla Crittenden placed third at 73, Faith Humble placed sixth at 117, Collby Garrison placed seventh at 145, Lyla Waldren placed eighth at 102, Cailey Miller placed eighth at 155, Brylee Smith placed ninth at 145, Audrey Pride placed ninth at 117, Rowen Hull placed tenth at 138, Savannah Taylor placed 11th at 110, and Sawyer Briscoe placed 12th at 102.

Junior High Boys

The junior high boys competed at the 82nd annual Ted Anderson tournament in Edmond and took fifth place with two champions.

Griffin Sensintaffar won at 86 pounds for his fourth title of the season. He pinned his first three opponents before closing out with a pair of decisions. In the finals he wont 3-0 against Broken Arrow’s Bryson McQueen in a rematch of last week’s semifinals. Sensintaffar pinned McQueen last weekend en route to a tournament title at Perry.

Freshman Jaxon Grigsby won at 126 pounds with two pins and two decisions before taking down Edmond North’s Brooks McCollom in the finals. Grigsby scored a takedown with 15 seconds left to tie it at 3-3. He scored a takedown in overtime but McCollom had a pair of escapes to tie it at 5-5 before Grigsby scored a reversal in the third overtime period for the 7-5 win.

Kasen McAffrey placed third at 140, Kaden Pope placed fifth at 132, Rowdy Ash placed sixth at 80 pounds, Corbin Wooley placed sixth at 155, and Hunter Fields placed sixth at 170.

Youth Wrestling

The Keystone Kids Wrestling Club competed at the OKUSA State Championship and took first place in Division I and Division II and second place overall. Head coach Kyle Waag was named the OKUSA Coach of the Year for the east side of the state.

Madden Moore, Jett Galloway, and Raylee Dawes won gold in Division I and Holden Yingst was runner-up.

Patrick Sanchez and Hagan Wolfenberger won gold in Division II, Hudson Waag was runner-up, and Maddix Spencer placed fourth.

In Division III Ty Galloway and Autumn Foust placed third and Sutton Hawley placed fourth.

Maddox Pope won gold In Division IV while Karson Waag and Bryson Pope were runners-up. Wes Wilson and Zander Pope placed fourth.

Kayden Worthington won gold in Division V.

In the Novice divisions: Landon Replogle and Carter Randall won gold; Gage Fadenrecht and Maverick Spencer placed third; and Hunter Sims, Brayden Replogle, Nakona Eaglin, and Joseph Satoe placed fourth.

Sapulpa Wins Highway 97 Rivalry - Sandites to Play at Southmoore Tournament Friday

Chants of “let’s play football” rang out through the Ed Dubie Field House as the Sapulpa volleyball team took away the Highway 97 Rivalry trophy from the defending Sandites Tuesday evening.

5A No. 7 Sapulpa (24-11, 2-4) picked up its second Frontier Valley Conference win of the season while depriving Sand Springs (11-12, 0-7) of its first - winning the match 3-1.

Sand Springs lost three closely contested games while running away with the third in one of the most exhilarating matches of the season.

In game one the Sandites trailed by as much as 16-10 before battling back to 22-21 after an ace from Brooklyn Shope, but a pair of kills from Tyla Heard and an ace from Jailey Battles secured the 25-22 win for the road team.

Game two was the highest-scoring set for the Sandites since 2019 but once against Sapulpa came out on top following nine lead changes and fifteen tie scores.

After a Chieftain block tied it up at 11-11 the Sandites won five of the next six rallies and led by as much as 20-15 before Sapulpa came roaring back.

The Sandites had match point four times but Heard tied it up thrice on two kills and a block. A service error for the Sandites tied it again at 27-27 and Sapulpa took its first lead since 8-7 on a kill from Wrigley Adkisson.

A Chieftain error tied it once more and the Sandites once against got match point on a kill from Shope, but this time Jazymyne Cole tied it with a kill.

The Sandites’ final lead came on a Chieftain error, but the visitors won the final three rallies on a kill from Battles and two Sand Springs hitting errors to prevail 32-30.

Complete undiscouraged, the home team stole set three 25-13 with their biggest win against the Chieftains since 2020.

After giving up the first two points to Sapulpa, a kill from Shope sparked a 7-1 run for the Sandites and they never trailed again

Game four was another back-and-forth affair with seven lead changes and 11 tie scores. The Sandites had their final lead at 16-13 but Sapulpa went on a 7-1 run of their own to make it 20-17.

A big-time kill from Patience Pearce sparked a three-point run to tie it at 20-20, but Sapulpa would lead from then on, winning 25-22 on a kill from Heard.

Heard, an Abilene Christian University basketball commit, led all scorers with 15 kills closely followed by Cole with 11. Rylie Steward had 15 assists for the Chieftains and Battles had three aces.

Shope and Jacelyn Smith both recorded double-doubles for the Sandites. Shope had 12 kills, 14 digs, and six aces while Smith had 10 kills and 11 digs.

Hannah McKelvey recorded 20 assists and Adelynn Ray contributed 17. Evyn Morrow led the defense with 31 digs.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at the Southmoore Invitational. The Sandites will play No. 12 Bartlesville (19-9) at 10:00 a.m., Norman (5-16) at 12:00 p.m., and No. 13 Westmoore (11-8) at 3:00 p.m. in pool play. Bracket play will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Sapulpa 3 CPHS 1 (25-21, 32-30, 13-25, 25-22)
Kills: Sapulpa 37, CPHS 40.
Blocks: Sapulpa 5, CPHS 5.
Aces: Sapulpa 9, CPHS 13.
Errors: Sapulpa 40, CPHS 44.
Service Errors: Sapulpa 8, CPHS 17.

(Sand Springs Stats)
Kills: Shope 12, Smith 10, Tippit 6, Ray 6, Pearce 5, DeBerry 1.
Assists: H. McKelvey 20, Ray 17, Morrow 2.
Digs: Morrow 31, Shope 14, Smith 11, Ray 9, H. McKelvey 8, Tippit 5, F. McKelvey 5, DeBerry 2, Pearce 1.
Solo Blocks: Tippit 1.
Assisted Blocks: Tippit 3, Ray 2, Shope 1, Pearce 1, DeBerry 1.
Aces: Shope 6, H. McKelvey 3, Tippit 2, Morrow 1, Ray 1.

Lady Sandites Beat Stillwater, Advance to Area Playoffs

For the ninth time in the past decade, the Lady Sandite basketball team is advancing to the Area playoffs Thursday night at Sapulpa at 7:30 p.m.

6A-East No. 6 Sand Springs (17-8) is scheduled to play its fourth game of the year against No. 7 Owasso (13-11) after the two teams finished as runners-up in their regions.

The winner of that game will play the loser of No. 1 Booker T. Washington (19-5) vs. No. 5 Broken Arrow (17-8) Saturday at 1:30 p.m. for a ticket to the State Tournament.

Sand Springs won 58-43 against No. 11 Stillwater (8-16) in the first round of the Norman regional on Thursday with three Lady Sandites in double digits. Hailey Jackson scored 19, Sakauri Wilson scored 15, and Kiaryn Taylor added 12.

On Saturday, however, No. 3 Norman (19-4) extended its win streak to nine with a 63-36 victory.

The host Tigers went on a 14-0 run to end the first quarter up 16-3 and though the rest of the game was closer, the Sandites could never muster a comeback attempt

“There were a lot of things that we missed tonight - a lot of opportunities that we let go,” said head coach Josh Berry.

“If you want to win, you’ve got to make those plays in these games.”

Sand Springs struggled with accuracy, shooting only 26% in the field, and also faced a distinct size advantage as the average Norman starter had three inches on the average Sandite starter.

“We showed it earlier in the year, beating some good teams,” said Berry. “When we play together we can beat anybody in the state.”

“But when we don’t, and we play like today where we’re not in one accord, then we can be beat by anybody.”

The team initially funneled its offense through Jackson as the six-foot senior took seven shots before any other Sandite attempted one. The Tigers often two-manned her in the paint, however, and Jackson didn’t get hot till the second half when she scored 12 of her game-best 17.

Wilson got rolling in the second quarter, where she scored all eight of her points, but was shut down in the second half.

By halftime the Tigers led 30-13 and pushed their advantage to 45-21 entering the fourth.

Nessa Begay and Kayla Jones scored 16 to lead Norman, followed by Keeley Parks with 12.

“We missed a lot of transition baskets and transition opportunities that we had early on and it just dug us in a hole,” said Berry.

“Defensively we missed some things and we just dug that hole too early and it’s hard to get out of that with this group. And we shot the ball bad. We couldn’t buy a bucket.”

On Thursday the Owasso Rams will be looking to snap an 11-game losing streak against the Sandites that dates back to 2018. The Sandites won the first three meetings this year 51-49, 48-47, and 45-36.

“That’s a good team, well coached,” said Berry. “We’ve got to go out there and play because this is a brand new game and a brand new season. Win or go home time.”

“We’ve just got to relax, have fun, enjoy each other, trust each other, believe in each other.”

Boys

The 6A-East No. 11 boys (10-13) suffered a 61-48 defeat against No. 6 Moore (17-6) in the Regional knockout round Friday at Bixby.

The Lions went on a 14-0 run to end the first quarter up 21-7 and the Sandites never recovered despite winning the fourth quarter 20-10.

Alijah Roper scored a career-high 23 points to lead all scorers but was the only Sandite in double digits.

Moore was led by Tristan Hankins with 19, Darian Grant with 15, and Malachi Lee with 11.

The Sandites have missed out on making it to Area the last two seasons but have made it past the first round of Regionals 7 out of the last 10 seasons and are poised for success next year as they return 3 of 5 starters and 65% of their scoring power.

Lady Sandites Beat Union and Owasso, Receive Regional Assignment

The Sand Springs girls’ basketball team should be battle tested and ready when the Regional playoffs arrive Thursday.

The 6A-East No. 6 Lady Sandites went 2-1 in a tough final week to the regular season, ending the year 16-7 overall and 9-5 in the tough Frontier Valley Conference.

“We’re a team that’s still learning every day,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We’re up and down, but hopefully we’re going to be going up over this next week, which I think we will.”

The Sandites were on upset alert Tuesday against No. 16 Union (5-18) on Senior Night but survived 48-43 behind a 23-point performance from Hailey Jackson.

On Thursday, however, they suffered a 58-30 drubbing at No. 1 Booker T. Washington (17-5) as the team struggled with a 20% field goal performance, their worst since a season opening loss at Sapulpa.

“The best thing is to see if you can come back and regroup the next night and play, and we were able to do that,” said Berry.

The Sandites stormed out to a 26-12 halftime lead at No. 7 Owasso (12-9) on Friday in a game that the Rams probably felt due to win. The first two meetings between Sand Springs and Owasso were decided by a total of three points, but the Sandites only trailed once in the rematch.

The visitors surrendered an uncontested opening bucket to Laila Hamilton, a senior who has missed the entire season to injury. The senior tapped in the final bucket of her career and exited the game to applause, and fortunately the Sandites’ charity didn’t come back to haunt them.

After taking their biggest lead of the game at 29-12 to open the third, the Sandites suddenly found themselves on the ropes after Owasso used a 16-2 swing to make it a one-score game entering the fourth.

“(Thursday) we might have lost this game, but today they stayed together, they kept their composure, and they found a way to win, and that’s the most important part,” said Berry.

Jackson broke the Rams’ momentum with a three-point play to open the fourth and scored seven of her 15 points in the final stanza to secure the team’s 11th consecutive win against Owasso.

Jackson’s 15 led all scorers, while Sakauri Wilson added 11 and Taionna Morris had 10.

“We played a few tough teams this past six games,” said Berry. “I think that we did well, we held ourselves well. I’m proud of them for the season that we had but now everybody’s 0-0 and let’s just go see what happens.”

Sand Springs will travel to Norman Thursday for a first-round Regional playoff against No. 11 Stillwater (8-15) at 6:00 p.m.

No. 7 Norman (17-4) will host No. 14 Muskogee (6-15) in the other semifinal. The finals will be Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

“We’re going to need a lot of people to pitch in,” said Berry.

“We always say ‘I don’t know how we’re going to win, but however it is that night, just be ready. It might be your night, it might be somebody else’s night. Just be ready.’”

Boys

The 6A-East No. 11 Sand Springs boys (10-13) suffered a tough final week to the regular season, falling 66-37 to No. 8 Union (12-10) on Tuesday, 86-69 to No. 4 Booker T. Washington (12-8) on Thursday, and 57-34 to No. 5 Owasso (13-8) on Friday.

The Sandites led Union 22-20 at halftime on Senior Night but the RedHawks got hot in the third quarter for a 42-35 lead before starting the fourth on a 19-0 run. Michael Foster, Alijah Roper, and Kade Holland scored 8 apiece.

Thursday was a similar affair as the Sandites led the Hornets 36-34 late in the second quarter before Washington went on a 12-0 run to enter the half with a double-digit advantage that it never relinquished. Kooper Kelly scored 16, Holland 12, and Khalil Allen had 10.

On Owasso’s Senior Night the Rams jumped out to a 19-2 first-quarter lead and never trailed. Blake Johnson, Zane Fueshko, and Sam Hayes scored 6 apiece to lead the Sandites.

The boys ended the season with a 3-11 record in conference action, an improvement over the past two one-win seasons in the brutally tough Frontier Valley.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at the Bixby Regionals with a first-round elimination game against No. 6 Moore (16-6).

Sakauri Wilson scores 27, Sandites Upset No. 1 Sapulpa 57-53

Sakauri Wilson says she puts up a hundred free throws a day, and it paid off Friday night at the Ed Dubie.

The junior guard went 8-for-8 at the charity stripe, including four free throws in the final 20 seconds of a 57-53 upset against 5A No. 1 Sapulpa (17-2).

The Sandites (14-6) previously lost 61-21 to the Chieftains to open the season but managed to keep pace in the rematch for their first rivalry win since 2019. It also snapped a 10-game win streak for Sapulpa, who hadn’t tasted defeat since December.

“I wasn’t intimidated at all,” said Wilson, who scored a career-high 27 points to lead all scorers.

“I just knew the first time (we played them) we weren’t ready, everybody was scared.”

“We all came together as a team, clutch free throws at the end, everybody’s coming together on defense and shutting everybody down.”

Sand Springs trailed for most of the first quarter but traded leads through the second and entered the locker room with a 26-24 advantage on Wilson’s first of three treys.

A five-point run midway through the third gave Sand Springs the lead till the final two minutes when a Sapulpa rally nearly staved off the upset.

Sapulpa trailed 49-42 before surging ahead to a 52-51 lead, but Abigaile Martin put her team back on top from the free throw line and the Chieftains never led again.

Hailey Jackson also had a big night with 20 points and 7 rebounds while Oklahoma State signee Stailee Heard had 23 to pace the Chieftains.

“That’s a good team over there,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We just had a great all around effort tonight and some girls stepped up and made some plays.”

The Sandites also won 54-38 at No. 13 Bartlesville (7-13) on Monday behind a career-high 17 from Calla Fueshko, but dropped a 69-40 decision to No. 2 (15-6) Bixby on Tuesday.

“We just challenged them to match (Sapulpa)’s energy and their effort and I think that’s what they did tonight. Plus they made plays.”

“That’s what it comes down to. It’s not too much about Xs and Os, it’s about the players. When they make plays, it makes it easy on us.”

(Boys) Sand Springs 78 Sapulpa 57

Sapulpa’s warmup shirts said “beating Sand Springs never gets old,” but it was the Sandites who prevailed 78-57 in a Friday night romp.

The Sand Springs boys (10-10) paid back a season-opening 60-51 loss at Sapulpa (5-14) with a balanced team attack.

Alijah Roper scored 15 to lead the Sandites, closely followed by Blake Johnson and Kade Holland with 14 apiece - a career-high for Holland.

“We always enjoy a rivalry win against Sapulpa, especially after they got us in the first game of the year at their place,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“The guys were focused and ready. They were excited - we really didn’t have to motivate them much to play this game.”

Jalen Pratt’s opening three-pointer gave Sapulpa its only lead of the night but the Sandites soon set the tempo and took a 21-11 lead into the second quarter.

“I thought we came out and set the tempo early and really dominated inside the paint,” said Savage.

“Our bigs really controlled offensive and defensive rebounds inside and made their guards alter their shots a little bit and that was a huge factor for us getting off to a good start.”

By halftime the Sandites led 39-25 and Sapulpa never got within double digits in the second half.

The Sandites fell 58-52 to Bartlesville (7-12) on Monday despite a career-high 14 points from Khalil Allen. They also lost 73-44 to Bixby (17-4) on Tuesday.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday with a Senior Night home finale against Union.

The Sandites also received their Regional playoff assignments on Wednesday.

The girls will play No. 11 Stillwater (7-13) in the first round of the Norman Regional on the 23rd, while the boys will play No. 6 Moore (14-6) in the first round of the Bixby Regional on the 24th.

Box Scores

CPHS;21;18;18;21;--;78.
Sapulpa;11;14;18;14;--57.

Scoring: (CPHS) Roper 15, Holland 14, Johnson 14, Hooper 9, Allen 8, Kelly 7, Foster 6, Shope 2, Mitchell 1. (Sapulpa) Harris 18, Abbage 10, Lewis 8, Read 8, Ragsdale 6, Pratt 5, Willbey 2.

(Girls) Sand Springs 57, Sapulpa 53
CPHS;8;18;12;19;--57.
Sapulpa;12;12;11;18;--53.

Scoring: (CPHS) Wilson 27, Jackson 20, Martin 4, Fueshko 4, Taylor 2. (Sapulpa) S. Heard 23, Ri. McQuarters 12, Ra. McQuarters 11, T. Heard 5, Adkisson 2.