Sydney Pennington rips Putnam North from the mound, Sandites win 3-1

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Senior Oklahoma State University-commit Sydney Pennington (1-0) needed a few at-bats to warm up her pitching game Friday, but once she got going she was unstoppable. Pennington pitched seven strikeouts, gave up only four hits, and scored a run to lead the Charles Page High School varsity softball team (3-2) to victory at the Broken Arrow Tournament Friday evening.

The Lady Sandites split the first two games of the day, falling 2-1 to the eventual tournament champions from Owasso, but getting revenge on last year's State Champions with a 4-1 victory over Choctaw. Choctaw defeated Sand Springs 4-3 in the State Finals last year. 

The Putnam City North game was a slow starter for both teams as Felicity Horn and Rachel Blair struck out swinging in the first inning. Pennington walked Lorren Kromer in her first appearance on the mound this season and gave up a single to Steffany Dickerson before finding her groove and striking out Meridee Lawson. 

Senior Jessica Collins registered the first hit of the game for the Sandites in the top of the second but was left stranded. The Lady Panthers nearly got on the board in the bottom of the third. Kromer hit a single, advanced to second as Lawson was walked, advanced to third on a wild pitch, but was caught stealing home to end the inning. 

The Sandites broke their dry spell in the top of the fourth as Pennington singled on a hard ground ball into left field. Madelyn Blair hit what should have been a sacrifice bunt, but an overthrow error to first gave Pennington enough time to clear home plate and Blair reached second. Jacie Taber hit a single to advance Blair to third, and freshman Sabrina Usher brought them both home with a single of her own for the 3-0 advantage.

The Lady Panthers got on the board in the bottom of the fifth as Sydni Gibbs reached second on an error, advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored on an error that allowed Maleina Fortin to reach first. Fortin nearly scored but was tagged out at home by Horn. 

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.

Down but not out: Sandites fall 4-0 to Owasso, but could get rematch Thursday

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity baseball team got off to a great start at Regionals Wednesday when they handed the Broken Arrow Tigers a 6-3 defeat at Stigall Field in Owasso. The Rams would prove to be too much for the Sandites in round three, however, and the host team shut out their foe 4-0.

The Regional Tournament is double-elimination, so despite the loss the boys could still earn their ticket to State if they can win three more games. The Sandites will face the winner of the Broken Arrow vs Sapulpa game Thursday at 5:00 PM, and if they win that match they'll get to play Owasso again Thursday at 7:30. Because Owasso is undefeated, the Sandites will have to beat them twice to win the Regional. 

It may sound improbable, but the Lady Sandite Fast Pitch Softball team accomplished that feat last fall when they battled their way through the consolation bracket to win the Regional Tournament and ultimately lost the State Championship by a single run.

University of Oklahoma committed junior Jake Terry (5-4) pitched all six innings for the Sandites, giving up seven hits, six walks, and four earned runs against three strikeouts. Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College-signee Shane Lang got the win for the Rams, allowing just six hits and one walk against six strikeouts and zero runs in seven innings. 

The game was a slow starter with neither team getting on the board till the bottom of the third when Lang hit a sacrifice fly to score Connor Beichler. The score held at 1-0 till the bottom of the fifth when the Rams finally began to put in work at the plate. 

Beichler walked, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a sacrifice by Tyler Brown. All-American Parker Dunn singled, Lang walked, and Nick Keim hit a sacrifice fly to score Dunn. Kyle Petty brought in pinch runner Sam Thompson on a single for the 4-0 lead.

It was down to the wire for the Sandites. Trevor Tolbert reached on an error and Joey Montgomery was hit by pitch in the top of the sixth, but both were stranded. Terry pitched a no-hitter in the bottom of the inning with one strikeout, and the Sandites had one shot left to tie or take the lead.

Hunter Greathouse grounded out to short. Jake Ward hit a line drive single into left field and was replaced on base by Kameron Adcock. Mack Thompson flied out in foul territory. Ty Fain picked up a single, but the two runners were left stranded as Tolbert grounded out to second to end the game.

Owasso soundly defeats Sand Springs for district title

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School baseball team (20-14, 6-7) was out of the conversation for the district championship, but still had the opportunity to spoil it for top-seeded Owasso (24-5, 11-1) if they could win Wednesday afternoon. Of course, that would give Bixby the chance to win it, and the Spartan-Sandite Rivalry is quickly catching up with the Highway 97 Rivalry in terms of intensity. 

While Sand Springs has been on a bit of a slump as of late, they managed to put up one of their most impressive performances of the season earlier this week in a home game against the Rams, hitting three home runs in an 11-10 loss that came down to the wire. The Sandites hoped to build on that performance Wednesday and took a 2-0 lead early on, but the home team rallied with nine runs in the bottom of the third that proved to be more than enough for the win.

Sand Springs went through three pitchers, each throwing two innings, with the loss going to Jake Ward (4-3) who got the start. Ward gave up five hits, seven walks, and seven earned runs in his time on the mound. Kyle Petty got the win for Owasso, pitching six hits against seven strikeouts in six innings.

Sand Springs started out solidly as Josh Taber singled and survived four pickoff attempts before stealing second, and advancing to third on an error by Jake Enzbrenner. Treyce Tolbert hit a line drive double into right field to bring Taber home, but was left stranded as Petty got his second strikeout of the inning. 

Ward gave up a single and two walks in the bottom of the first, but managed to strand loaded bases as Hunter Greathouse forced out a runner at third. Petty added two more strikeouts in the top of the second, but gave up a double to Tyler McCallie that scored Mack Thompson, who also doubled.

Finally the Rams got on the board with five hits and five walks in the bottom of the third for the go-ahead. Brock Youngblood (4-1) relieved Ward as the boys trailed 5-2, but was unable to stem the Owasso tide. In his two innings on the mound he gave up only three hits, one walk, and two earned runs.

Josh Cordell (2-3) got his turn at pitching in the bottom of the fifth and gave up three walks and a double to expand the deficit to 11-2. Jake Terry managed a double in the top of the sixth but was left stranded. Cordell walked two and struck out one in the bottom of the sixth, but the Sandites were held scoreless in the top of the seventh and the Rams held on for the win. 

The Sandites will return to action Friday at 5:00 for Senior Night. Photo galleries from this season can be found at https://sanditepride.smugmug.com/