Sandite Softball Goes 1-1 at Bixby Festival, Ends Regular Season 18-13

LAkelyn Harger was 3-for-3 at the plate in the win over Pryor.

The Charles Page High School softball team (18-13) wrapped up yet another winning regular season Friday morning at the Bixby Festival, going 1-1 against a pair of 5A district champions.

Addison Hughes (11-7) pitched a gem against Pryor (14-19), striking out nine while allowing only two hits and two walks in the 2-0 win.

Sand Springs struggled to bring runners home, stranding two in the first and three in the second before a two-run triple from Ashlyn Clark put the Sandites on the board in the third inning.

They stranded two more to close the third and three in the fifth. The game ended on a time limit in the top of the sixth.

Lakelyn Harger was 3-for-3 at the plate with one run and Kenzie King was 1-of-2 with a run.

In the next game the girls fell 5-1 to Piedmont (30-3), the sixteenth consecutive win for the back-to-back defending State Champions.

Bella Wilson was the only Sandite to manage a hit against the Wildcats, going 2-for-3 at the plate and scoring the lone run on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth.

Kelsi Hilton (5-3) was credited with the loss, throwing six hits no walks, and two strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Kylie King also spent time in the circle, tossing five hits, one walk, and two strikeouts in 1.2 innings.

Sand Springs will return to action at Edmond Memorial for the Regional Championship next week.

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 Weekly Sports Roundup: Baseball Opens Season With Run-Rule Wins

The Charles Page High School baseball team won its first two games of the season by 12-3 run rule against Shawnee on Friday and Yukon on Saturday.

The Sandites capitalized on a disastrous error-filled second inning from the Wolves to take a 6-1 lead and Northern Oklahoma College signee Dom Ornelas blasted a third-inning grand slam to put his team in run-rule territory.

Kayden Campbell got the win against Shawnee with nine strikeouts, four walks, and two hits in four innings.

Gage Elliott got the win against Yukon with three strikeouts, no walks, and five hits in four innings.

Brody Rutledge, Rhen Rutledge, and Jackson Turney totaled three hits apiece and Rhen Rutledge capped the scoring off with a three-run homer in the top of the fifth to secure the run rule.

Sand Springs wrapped up the preseason with a 6-2-1 record, beating Pryor 3-1 on Monday before falling 4-2 to Union on Tuesday.

Oklahoma State-committed freshman Easton Webb tossed eight strikeouts in three innings with only two hits against the Tigers.

Ornelas hit a solo homer against the RedHawks and Eli Buxton struck out eight in four innings.

The Sandites will kick off district play Monday at defending State Champion Owasso (2-0), before hosting the Rams Tuesday and Victory Christian (1-1) on Thursday.

Girls Powerlifting

The CPHS girls powerlifting team took third place at the OGPCA North Regional Tuesday in Miami, qualifying seven for the State Championship.

Senior heavyweight Jaden Jordan won her second Regional title and fourth meet of the year, benching 165 for first place, deadlifting 405 for first, and squatting 370 for second.

Also qualifying for State are Madison Thompson, Melanie Skelly, Gracie Worthington, Olivia Alexander, Kelsi Hilton, and Kiyah Dover.

Worthington placed third at 136, Thompson placed fourth at 220, Alexander placed sixth at heavyweight, Dover placed seventh at heavyweight, Hilton placed seventh at 136, Skelly placed ninth at 150, and Thompson placed 11th at 108.

The State meet will be held Monday, March 6th, at the Choctaw Event Center in Durant.

Dance

The Sandite dance team advanced to the finals in both Pom and Hip Hop at the NDA High School Nationals in Orlando, placing third in Hip Hop and fifth in Pom.

Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Two Sandites Medal at State Wrestling Tournament

The Sand Springs boys’ wrestling team took tenth place at the OSSAA 6A State Tournament with two placers in their best finish since 2020.

Mitchell Smith took fourth place at 150 pounds to end his career as a four-time State qualifier and two time placer with a 108-35 record.

Mason Harris took fourth place at heavyweight and finished his junior year with a team-best 40-9 record.

The Sandites went 3-3 in the wrestle-in round and 3-3 in the quarterfinals with Jayden Pait, Jaxon Trotter, and Ethan White earning their way into the main bracket.

Smith, Harris, and Kase Skaggs all advanced to the semifinals before taking their first losses. Skaggs and Trotter were both eliminated one win short of the podium.

Sand Springs will graduate Smith and White but will return 12 starters and seven state qualifiers next season.

Soccer

The CPHS boys soccer team improved to 2-0-1 in preseason action while the girls fell to 2-1-0.

The boys won 3-0 against Collinsville on Tuesday with goals from Elias Villanueva, Zac Ritter, and Elgin Hernandez, with Brian Boyles recording an assist. They battled to a 1-1 draw against Sapulpa with Eli Bise scoring the lone goal.

The girls fell 2-1 against Collinsville, with Alyssa Cunningham scoring the lone goal on an assist from Ava Watts. On Thursday they defeated Sapulpa 4-1 with two goals from Watts and one goal apiece from Avery Miller and Ashley Feigenbaum.

The Sandites have one more scrimmage scheduled Tuesday against Glenpool before opening the regular season Friday with home matches against Tulsa NOAH at 6:00 p.m.

Bowling

The CPHS girls bowling team of Tabby Hicks, Olivia Alexander, Zoe Butler, and Kyeara Owens finished as Regional Runners-Up on February 18th in Sapulpa, advancing to the State Tournament Saturday in Enid.

At State they sat in second place after eight games of qualifying, but were eliminated in the first round of bracket play.

“I’m so proud of this team,” said coach Shawn Judy. “Three out of the four girls on the team, this is the first year they have competed in high school bowling. I believe we overachieved every expectation that anybody put on us.”

Baseball

Sandite baseball improved to 5-1-1 in preseason games, losing 6-7 at Owasso on Monday before winning 9-6 Tuesday against Bartlesville and 13-0 Thursday against Glenpool. On Saturday they beat Edmond Santa Fe 2-0 and tied Noble 3-3.

The Sandites will travel to Pryor on Monday and will host Union on Tuesday to conclude the preseason.

The regular season will kick off Thursday at 11:00 a.m. against Greenwood, AR with a home game Friday at 6:00 p.m. against Shawnee. Sand Springs will travel to Yukon Saturday at noon.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Softball Places Third at Bixby Tournament

The Charles Page High School softball (15-9, 5-3) started a successful week with a pair of perfect games and ended it with a third-place finish at the Bixby tournament.

The Sandites celebrated Senior Night with a perfect double-header Tuesday against the combined team of Tulsa Memorial and Booker T. Washington (0-15, 0-7).

Kelsi Hilton (7-1) struck out 10 and the Sandites totaled 15 hits in a 20-0 game-one rout. Addie Hughes (8-8) struck out 10 and the Sandites recorded 13 hits in the 10-0 second game. 

The Sandites rode that momentum into a crucial 8-3 district win Thursday against Bartlesville (11-8, 3-4) behind a six-strikeout performance from Hughes. 

On Friday the Sandites rolled to a 14-0 shutout of Union (6-18) in the first round of the Bixby tournament. Hughes pitched a one-hitter with six strikeouts and Mikenna Stephens went 3-of-4 at the plate with four RBI.

Hilton struck out seven in a 4-2 win over El Reno (4-9) while also recording three RBI in the second game of the tournament.

The win streak came to a close in a 6-0 loss against Perry (24-5) Friday evening but the Sandites got back in the win column with a 5-1 victory over Raymore Peculiar (7-6) Saturday morning. 

To cap off the week, Hilton hit a walk-off RBI single to prevail 5-4 over Coweta (16-7) and pay back an August defeat. 

Hilton batted .583 on the week with a team-high 14 hits, three triples, 13 RBI, and 11 runs. Morgan Rector was .565 at the plate with 13 hits, six RBI, and 12 runs.

Hilton went 3-0 in the circle with a 1.44 ERA and Hughes was 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. with a key district game at Jenks (19-3, 10-0), then will travel to Stillwater (14-6, 6-3) Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Cross Country

Josie Grona led the Sandite elementary with a fourth-place finish at the Sapulpa Chieftain meet, Saturday, September 3rd. She ran the one-mile race in 6:23.36. Kellen Adkins was 18th to lead the boys in 6:47.05.

Kelsi Hilton led the varsity girls with a ninth place finish, running the two-mile in 13:29.31. Taigh Wright led the boys in 12:23.49.

Chloe Grona was runner-up in the junior high girls’ one-mile run, finishing in 5:59.85. Dax Wilcox was the top junior high boy, placing 14th in 5:54.46. 

On September 10th the Sandites took a depleted roster to Broken Arrow. 

Wright led the boys with a 50th place finish, running the 5K in 19:38.80. Gracie Gifford led the girls, finishing in 26:11.92 for 57th place. Melany Lamb led the junior high girls, placing 63rd in 37:08.79. 

Volleyball

The No. 15 Sandite volleyball team (7-6) snapped a five-match skid with a 3-0 sweep of Pryor (2-15) Tuesday night on the road. Sand Springs won 25-14, 25-10, and 25-14.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. with a conference rivalry game at 5A No. 7 Sapulpa (13-10, 1-3). Sand Springs is 0-4 in conference action.

Football

The Sandite freshman class (2-0) continued an undefeated streak stretching back to its seventh grade season, winning 34-0 against Bartlesville. The eighth graders also moved to 2-0 with a 48-14 win against the Bruins. 

Wrestling

The first-year Lady Sandite wrestling program had a successful first meeting with prospective athletes. New coach Ty Bowling hopes to have as many as 20 girls in the program this season.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Volleyball and Softball Suffer Tough Week

The 14th-ranked Charles Page High School volleyball team has lost five matches in a row, but it’s the way they lost their last match that has coach Skylar Jackson excited.

The Sandites (6-6) fell 3-0 to 4A No. 1 Regent Prep (17-3) Thursday night at the Ed Dubie Field House, but the last two sets were neck and neck.

After winning game one 25-16, the Rams prevailed by close margins of 26-24 and 27-25 for the sweep.

“We’ve really been struggling with this feeling of being second best,” said Jackson. “We’re in a tough class. 6A is tough, so the history has kind of been middle of the road. We’ve really had to work hard against the mentality of being second best.”

“In the last couple of matches it really showed; we really struggled with that. But today, even though we did lose, I think we stayed up much better than we have in our last couple of matches.”

The Sandites have gone through the gauntlet over the past two weeks, falling in 3-0 sweeps to No. 4 Owasso, No. 7 Bixby, and No. 2 Broken Arrow.

The Tigers (13-2, 4-0) dismantled Sand Springs 25-14, 25-7, and 25-8 on Tuesday, dropping the Sandites to 0-4 in Frontier Valley conference play.

Regent Prep started to run away with things in the first set, scoring most of their kills on tipped balls while the Sandites’ power hitters struggled with accuracy early on.

“We made one switch, I put Jayden Smith on the outside,” said Jackson. “But I think we served tougher and kept them out of system. They were unable to get their big hitter the ball as often, or as prime of a set, and that played in our favor.”

“We did adjust to the tip. Obviously they kind of go to that pretty often if they’re off in any sort of way, so we picked that up quite a bit.”

The adjustments worked well, taking the next two sets to extra rallies.

Sand Springs trailed by as much as 16-11 in game two before surging back to a 22-21 lead before University of Central Arkansas-commit Ella Drake scored back-to-back kills for the win.

In the final game the Sandites were down 21-13 before rattling off an eight-point streak, highlighted by some aggressive blocking from Payton Robbins and Averi Tippit.

The decisive point ended up being an ace from Ellen Jenkins that was nearly a service error, just barely rolling up over the net and dropping on the other side.

“I’m just proud of our girls for staying up even though we lost the first and the second,” said Jackson. “We were down a bunch in the third and still rallied, so I’m proud of them for staying up and not just giving it away.”

Robbins scored 8 kills to lead the Sandites and added 10 digs. Olivia DeWitt recorded a team-high 17 digs, Hannah McKelvey had 15 assists, and Layla Lenex had 5 blocks and 4 kills. Sophomore Josie Myers also impressed with 6 kills.

“I told them you always want to work hard because even if you lose, it’s so worth it.,” said Jackson. “If you give it your best and at the end of the day they still get the best of you, then that’s okay. You’re still going to be proud of what you did out there, so they continue to work hard for their teammates.”

Drake scored 17 kills and 2 aces for the Rams, while Meg Goodwin and Ellen Jenkins added 7 kills and 3 aces apiece.

Sand Springs will get a week to recover before traveling to Pryor (2-13) Thursday.

Softball

After Monday’s “Youth Night” game against Bixby was rained out, the Sandites brought the heat to district-leading Jenks (12-2, 7-0) on Tuesday’s Alumni Night game.

Sand Springs (8-8, 2-3) fell in a close 6-4 affair after battling back from a 6-1 second-inning deficit.

Ashyln Clark, Jaden Jordan, Kenzie King, and Addison Tuttle scored for the Sandites.

Addie Hughes (4-7) and Kelsi Hilton (4-1) combined for 12 hits and 9 strikeouts from the circle.

After the game, the Sandites celebrated their many former players who were in attendance.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at home with a district-double header against the combined team of Tulsa Memorial and Booker T. Washington (0-12, 0-4) at 5:00 p.m. for Senior Night. They will also host Bartlesville (9-6, 3-2) on Thursday.

Football

The Sandite 8th graders won their season opener 20-6 at Muskogee while the freshmen posted a 32-0 shutout against the Roughers. Varsity football is taking a bye week to prepare for Bixby on the 9th.