Hughes & Hilton Pitch Perfect Games on Senior Night - Sandites Shut Out Hornets

There’s no telling how many hundreds of players Shelli Brown has coached in her 27 years at Charles Page High School, but she still got teary-eyed when she reflected on her current class Thursday evening on Senior Night.

“Senior Night is a tough one,” said Brown, after her team won two perfect games in a double-header against Booker T. Washington (1-14, 0-11).

“They’re all special, all bring back memories. We had some former players come back tonight and that’s always special to me when I get to see my kids that have graduated come back.”

Sand Springs (15-8, 6-4) celebrated four seniors between games: Kelsi Hilton, Morgan Rector, Gracey Massey, and Natalia Delgado.

Before the ceremony, Addison Hughes (9-4) pitched her second perfect game of the season, tossing nine strikeouts in the 16-0 five-inning run-rule win.

After the ceremony, Hilton (4-2) threw 11 strikeouts in a 15-0 five-inning perfect game.

Morgan Rector was the hot hand at the plate, going 4-for-4 in the first game with one run and five RBIs. Kenzie King was 3-for-3 with three runs and an RBI.

In the second game Hilton was 2-for-2 with a run and two RBIs while Massey was 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs.

As a team, the Sandites went 19-of-31 at the plate in game one and 7-of-15 with 18 walks in the nightcap.

Of Washington’s 30 at-bats on the night: 20 were retired at the plate, nine were put out in the infield, and the outfield only had to make one play on the whole night.

“We’ve been working with this group because we’re so young,” said Brown. “We’ve been doing a lot of teaching. This group - I feel like they’re kind of like sponges. Everything we tell them and talk to them about, they really absorb it, take it in, and try to do it out here.”

“Seeing a lot of positive things, and for them to come out here and stay focused, sometimes that’s hard to do.”

The games pushed the Sandites’ win streak to six as they enter the final two weeks of the regular season. The winning momentum is a nice change of pace after a tough 1-6 run in the middle of the season.

“What I tried to do is get a good mix of teams that we can compete with, and play a lot of the good teams,” said Brown.

“Whether we win or lose, they’re going to make you better down the road. And I think this group realizes that.”

The Sandites have been battled tested against the likes of Edmond Deer Creek (18-4), Southmoore (16-9), Owasso (23-0), Edmond Memorial (17-8), Moore (24-3), and Broken Arrow (23-3) - all of which are likely to be in the State Tournament this October.

Through many of their toughest games they were without Hilton in the circle due to a throwing arm injury that appears to be mostly behind her.

“It feels good to get Kelsi back,” laughed Brown. “She’s been a great player for us all four years she’s been a varsity player. She carries that well and she’s a great leader for the team.”

The girls will wrap up district action with another home double-header on Monday at 4:30 p.m. when they host Yukon for Youth Night. Students who come in their softball jerseys or summer camp shirts will get free admission to that game and will get to join the team on the field during the national anthem.

“Yukon is going to be tough,” said Brown. “They have a great program. So Monday, even though it’s a double-header, we just take it one game at a time.”

Shelli Brown Earns 650th Career Win as Sandites Defeat Glenpool 4-1

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The Charles Page High School softball team (9-8) snapped a five-game losing streak with a milestone win Friday morning at the Bixby Tournament, dealing Glenpool (10-10) a 4-1 loss for head coach Shelli Brown’s 650th win with the Sandites.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning, freshman Lakelyn Harger hit a two-run go-ahead double to center field before scoring on a single from Kaylei Rake.

Kenzie King added an insurance run in the fourth to get the Sandites back in the win column for the first time in three weeks.

Addison Hughes (6-4) got the win in the circle, tossing nine strikeouts with only four hits and no walks.

In the second game of the tournament the girls were upset 3-1 by Haskell (16-7) in a five-inning battle.

Both teams left two stranded in the first inning but Haskell got hot in the third to take a 3-0 lead on a walk, two singles, and a double.

Sand Springs stranded two more on a pair of walks in the bottom of the third and both teams stranded a single in the fourth.

The Haymakers hit two doubles in the fifth but were unable to pad their lead. Bella Wilson hit a one-out solo homer to try and spark a Sandite rally but after a single from Morgan Rector the Haymakers put the game away on a pair of fielder’s choices.

Kelsi Hilton (1-2) got the loss, pitching five hits, two walks, and three strikeouts in three innings. Kylie King (2-2) tossed three hits, no walks, and two strikeouts in relief.

Sand Springs will return to tournament play Saturday at 11:40 a.m. against Muskogee (10-11) and will play Coweta (11-9) at 1:20 p.m. at Bentley Park.

On Thursday evening the Sandites fell 9-1 to Broken Arrow (19-2) in a key district battle.

Hughes recorded the loss in that game, surrendering only two hits, no earned runs, and three walks with five strikeouts in 2.2 innings as the starter and the closer.

Hilton returned to the pitcher’s circle in the third inning for the first time in three weeks after nursing an arm injury. She tossed seven hits, three walks, and one strikeout in three innings.

Kylie King tossed two hits in the seventh inning before Hughes returned to the circle to close out the game.

Rake was 2-of-3 as the lead hitter for the Sandites while Rector scored the lone run on a single from Hilton in the fourth inning to avert the shutout.

Sand Springs kicked off the week with a brief trip to Putnam City North (6-11, 2-5) on Tuesday that was supposed to be a double-header.

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead before the game was postponed in the top of the second due to inclement weather. Those games will be made up on Monday.

Moore Lions Emerge On Top in Exhilarating Late-Night Double Header

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Lakelyn Harger went 5-of-8 at the plate in a double-header loss to Moore.

It was a long night for the Charles Page High School softball team (8-5, 2-2), but at 11:35 p.m., a Thursday district double-header loss came to a close.

After a two-hour heat delay, the Sandites could have ended the night early on multiple occasions as perennial powerhouse Moore (12-2, 4-1) teetered on the edge of run-rule territory, but each time the Lions looked like they had it in the bag, the young Sandites clawed their way back into it.

“They’ve got the determination, if they just can clean up the ballgame a little bit,” said head coach Shelli Brown. “It’s their errors that got them tonight. We finally got where we were scoring some runs…they get that energy going, and then we’d have a momentum shift because we’d make an error.”

Nichelle Marshall set the tone of the shootout to come with a solo homer in the first inning of game one, the first of five for the Lady Lion bomb squad. Karlie Curtis added a two-run blast in the fourth to go up 3-0.

The Sandites were in good position to tie it up in the bottom of the fourth after loading the bases with no outs, but, after a pitching change, only Kelsi Hilton was able to score, on a fielder’s choice before Erika Summitt struck out two.

Libby Jaques, a heavily recruited Division I prospect, was next to go yard for the Lions with a two-run blast in the fifth.

Moore snuck two more across home plate on a fielder’s choice and a bases-loaded walk in the sixth before Lakelyn Harger collected a popout at third to prevent a potential run rule.

The home team’s bats finally got hot in the bottom of the seventh after Kenzie and Kylie King singled and Bella Wilson brought home the freshman sister with a double to left field.

Morgan Rector followed it up with a sacrifice fly to left to score Bailey Copeland and Wilson before the game finally came to a close.

Addison Hughes (5-2) suffered the complete game loss, tossing four strikeouts, five walks, and eight hits.

The bats stayed hot through game two, though once again the Sandites were chasing Moore from the very beginning.

Wilson gave Sand Springs its only lead on a groundout by Harger in the top of the first, but Moore surged back to a 6-1 lead on four hits, three walks, and two errors in the bottom of the inning.

Kylie King singled to kick off a two-out rally. Two walks loaded the bases for Rector and Hilton to hit RBI singles, then Wilson scored on a wild pitch.

Ashlyn Clark doubled in the third and scored on a passed ball to make it a one-run game in the top of the third, but Moore responded handily with an RBI single from Brooklynn Dahlke and a two-run blast from Rogers State-commit Karlee Smith. Moore immediately reloaded the bases, but Harger struck out Southwestern Christian-commit Trinity Norwood looking to end the inning.

Down 9-5, Harger hit a two-out, two-run double, then came in on an RBI single from Kaylei Rake. Harger scored on an error and Kenzie King hit an RBI double to tie it up and suddenly it was a whole new game.

And as quickly as the momentum shifted to Sand Springs, it shifted right back to Moore.

Makiah Brumbelow-Neal hit a leadoff homer and the Lions loaded the bases with no outs before Kylie King caught a line drive and tagged first for a double play. Marlee Uzzle scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-9 before Curtis grounded out to short to end the inning.

Harger made it a one-run came in the sixth, doubling before taking third on a wild pitch and scoring on a groundout by Hughes.

But the Lions kept charging with a two-run error in the bottom of the inning. Another error, a single, and a walk reloaded the bases and Neal hit a two-run single before Uzzle made it 16-10 on another error.

Sand Springs tried to muster one last rally, and Hilton hit a sacrifice fly to score Wilson, but a pop fly to second base brought the night to a close.

Kylie King (2-2) suffered the loss, surrendering six earned runs, seven hits, and four walks in one inning. Harger tossed one strikeout, four walks, eight hits, and five earned runs in three innings. Hughes tossed one walk, two hits, and no earned runs in two innings.

“In this district that we’re in…and the teams that we have to play, the Broken Arrow tournament, you’ve got to grow up quick,” said Brown.

“I’m seeing some good things and I’m hoping by the middle (of the season), some of the mistakes we’re making just because we’re so young and some of the mental things I think will work themselves out.”

The Sandites have played a brutally tough schedule so far, going 2-4 against four of last year’s State Tournament teams. Two of the other six remain on their schedule, including their next opponent - Broken Arrow (10-2).

“Those kind of teams are going to make us better,” said Brown. “We may not be getting the win record right now, but down the road it’s going to come into play and I think the kids are going to grow from it. It’s going to make them tougher and better and mentally stronger.”

The Sandites got off to a 7-1 start before a 10-0 loss to still-undefeated Owasso (15-0) sent them on a 1-4 run.

“We were playing really good solid ball for a couple of weeks and then last Friday it’s like we just hit a wall,” said Brown, who expects the errors and miscues to improve as the hundred-degree double-header days wane into the fall.

Even with the losses, many young Sandites have been having exceptional performances.

Harger went 5-for-8 at the plate in Thursday’s double-header with two runs, two doubles, and two RBIs.

“Lakelyn has had some really good nights,” said Brown. “She’s doing an awesome job at third and she got some pitching time tonight.”

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. with a crucial district home game against Broken Arrow in a rematch of last year’s Regional Championship finals. The Tigers have won nine in a row against the Sandites dating back to 2016.

Sandite Softball Undefeated in Scrimmages, Opens Regular Season Monday

Another exciting season of Sandite Softball is officially underway as the fast pitch sluggers are just three days removed from their season-opener.

Shelli Brown’s 27th team is off to a promising start after going 4-0-1 in preseason scrimmages against the neighboring communities.

In a July 27th trip to Skiatook the girls scored nine unanswered runs in a 9-3 win by committee.

Seven different Sandites recorded a single hit apiece but freshman Bella Wilson had the most impactful plate appearance with a fourth-inning two-run triple to tie it at 3-3. She then scored the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice.

Addison Hughes, Kylie King, and Lakelyn Harger pitched two innings apiece, combining for seven strikeouts, five hits, and two walks.

The girls took another short trip north the following day to deal Sperry a 10-1 rout.

Harger set the tone with a two-run single in the top of the first but the bats didn’t get too hot till the sixth when the girls scored five runs on six hits.

Harger and King recorded two hits apiece with a team total of 11.

The same trio of Kylie King, Harger, and Hughes once again shared the circle, surrendering only two hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.

Sand Springs returned to Skiatook on Tuesday for a 7-0 five-inning shutout. Ashlyn Clark stole the show, going 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs while the pitching staff struck out five with four hits.

On Wednesday the girls took a 13-3 lead at Berryhill before surrendering four runs in the bottom of the sixth to finish 13-7.

Hughes tossed eight strikeouts in three innings of action while the staff totaled 12 Ks and seven hits.

Kenzie King went 3-for-3 with three runs and Harger was 3-for-3 with four RBI and two doubles.

On Friday they wrapped up the preseason with a trip to Mannford that ended in a 4-4 tie after six innings.

Kenzie King scored on an RBI single from Harger in the top of the first, then Kaylei Rake hit an RBI double in the third to bring in Wilson. Rake stole home soon after and Morgan Rector hit an RBI single to score Bailey Copeland for the 4-0 lead.

Mannford got those runs back in the fourth, however, recording five hits to avert the loss.

Kenzie King was the hot hand at bat, going 2-for-3, while the pitching staff combined for 8 strikeouts, 9 hits, and 2 walks.

The first regular season game will be Monday at 5:00 p.m. when the girls host their 5A rivals from Sapulpa. Bixby will visit the Sandites on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., then the girls will compete at the Broken Arrow tournament over the weekend.

Lady Sandite Softball looking for new stars to lead team to new heights

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Countless athletes have left their mark on the Sandite Softball Complex in the 23 years since it opened, including 31 All-State players. 

As the Sandites get ready for the 2022 season, they’ll attempt to replace some of those stars while looking for new talent to elevate the program and add to the legacy.

Charles Page High School is coming off an 18-15 campaign and will have some big shoes to fill after graduating All-State selections Jolee McNally and Raegan Rector, as well as Lauren Hammock, Taylor Skipper, and All-State alternate Avery Tanner.

“They were just such a great group of seniors, all five of them,” said Shelli Brown, who is entering her 26th year as head coach.

“They provided leadership in different ways from being on the field to being vocal and talking to the kids and trying to keep them up.”

Despite that star-studded leadership, last year’s team came up a hair shy of making it to the State Tournament after falling to eventual State finalist Owasso at Regionals.

After a five-year streak of Regional Championships, the Sandites haven’t made it back to Hall of Fame Stadium since 2019.

“Anytime we don’t make it to the state tournament is disappointing,” Brown said. “That’s just our goal. It’s our expectation.”

“That’s what we work for year round is to get us in the best possible spot to get there and when you put in all that effort (and we had a great group of senior kids and I felt really bad for them because they had worked so hard). When you fall that short and you put in that much time and effort it just kind of lets you down a little bit because we didn’t get to where our goals were.”

As the Sandites look for new leadership to step up this year, Brown says it could even come from some of the underclassmen.

“I think it’s not only going to be leadership from my senior group, but I think we’re gonna have a couple kids in the junior group and one or two in the sophomore group that are going to step in and provide some of that leadership we’re going to need.”

“That whole sophomore group, they’re probably more my vocal group. I expect a lot from some of those sophomores.”

Mikenna Stephens, Ashlyn Clark, Addie Hughes, and Kenzie King all got good playing time last season and show a lot of promise.

“I’ll be interested to see how Addie will do on the mound,” said Brown. “She’s really worked hard in the offseason. She’s really been working on her spin and she’s had some success this summer.”

Hughes pitched 19 innings last season with a 1-1 record and 3.2 ERA behind Kelsi Hilton and Nataley Crawford.

Hilton went 10-6 with a 4.54 ERA and is expected to carry most of the weight this year. Crawford was 5-6 with a 4.23 ERA.

While the pitching staff is mostly intact, the batting lineup took some huge losses. Fortunately, the team will have an ace up their sleeve. 

After taking a break from softball last season, Jaden Jordan will be back for her senior year.

“That’s going to add some power to our lineup that we had lost,” said Brown. 

Jordan was an All-District first baseman as a sophomore and batted .436 with a team-best .734 slugging average. She hit four home runs and a grand slam that year.

Hilton is also expected to bring some heat at the plate after batting .413 last season. 

While the Sandites look to get back to the State tournament and beyond, they’ll be looking to their past for inspiration. Sand Springs has won 17 regional titles and has a long history of success.

“I think it makes a big difference and we try to promote that history in our complex,” said Brown. 

“We’ve got banners everywhere. All of our All-Staters are up on the wall. Every Regional tournament we’ve won is up on the wall. Every State tournament we’ve been to is up on the wall.”

“We talk about it all the time. Go around and look at these things. Look at the kids and what they’ve done. Look at the history.”

Sand Springs has a unique history in that most of the town’s accomplishments have come from native Sandites. While other 6A programs tend to get a lot of move-ins, Sand Springs benefits from an exceptional local youth program.

“Most of our kids have all been Sandites who grew up and played ball in the town that they live in. That’s kind of unique. I don’t know if that happens as much as it used to.”

Those Sandites continue to contribute to the program after graduation as well, as Brown’s staff frequently includes her former players. 

The Sandites kicked off the season with their first practice on July 18th and the biggest task for this young group of Sandites will simply be building team chemistry. 

“We’ve got a lot of kids that work really hard and love softball; we’ve just got to get the chemistry together. Over the last two years I’ve graduated twelve or so kids so we’re young in some spots.”

“You’re going to have some kids out of position when you graduate that many. You’re going to have kids in different spots and they’re going to have to get used to each other.”

“That’s kind of what we worked on in the spring. That’s one thing I love about spring ball is that I can focus on our defense and they can work on getting each other’s timing down. What are your strengths? What are our weaknesses? Work on base running and some of those things where there’s just not the pressure you have in fall ball with every game.”

Once that chemistry is established, the sky is the limit. 

“We just have to work on producing runs, playing good defense, continue to work on the mental game.”

“They know what kind of work it takes to get to where we want to go.”

Sandite alum Kimi Presnell wins Division II National Championship at Rogers State

Kimi Presnell looks for a pitch during a 2018 game against Stillwater.

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

When Kimi Presnell played softball at Sand Springs, the Sandites were always in the hunt for a State title. They advanced to the State tournament all four years of her career, and even made it to the finals her freshman year, but never got to hoist the gold ball.

On Tuesday, May 31, she got to resolve some of that unfinished business.

The sophomore center fielder played a crucial role in propelling Rogers State University to its first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship and Presnell received an All-Tournament nod for her performance. 

“I was not expecting that,” said Presnell. “It was such a great feeling to be able to make the All Tournament team, as well as several of my teammates. It just proved that we worked hard to get where we were.”

The Hillcats had a great overall season but weren’t the favorites. They finished third in the MIAA standings and entered the World Series as the five seed.

“There were highs and lows, but we all just kept a good mindset throughout,” said Presnell.

The Hillcats knew they needed to win the MIAA tournament to secure a Regional host site.

“Our mindset going into the conference tournament was to play free and not play tight, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Presnell. “And we continued to do that throughout the postseason, which was awesome.”

The Hillcats paid back a pair of regular season losses to Washburn in the tournament finals series, winning 2-1 and 4-2 to earn their first MIAA title and the right to host the Central Regional.

In the second game of Regionals, the Hillcats were upset 3-0 by Minnesota State, but after a loser’s bracket rout of Winona State they got a wild rematch with the Mavericks.

The game went 15 innings before the Hillcats exploded to an 8-2 win. Presnell hit an RBI double in that game and Rogers State won the “If” game 4-0.

At Super Regionals the Hillcats won 3-1 and 12-1 against Central Oklahoma and punched their way into the World Series in Denver. 

Then it was Presnell’s time to shine.

Over the first three games of the tournament, Presnell was 8-of-11 at the plate and had a perfect fielding percentage throughout the entire tournament.

In the 7-2 win over Southern Indiana, Presnell was 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI. In a 10-2 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills, she was 3-of-4 with a run and four RBI, and in a 9-3 win over UT Tyler she was 2-of-4 with two runs and an RBI.

In the best-of-three finals rematch with Cal State, the Hillcats won 6-5 and 6-1 to earn their first ever national title. 

This year was extra special for Kimi because it was her first season seeing significant starting action. Her freshman year was canceled halfway through due to COVID, and last season she didn’t get a whole lot of opportunities at the plate. 

“Last year I was always super timid at the plate. I didn’t have much confidence,” said Presnell. 

She decided that this year she didn’t want her role to be limited to simply cheering for her teammates from the dugout. 

Presnell earned her way into the starting lineup in the nine hole, but she wasn’t always as dominant at the plate as she was during the postseason.

Over an 18-game stretch from February through April, she hit only .150 compared to her season average of .280.

“Whenever I was in the slump, I kind of changed up my swing,” said Presnell. “I was just focusing on my mechanics.”

When it came to the postseason, she decided to simply approach with confidence and swing hard. She ended up hitting .355 over the postseason and was .314 in the NCAA tournament. 

“She’s a free swinger,” coach Andrea Vaughan said in one postgame interview. “She’s got home run power, she’s got gap to gap power. The thing about Kimi is, she’s hard to beat. She’s a competitor. That’s why she’s in our lineup.”

So far, the college experience has been a lot different from her high school days. 

“In high school you don’t watch film or anything. In college you prepare, you watch film, you see what the pitcher’s pitching. It’s just a whole different game.”

Presnell has also transitioned from second base to center field - a change she’s very happy with. 

“I actually love the outfield. I feel it’s more my calling. I have way more time to react to the ball. If I took a ground ball right now, I don’t think I’d know what to do.” 

In fact, the last time she took a ground ball it gave her a black eye, so she’s very much enjoying handling fly outs instead. 

The biggest change has been thinking of Rogers State as home after being a Sandite for most of her life. 

“It’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. I’ve made the greatest friends. I have great coaches,” said Presnell. 

Coach Vaughan, now in her seventh year, told all of her recruits from the very beginning that Rogers State would soon be competing for national championships, and Presnell bought into the hype as a senior in 2019. 

“Every game I went to, they won. She was very intimate in her coaching and it just drew me in right away. I had nothing but confidence in what she said.”

Presnell credits a lot of her success to her time at Sand Springs, which is a perennial softball powerhouse. 

“Sand Springs definitely prepared me. We were always a good team, we just had unfinished business. I feel like that definitely prepared me for college ball.”

“Coach (Shelli) Brown reached out to me during the World Series. She’s always supported me. She’s the reason why I went to Rogers State, because we played there in the festival every year. Coach Vaughan asked her about me and I ended up scheduling a visit and what do you know? I ended up winning a National Championship.”

Presnell isn’t the only Sandite competing for national titles. 2017 alum Sydney Pennington is currently competing with the Oklahoma State Cowgirls at the Division I World Series in Oklahoma City.

“She actually reached out to me after winning the national tournament,” said Presnell. “I said, ‘well it’s your turn now. Go Pokes!’”