Sandite Baseball wins fourth-straight at Best of the West opener

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School varsity baseball team (4-0) won their first game at the Best of the West tournament in Phoenix, Arizona 3-1 over the Greenway High Demons (6-1). University of Oklahoma commit Jake Terry (2-0) got the win on the mound with five strikeouts, three walks, and nine hits.

The game came down to the very last pitch. Neither team got on the scoreboard till Josh Taber singled in the top of the third, advanced to second on a sacrifice by Terry, and scored on a catcher's error.

The Demons found their first run in the bottom of the fourth. Bryce Mackey singled and advanced to second on a walk by Justin Freeman. With two outs on the board, Jesus Macias grounded to short for a single and loaded the bases. Mackey took home on a Terry balk, but the others would be left stranded as James Gamble was struck out looking. 

The game remained tied up till the seventh inning. Jake Ward reached second on an error and Kameron Adcock subbed in to pinch run. Joey Montgomery grounded out to third, Hunter Greathouse was walked, and Ty Fain was struck out swinging. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, then Taber batted them both in with a line drive single to right field. Terry grounded out to bring in the Demons.

Cristian Platero flied out to Taber in right field and McDonald was struck out swinging, but Riley Miller singled, Kona Quiggle doubled, and Mackey was walked to load the bases. It came down to Freeman to bring them home for the win, but he was put out on a caught line drive to Treyce Tolbert in center field for the Sandites' fourth straight win of the season. 

Lady Sandite Basketball says farewell to senior Homecoming Queen Cierra Scott

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Cierra Scott enters the Homecoming Court escorted by fellow senior Tyler Smith.

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Charles Page High School girls' varsity basketball team is fortunate enough to only be losing one senior this year, but unfortunate in that she's been a crucial piece in their winning formula for the last four years. 

Cierra "CJ" Scott made her freshman debut in 2012 and wasted no time in demonstrating her athleticism, scoring 5 points in the season-opener against Bishop Kelley, 7 points in game two against Broken Arrow, 9 in game four against Yukon, and a team-high 16 points in game five against Muskogee. She doubled in three more games that season and racked up an impressive 137-point season with two team-highs. That season the girls went 2-20 after winning only one game the year before.

Senior Jacob Taber places the robe and crown on Scott. 

As a sophomore, Scott was part of the turnaround team under first-year Head Coach Dustin Morrow. Though she only doubled in one game that season, she scored in almost every game of the season and broke 100 for the second year in a row, helping her team to a 10-14 finish.

Her junior year, Scott doubled six times and scored a season-high 15 in the third game of the season, a 52-51 overtime loss to Van Buren at the Tahlequah Tiger Invitational. The girls won their first tournament in years at the Coffeyville Interstate Classic and advanced to the Area Tournament in the post-season. Scott scored 150 points en route to a 12-12 team record.

This season she kicked things off hot with a career-high 18 points in the second game of the season against Bixby, shooting 70% on field goals. She doubled again in the next game, scoring 10 against Cascia Hall in the Bishop Kelley Invitational, which the Sandites won, and was named to the All Tournament Team. She scored a team-high 17 in a 67-46 rout of Bishop Kelley and averaged more than 6 points per game on her way to a career-best 162-point season. On homecoming, she scored 7 points in a 60-48 victory over Bixby and was crowned Homecoming Queen.

The girls finished the season with a 17-9 record, an Area finals appearance and two tournament championships. Though every players' dream of playing for a State Title wasn't in the stars for the ladies this year, Scott can end her high school career confident in the fact that she played an intricate part in turning a 1-22 team into a top fifteen major contender and has more than earned her place in the Sandite history books as a valuable asset in one the greatest years in school athletic history. 

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Scott Emigh

Scott Emigh lives in Sand Springs, Oklahoma with his wife, Charity, and son, Jordan. Scott’s a passionate Sandite, libertarian, Christian, hiker, adventurer, and writer.

When he’s not busy covering Sand Springs sports, he’s looking for opportunities to travel and tell stories.

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Destiny Johnson and Sandite Freshmen major factor in first winning season in half decade

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Destiny Johnson

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Three freshman started and five saw action on the Charles Page High School ladies' basketball team this season and all were major players in pushing a turn-around program the final step into their first winning season in half a decade. 

The program pulled a complete 180 after a 2011 State Tournament-appearing team graduated several starters and won only a single game the following year. 2012-2013 wasn't much better, posting a 2-20 record.

Holly Kersgieter

In 2013, Dustin Morrow took over the program and the team went 10-14, a drastic improvement, but still a losing record. Last season the girls won the regular season but went 1-2 in the playoffs for a final record of 12-12. The eighth grade girls, however, went 28-0 for an undefeated Frontier Valley Conference Championship.

This season those girls were the difference makers, adding depth to a small but talented team that lost three players the year before. Jacie Taber, Holly Kersgieter, Destiny Johnson, Kimi Presnall, and Isabella Regalado combined for 40% of the team's points this season with Johnson coming in as the second-highest scoring player on the whole team.

Bella Regalado

"DJ" Johnson continued a new tradition of freshman excellence. For the last three years, at least one freshman has registered a 200+ point season. Sydney Pennington debuted with 376 in 2012-2013, Gloria Mutiri scored 200 last season, and Johnson finished with 212 this year. She was a major inside threat, shooting 46% on two-pointers and 67% on free throws for an average of 8 points and 3 rebounds per game. She doubled nine times, led her team in scoring four times, and set a personal-best of 15 points against Owasso. She was also named to the All-Tournament team at the Bishop Kelley Invitational.

Kimi Presnell

Jacie Taber and Kimi Presnall also made an impact on the State Runner-Up Softball team this fall, then scored 21 points each in their first year at varsity basketball. 

Isabella Regalado, daughter of Vic Regalado, the Republican nominee for Tulsa County Sheriff, scored 90 points, more than 3 PPG, and set a team-high career-high of 17 in an upset win over 5A No.4 ranked Shawnee in the championship game at the Bishop Kelley Invitational. She averaged 41% on two-pointers, 50% on free throws, and snatched about 2.5 rebounds per-game, and saw action in every game this season.

Jacie Taber

Holly Kersgieter came in fourth in team-scoring with 166 points and a career-high 14 against Shawnee. Playing in every game this season, and starting most of them, she averaged 6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting 45% on two-pointers and 79% on free throws.

The depth of quality competitors allowed the Sandites to run a solid bench against their opponents and give the whole team more resting time during games. The young Sandite talent will only increase next year as the girls only graduate one starter, Cierra Scott, and inherit yet another incoming class of undefeated 8th grade girls.

Sydney Pennington finishes third straight season with 300+ points

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By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Charles Page High School junior Sydney Pennington finished her third-straight season as the leading scorer for the varsity basketball team and crossed the career 1,000 mark midway through the season in a 12-point loss to No.2 Muskogee. 

The 2015-2016 school year was actually Pennington's lowest-scoring season of her career, due to sharing the ball with a team of incoming freshman stars who had just gone undefeated to claim the Frontier Valley Conference title. 

That didn't stop her from running up another 300+ point season en route to an Area playoff performance.

The Oklahoma State University softball-commit doubled in 19 of 26 games this season, led her team in ten of them, and scored a season-high 22 points in three of them. Her career-high remains a 32-point game against Muskogee during her sophomore year.

Starting all 26 games this season, Pennington averaged over 51% on both field goal attempts and free throws and made off with about 3 steals and 5 rebounds per game. With 1,106 total points over 74 starts, she's averaged just under 15 PPG and (between basketball and softball) is easily one of the most impressive athletes in school history. She was twice named Sandite of the Week.

The Lady Sandites amassed a 17-9 record, their best since the 2011 team made the State Tournament, and finished the season 5th in conference standings while ranked 11th in 6A.

Stay tuned for more highlights on CPHS athletes in the week-to-come! 

Sandite soccer shuts out Muskogee but drops losses to Metro Christian

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By: Virgil Noah, Marketing Director and Sports Journalist

Photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

Bobby Behrens's Lady Sandites stormed into Tuesday night's matchup with Metro Christian (3-1) having shut out their last two opponents by a combined score of 15-0. The Lady Patriots would prove to be too much for the Lady Sandites, winning by a final score of 1-0. 

Offensively the girls made a multitude of well timed runs and executed some well-placed passes, but could never quite make it to the ball before Metro junior goalkeeper Olivia Gordan snatched up the ball. The two teams took the game into the second half scoreless as both Gordan and Abigail Banks, Sandite sophomore goalie, made some impressive saves. 

Gordan would continue to stop everything that came her way in the second half. 14 minutes in Brooklyn Eardley passed to Kayla Foster in the box who then dribbled to the left and took a shot towards back post, but Gordan was all over it. After a couple of shots went just wide for the Lady Patriots, Freshman forward Chloe Tregoning took a pass up the right line, cut inwards, and scored a goal just past the diving arms of Banks.

Sand Springs, who defeated East Central 10-0 and Muskogee 5-0 in a very physical game the week prior, was held scoreless for just the second time all season. The loss puts them at 2-1 for the year. 

The Sand Springs boys came in on a high note, after notching their first victory of the season in a shutout of Muskogee 4-0. Metro Christian Academy (3-0) got off to a very quick start scoring in 1:08 as Sandite keeper Edgar Soberano came out of goal in pursuit of a pop up. Soberano lost track of the ball and Patriot Junior midfielder Nick Mckee was able to tap in an easy goal to get things going. The leading scorer however was Senior Riley Mayes who scored on a pair on goals later in the half, one of which was assisted by fellow forward Tyler LaCourse. The final goal for the visiting Patriots came off of a free kick by LaCourse in which there was a cluster of players blocking Soberano's vision allowing the ball to squeak by unseen. 

Soberano and the Sandite back line were able to keep Metro off the board in the second half, but were unable to net a goal. The loss will drop them to 1-2 for the season. Both Sand Springs squads will look to get back into the win column as they play Enid at home on Friday. 

Sandite of the Week: Kayla Foster

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Story and photo by: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

This week Sandite Pride would like to recognize Charles Page High School senior Kayla Foster for her outstanding performances in last week's shutout victories over East Central and Muskogee.

Foster scored a pair of goals in the first minute of the East Central game and added another before the 23 minute mercy-rule game was over. Foster and Megan DeShazo each scored hat tricks in the 10-0 victory.

Against Muskogee she added two more to lead the team alongside Brooklyn Eardley who also had two.

Foster recently signed to play collegiate ball for Missouri University of Science and Technology.