Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Volleyball Sweeps Bartlesville on Senior Night

Cross Country

Freshman Taigh Wright led the varsity boys to a 10th place finish at the Holland Hall invitational, Saturday, September 17th. Wright ran the 5K in 19:45.14 for 37th place.

The varsity girls finished in 11th place, led by Kelsi Hilton with a 15th place performance in 22:47.78.

Wyatt Shaw led the junior high boys to a 9th place finish, running the two-mile in 12:59.93 for 30th place. Alliyah Watts placed 100th for the girls in 17:56.76.

The elementary boys took 8th place in the one-mile run, led by Kellen Adkins with a time of 6:35.03 for 8th. The elementary girls took 9th, led by Sophie Grona with a 7:33.32 mile for 10th place.

The Sandites competed at the OSU Cowboy Jamboree on Saturday, September 24th. Neither the boys nor girls had enough finishers to earn a team place.

Gracie Gibson led the girls with a time of 25:04.6 for 162nd place. Rafi Huff led the boys, finishing in 20:48.1 for 200th place.

Softball

The Charles Page High School softball team (20-14, 8-6) went 5-3 in a busy week, improving to third in district play.

The Sandites lost 8-4 to Bixby (12-15, 7-6) on Monday after committing an uncharacteristic six errors, but paid the Spartans back with a 7-2 road win on Thursday.

Addison Hughes (11-10) pitched both games, striking out eight on Monday and 11 on Thursday.

On Tuesday the Sandites won a district double-header against Putnam City North (8-22, 3-11). Kelsi Hilton (9-4) got the win in game one with four hits and five strikeouts and Hughes tossed eight strikeouts with two hits in the sequel.

Sand Springs played at the Tahlequah festival over the weekend, opening with a 5-2 loss to Edmond Deer Creek (25-9) but won the second game 4-2 against Moore (21-7).

Kenzie King was 2-for-3 at the plate against Moore with a run and two RBI.

On Saturday they won 9-2 against Fort Gibson (14-17) but lost 6-4 to Grove (20-7). Kelby Little was 3-for-3 against Fort Gibson with three RBI, and King had a team-high three runs.

Hilton and Little were both .474 at the plate on the week. Hilton led in slugging average at .789 with two doubles and two triples, and had a team-high five RBI. Morgan Rector led the team in runs with six.

Hughes maintained a 2.57 ERA in 32 ⅔ innings while Hilton had a 2.23 ERA in 15 ⅔ innings.

Sand Springs has two games left in the regular season: Monday at Sperry (21-7) and Thursday at home against Oologah (9-18). Regional tournament assignments should be released on Friday.

Volleyball

Sand Springs (11-14, 2-4) picked up its second conference win of the season on Tuesday in a 3-0 Senior Night sweep of Bartlesville (9-9, 2-4) but ended the week on a five match losing streak.

The Sandites competed in the Bishop McGuinness tournament over the weekend and lost to Edmond Deer Creek, Bishop McGuinness, Choctaw, and Yukon, with a second loss to Choctaw in the seventh place match.

Sand Springs will travel to Muskogee (8-7, 0-6) Tuesday and Booker T. Washington (8-11, 3-3) on Thursday.

Football

The junior high football teams continued their undefeated seasons with wins against Sapulpa on Tuesday. The freshmen won 48-6 and the eighth graders won 46-6 as both teams moved to 4-0.

Wrestling

The Church That Matters tailgate party raised $2660 for the wrestling program at Friday night’s Homecoming football game and the wrestling program pledged 50% to the family of Ethan Gibson to help with his funeral.

Sandite Softball Goes 0-2 in Tough Week of District Play

Kelsi Hilton (7-3) went two-of-three at the plate and surrendered only three hits and one run from the pitcher’s circle against district-leading Jenks (22-4, 11–0) on Tuesday, but the Sandites fell 1-0.

On Thursday the Sandites (15-11, 5-5) suffered a 10-0, five-inning rout at the hands of Stillwater (17-8, 8-3).

The Sandites will host Bixby (11-11, 6-4) Monday at 5:30 p.m. for Youth Night and kids will receive free admission if they wear their team jersey or softball camp shirt.

On Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. the Sandites will host Putnam City North (7-15, 3-8) for a double-header. Teachers with ID will receive free admission

The Sandites will wrap up district play Thursday at Bixby.

Sandite Baseball clinches home Regional, Layne Kirkendoll wins Conference Championship

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

For the first time since 2011, the Charles Page High School baseball team (29-6, 11-3) has clinched a home regional tournament after winning its final two district games last week.

The Sandites won 4-0 against Putnam City North (8-27, 3-11) Monday at home before steamrolling the Panthers 25-7 Tuesday on the road.

Jabe Schlehuber (6-1) tossed a complete game one-hitter on Monday with 10 strikeouts and Keaton Campbell scored one run and two RBI.

Dom Ornelas blasted his team-leading eighth home run of the season on Tuesday and the Sandites talled 20 hits in their highest-scoring game since 2016. Eli Buxton (3-1) threw six strikeouts against two hits in three innings.

On Thursday the Sandites paid back an 8-0 loss from earlier in the season by defeating Highway 97 rival Sapulpa 18-5. 

Kayden Campbell (4-0) threw three strikeouts and allowed two hits against the Chieftains (26-9) for the win, and Keaton Campbell and Ty Pennington both hit home runs to lead a 16-hit Sandite effort.

The regular season ended in a 4-3 loss to Westmoore (25-10) on Saturday. Buxton took his first loss of the year, throwing three hits and three strikeouts in 1.1 innings. 

Five pitchers combined to allow only five hits in the loss, and the Sandites managed 10 hits of their own but stranded nine runners.

Fishing

Hunter Spencer and Hayden Lowrance won first place in the Oklahoma Bass Nation youth event on Keystone Lake, Sunday, April 24th. The duo caught five fish totaling 16.54 pounds, including the 4.37-pound big bass.

Caden Strawn and Drew Turner were runners-up with five fish weighing 16.47 pounds, including a 3.93 pounder. 

In the high school division the Sandites were led by Mack Taylor and Parker Haling with five fish weighing 13.15 pounds for ninth place.

Eli Rogers and Caden Shea placed 10th with five fish weighing 13.09 pounds. Nathan Griffin and Jaxon Trotter placed 11th with five fish weighing 12.87 pounds. 

Gabriel Castellano and Dallas Elifrits were 32nd with three fish weighing 7.07 pounds. Cruz Norris and Gunnar Casey were 56th with a 3.05-pound fish.

Disc Golf

40 players turned out for the Sand Springs Showcase PDGA C-Tier one-round tournament at Case DiscGolfPark on Sunday, April 24th. 

Tyler Oakes won the Open division with a 51, Hueston Kratz won Advanced with a 52, Sonny Dalesandro won Intermediate with a 49, Joshua Pauley won Recreational with a 55, and Joshua Loustaunau won Novice with a 56.

Samantha Russell won Advanced Women with a 69, Jimmy Haase won Amateur Masters 40+ with a 56, Jude Henry won Amateur Masters 50+ with a 61, and Shane Chester won Junior 15U with a 69.

Softball

The CPHS slow pitch softball team ended the season with a 7-14 record after falling 10-2 to Guthrie and 19-1 to Jenks at Regionals on Wednesday.

Golf

Zane Downey scored an 81 and Mason Ward shot 84 to lead the Sandites at the Skiatook tournament on Wednesday. Seth Benton scored 89, Drew Paden scored 91, and Cameron Villines scored 94.

The girls ended their season Tuesday at the Ponca City regional tournament. Gina Foster shot 110 and Madison Chambers scored 112.

Track and Field

The Sand Springs boys took 10th and the girls placed eighth at the Frontier Valley Conference track meet at Union High School on Friday with one champion.

Layne Kirkendoll won the long jump at 19 ft. 1.5 in. to break her own school record of 18 ft. 8 in. She also placed fourth in the high jump at 5 ft. 2 in.

Matthew Shelton placed fourth in shot put at 46 ft. 10 in. Jestin Rawlins placed sixth in discus at 139 ft. 6 in. The girls 4x800 relay team placed fourth in 11:04.84.

Tennis

The CPHS girls tennis team split with Sapulpa on Thursday. Sapulpa won the Singles match, but Caitlin Shipman and Daffaney Snyder won 6-2, 7-5 in Doubles.

Sand Springs weekly roundup: Eli Buxton pitches perfect game in 20-0 shutout of US Grant

View fullsize

Left to right: Abbie Dunn, Daffaney Snyder, Caitlin Shipman. Courtesy of Dana Peacock.

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The Charles Page High School baseball team (26-5, 9-3) started last week with a pair of run-rule district shutouts, 18-0 and 20-0, at U.S. Grant (1-14, 0-7) before taking on Oologah-Talala, Bixby, and Tahlequah in non-district play.

Jabe Schlehuber (5-1) threw a five-inning one-hitter with seven strikeouts in the first game and Keaton Campbell went 4-for-4 at the plate with two runs and five RBI to lead a slugging crew that amassed 15 hits.

Eli Buxton (2-0) pitched a perfect game in the nightcap, tossing 11 strikeouts as the visitors recorded 14 hits. 

Keaton Campbell continued his dominant night at the plate, going 2-of-3 with three runs, three RBI, and a triple. Ty Pennington was 2-of-2 with three runs, three RBI, and a home run, and Jace Arnold was 2-of-2 with two runs, three RBI, and a triple. 

On Thursday the Sandites traveled to Oologah (15-9) and won 11-4 while out-hitting the Mustangs 12 to six. 

Kayden Campbell (3-0) tossed eight strikeouts with five hits and two walks in five innings, while Gage Elliott threw one hit, one strikeout, and one HBP in two innings of relief. 

Keaton Cambpell led at the plate, going 3-of-5, while Schlehuber scored one run and three RBI.

The Sandites’ six-game win streak came to an end on Senior Night in a 17-7 run-rule loss to Bixby (27-5).

The Spartans scored five runs in the first, second, and third innings and out-hit the Sandites 17 to eight with nine home runs.

John Keim (4-1) took his first loss of the season, tossing two hits, five walks, and three strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning. Elliott threw 10 hits, one strikeout, and one walk in two innings, and Wyatt Rutledge threw five hits and one walk in 2.1 innings.

The Sandites also had strong offensive performances in the second and fourth innings, but couldn’t stymie the Spartan bats that combined for nine homers.

Pennington went 2-of-3 with two runs, three RBI, and a home run, and Keaton Campbell hit a solo homer.

Prior to the game the Sandites celebrated seniors Carson Seabolt, Jacob Shields, Cale Askew, Keaton Campbell, Jason Clark, Brooks Dudley, Nathan Gibson, Gabe Glenn, Keim, Ethan Norton, Pennington, and manager Avery Tanner.

Sand Springs wrapped up the busy week with a high-noon showdown at Tahlequah (9-19) and won 16-3 in five innings.

Arnold (6-0) got the win on the mound, tossing three hits, six strikeouts, and no walks in four innings. Buxton threw two strikeouts and one walk, surrendering one hit in an inning of relief.

Glenn and Dom Ornelas both hit home runs and the team amassed 11 hits overall.

Sand Springs will wrap up the regular season with a district home-and-away series against Putnam City North Monday and Tuesday, followed by home games against Sapulpa Thursday at 6:00 p.m. and Westmoore Saturday at 1:00 p.m.

Softball

The No. 15 Sand Springs slow pitch team (7-12) picked up an 11-8 upset win against No. 8 Union (15-16) Tuesday but fell 8-0 to Bixby in the evening game and 16-7 to No. 5 Jenks (23-8) in Thursday’s regular season finale.

The Sandites will travel to Jenks for a three-team Regional tournament on Wednesday, April 27th, with a first-round game against No. 14 Guthrie (12-8) at 10:00 a.m. 

Sand Springs has yet to play the Bluejays this season, but they’re 1-2 against Jenks, upsetting the Trojans 7-5 at the Haskell tournament in March.

Golf

Gina Foster shot a 103 and Madison Chambers shot 116 at the Frontier Valley Conference Championship in Bartlesville on Wednesday. Chambers scored 108 and Foster scored 110 at the Skiatook tournament on Thursday.

The boys’ Skiatook tournament was rescheduled for Wednesday, April 27th.

Track and Field

The Sand Springs varsity girls placed ninth and the boys took 13th at the Terry Due Track Classic in Collinsville on Friday. The freshman girls and boys both placed eighth and Sandites won four total events.

Layne Kirkendoll won the high jump with a mark of 5 ft. 6 in. and the long jump with a distance of 17 ft. 0.75 in. Jestin Rawlins won the discus throw with a mark of 162 ft. 9 in.

Jazmin Lopez placed fifth in the 800-meter run in 2:32.42.

In freshman action, Gracie Gifford placed third in the 1600 in 6:37.39 and won the 3200 uncontested in 14:37.93. Briona Searcy was second in long jump at 14 ft. 9 in.

Caleb Goodman ran the 110 hurdles in 17.51 seconds for fourth place, Preston Kennedy ran the 100 in 11.8 for fifth, Jacob York ran the 400 in 1:00.56 for sixth. Kennedy also placed third in the high jump at 5 ft. 4 in. and was sixth in the long jump at 17 ft. 8.5 in.

The freshman boys placed third in the 4x100 relay in 48.01 and fourth in the 4x200 in 1:43.68.

Tennis

Kira Shipley placed seventh in No. 1 Singles, Abbie Dunn placed sixth in No. 2 Singles, and Caitlin Shipman and Daffaney Snyder placed seventh in No. 1 Doubles at the Broken Arrow tournament on Friday, April 15th.

On Monday, April 18th the girls won the consolation bracket at the Bartlesville tournament with Dunn defeating Muskogee and Ponca City in No. 1 Singles, while Shipman and Snyder defeated Edison and Ponca City in No. 1 Doubles. 

Lady Sandite Basketball wins Regional Championship, 47-35 against Putnam City North

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader

For the first time under head coach Josh Berry, the Lady Sandites are Regional Champions.

The 6A-East No. 2 Lady Sandites (21-3) won their ninth consecutive game and eighth Regional title in school history, 47-35 against No. 7 Putnam City North (12-11) Tuesday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

“It’s very big,” said Berry. “Anytime you can go and get a Regional title in a tough game, it’s big. It’s big for the program, it’s big for the girls, it’s big for the seniors.”

The Lady Sandites won three Regional titles in a row from 2017 to 2019, but this is the first for any current member of the team.

Down 16-5 after the first quarter, the Sandites dominated the Panthers 16-2 in the second quarter and never trailed again, taking a 21-18 lead into the half on a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Sakauri Wilson.

“We just weren’t playing very hard in the beginning,” said Berry. “They played harder, they made shots. It’s the playoffs, everybody can play. It’s going to be a game of runs. They can make their runs, but we have to make our runs and make sure we’re the last ones to make a run.”

Paris Hardwick scored seven points in the first quarter for the Panthers, but was held to a pair of free throws in the second. 

Journey Armstead scored six for Sand Springs in the third quarter and the home team took a 34-24 lead into the final stanza. 

Putnam cut the deficit to 40-33 with 1:31 to play, but Auhnesty Hawkins fouled out and sent Wilson to the free throw line for two. 

Wilson went five-of-six on free throws in the final minutes and ended the night with a season-best 13 points and five rebounds.

Armstead led the Sandites with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Hailey Jackson added nine points and eight rebounds. Hardwick led the Panthers with 15 points.

“They’re good,” Berry said of Wilson and Armstead. “They’re great ball handlers so they’re able to control it down the stretch.”

“Our bigs tonight, they controlled the paint later on. Yanni (Taiona Morris) made some big shots for us to kind of get us there, and we had some good contributions off the bench when Layne (Kirkendoll) got in foul trouble, so I think it was a good team effort.”

The Lady Sandites will return to action Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Area Championship. They will play No. 3 Putnam City West (19-5) at Will Rogers High School. Coincidentally, Berry also coached two seasons at Rogers early in his career.

Putnam North will play in the Area consolation bracket Thursday at 8:00 p.m. against No. 11 Owasso (11-13) in an elimination game at Cleveland High School.

CPHS 47 PCN 35
1Q: PCN 16-5.
2Q: CPHS 16-2.
3Q: CPHS 13-6.
4Q: CPHS 13-11.
Free Throws: CPHS 15-of-23, PCN 5-of-9.
Field Goals: CPHS 14-of-40, PCN 14-of-41.
Offensive Rebounds: CPHS 12, PCN 10.
Defensive Rebounds: CPHS 18, PCN 14.
Total Rebounds: CPHS 30, PCN 24.
Steals: CPHS 7, PCN 4.
Blocks: CPHS 0, PCN 2.
Fouls: CPHS 12, PCN 18.

Scoring: (CPHS) Armstead 15, Wilson 13, Jackson 9, T. Morris 5, L. Morris 2, Taylor 2, Kirkendoll 1. (PCN) Hardwick 15, Mcloud 6, Powell 6, Geretta 2, Hawkins 2, Vicks 2, Sykes 2.

Sand Springs Sports Roundup: Girls Basketball wins first playoff

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Inclement weather couldn’t stymie the Sandites for long, and the Charles Page High School girls basketball team rolled to a 70-50 win against Muskogee in the first round of the regional playoffs Saturday night at the Ed Dubie Field House.

In a game that was originally scheduled for Thursday, the 6A-East No. 2 Sandites (20-3) won their eighth consecutive game to extend their season by an extra week against No. 15 Muskogee (2-14).

“They’re a good team,” said head coach Josh Berry. “They make shots and they don’t quit. You look at their record and you don’t see what they really are. They’re well-coached and they’re going to play hard.”

The Roughers held pace with the Sandites throughout the first half, entering the second quarter 12-12 and leading by as much as 23-19.

Journey Armstead and Kiaryn Taylor hit back-to-back three pointers to end the first half with a 35-29 advantage, however, and the Sandites never trailed again.

“We had everybody in foul trouble in the first half, but once we got in and got settled down, I think everything took care of itself,” said Berry. 

The two teams combined for 37 fouls overall and 22 in the first half, with 45 free throw opportunities. Muskogee made the most of their trips to the charity stripe, shooting 14-of-18, while the Sandites went 18-of-27.

Zhayn Mayes scored 17 to lead the Roughers, followed by Akira Eubanks with 16, but the Sandites had three double-digit scorers.

Armstead led all scorers with 20 points, followed by Hailey Jackson with 15 and Taiona Morris with 10. Morris also collected a team-high five steals, and Layne Kirkendoll added 9 points with 9 rebounds. 

“Layne did good tonight,” said Berry. “Kiaryn played well, Yanni (Taiona Morris) played well. It’s about that - different people stepping up and finding a way to win and I think we did that tonight. I think that’s a team effort.”

Next up for the Sandites will be a rematch with No. 7 Putnam City North (12-10), who won its game 53-47 in double overtime against No. 10 Ponca City (9-12). 

The Lady Sandites previously beat the Panthers 50-33 at the Jenks/Union tournament in January.

“Hopefully we guard and don’t let them shoot some open shots, and make some shots,” said Berry. 

“Tonight we made some shots and we haven’t done that in a long time either. We made quite a few threes. We need to continue to do that, continue to share the basketball, and play for each other.”

The regional championship will be played Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at Sand Springs, and both teams will advance to the area playoffs.

Boys Basketball

The No. 14 Sand Springs boys (5-17) had their Regional playoff game postponed to Monday at 8:00 p.m. The Sandites will play No. 3 Putnam City West (17-5) in an elimination game.

Wrestling

Mitchell Smith (30-7) placed third in the 145-pound bracket at the OSSAA 6A State Championship on Saturday. It was the junior’s third trip to state but his first medal, and he was the only Sandite to earn a medal.

Smith won his first match 2-1 but gave up a 7-4 decision to West Champion Layton Schneider in the semifinals. In consolation he won 6-3 against Bixby’s Caden Kelley and 3-2 against Yukon’s Boston Powell.

David Ritchey and Zander Grigsby both won their wrestle-in matches, Carter Goodman won his quarterfinal, and Blake Jones won a consolation match to help the team to a 13th place finish overall.

Six of the Sandites’ state qualifiers will return next year, with Jones being the lone senior. Jones wrapped up his career with an 82-42 record as a four-time State qualifier. 

Track and Field

Several Sandite alums competed in the Summit League Indoor Championship for Oral Roberts University on Saturday. 

Aden Baughman placed 8th in the 800 meter run. Joel Mackey placed 14th in the 60 meter and 15th in the 200. Mitchell Mefford placed 14th in the weight throw. 

Soccer 

The Lady Sandite soccer team is off to a strong start in preseason action, winning 4-0 against Sapulpa before sweeping the Skiatook scrimmage tournament and outscoring their foes 11-0. They suffered their first loss 1-0 at Owasso. 

The season will officially begin March 1st at home with non-district matches against Tulsa NOAH. The girls will play at 6:00 p.m. followed by the boys at 8:00 p.m.

Baseball

Sandite baseball took its first preseason loss, 13-5, at Owasso. The Sandites previously routed Glenpool 16-5, Tahlequah 8-0, and Lawton MacArthur 11-0, and tied Westmoore 2-2. Their season will begin March 1st at Guthrie.