Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Softball Goes 3-0 to End Regular Season

Sandite softball (23-14) went 3-0 in the final week of the regular season, winning 6-0 against Sperry, 8-3 against Sapulpa, and 7-2 against Collinsville.

They also received their Regional assignment and will return to action Tuesday, October 4th, at Broken Arrow with a first round game at 2:00 p.m. against Muskogee (14-22). On the other side of the bracket is Broken Arrow (25-9) vs. Putnam City North (8-23).

Sand Springs has yet to play Muskogee this season but lost a close 7-5 meeting with Broken Arrow at the Tigers’ home tournament, and beat Putnam North 1-0 twice in district action.

The Sandites have won 17 Regional titles and are aiming to return to the State Tournament for the first time 2019.

On Monday Addison Hughes tossed seven strikeouts with only four hits in the shutout at Sperry (23-10). Kenzie King went 3-of-4 at the plate with one run and one RBI.

The Sandites haven’t lost a Highway 97 Rivalry game in over a decade and this time it was Kelsi Hilton who led the charge against the Chieftains (14-17) with a seventh-inning grand slam while tossing eight strikeouts. Jaden Jordan also hit a home run.

In the final game of the regular season Hughes tossed eight strikeouts and three hits against Collinsville (9-22). The Cardinals took an early 2-0 lead but Jordan tied it with a two-run double in the third and Mikena Stephens hit the go-ahead RBI single in a five-run fourth inning.

Volleyball

The 16th ranked Sandite volleyball team (16-16, 3-5) went 5-2 last week, splitting a pair of conference matches before going 4-1 at the Southmoore Invitational.

The team won a 3-0 sweep of Muskogee on Tuesday but fell 3-1 to Booker T. Washington on Thursday. They put up a great fight against the Hornets, however, losing close sets of 25-17, 28-26, and 25-22 after winning the first 28-26.

In Moore the girls lost 2-1 to conference foe Bartlesville, but won 2-1 against No. 12 Moore, 2-1 against Bishop Kelley JV, 3-0 against Shawnee, and 3-1 against Southmoore.

The Sandites have one last regular season match Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against No. 1 Jenks (26-4, 7-0).

Cross Country

Josie Grona took first place in the elementary meet at Kiefer Saturday morning, running the one-mile in 6:14.92. Sophie Grona finished fifth in 7:05.26 and the team took eighth.

The elementary boys also placed eighth, led by Kellen Adkins with a 6:30.74 mile for tenth place.

Shooting

Caden Shea won the Muscogee Nation Trap Shoot Wednesday with a score of 24.

Fishing

Gabriel Castellano and Ean Williams took 22nd place at the Oklahoma Bass Nation season opener Saturday on Ft. Gibson Lake. The duo caught five fish weighing 7.32 pounds. Nate Griffin and Eli Rogers placed 31st, Caden Strawn and Drew Turner placed 46th, Decana Plummer and Gunner Beasley placed 47th, and Jonathan Isley and Jaxon Trotter placed 49th.

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.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup:

Softball

The Charles Page High School fast-pitch softball team (8-7, 2-2) picked up an 11-3 road win at Union (3-12) but stumbled in district action, falling 7-0 to Stillwater (10-2, 3-1) and 5-3 to Bartlesville (7-5, 3-1) last week.

Olivia Alexander hit two doubles, Jaden Jordan hit a triple, and the Sandites combined for 12 hits Monday against the RedHawks. Ashlyn Clark scored a team-high three runs, while Jordan brought in four RBI. Kelsi Hilton (4-1) struck out four for the win, surrendering seven hits.

Addie Hughes (4-6) struck out an impressive nine batters in Tuesday’s home game against the defending district champions, but surrendered 10 hits while the Sandites only accounted for three.

Sand Springs had a strong offensive showing at Bartlesville, out-hitting the Bruins 10 to six, but stranded nine in the loss. Abby Glasglow was 3-of-4 at the plate and Jordan hit her sixth home run of the season.

The Sandites will host Bixby (6-5, 3-3) on Monday at 5:30 for Youth Night. Any students wearing their youth team jerseys or softball camp shirts will receive free admission.

On Tuesday they will host Jenks (11-2, 6-0) at 5:30 for Alumni Night. Former players will receive free admission and will be recognized during the game with a group photo immediately following the game.

Volleyball

No. 14 Sandite Volleyball (6-4, 0-3) is still looking for its first conference win after a tough 3-0 loss to No. 6 Bixby (8-3, 3-1) on Tuesday.

The Spartans won sets of 25-17, 25-23, and 25-12 behind 21 kills and 8 aces from senior star Olivia Vance.

Leading the Sandites were Payton Robbins with six kills, Hannah McKelvey with 10 assists, and Olivia DeWitt with 12 digs.

Sand Springs will travel to No. 3 Broken Arrow (11-2, 3-0) on Tuesday before hosting 4A No. 1 Regent Prep (15-3) on Thursday.

Cross Country

The Sand Springs cross country teams competed in the Owasso Ram Relays Thursday at Mohawk Park.

Chloe Grona placed third in the junior high 1.5-mile run, finishing in 9:56.02, followed by Josie Grona in 13th place in 10:42.89.

The varsity teams ran in a relay-style 6-mile competition. The girls placed 34th out of 44 teams with a time of 50:43.42. The boys placed 35th out of 72 teams in 39:00.09.

The Sandites will return to action Saturday at the Sapulpa Westside Sports Complex at 8:15 a.m.

Addie Hughes has busy first week with Sandite Softball

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The Sand Springs softball team is off to a 3-4 start to the season after a busy first week. The Sandites kicked off 2022 with a pair of non-district losses before playing in the Broken Arrow tournament over the weekend.

Sophomore Addie Hughes received the bulk of pitching duty, going 2-4 with 31 hits, 14 strikeouts, and only four walks in 26 innings.

The Sandites were shut out 9-0 at Tahlequah (5-3) and 2-0 at home against Owasso (4-2) in a no-hitter.

Kelsi Hilton pitched the first win of the season on Friday against Edmond North (0-3) and totalled 16 hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts over 9 ⅔ innings in week one.

Sand Springs batted .500 against the Huskies in a 15-3 tournament-opening rout in only three innings. Jaden Jordan scored three runs and four RBI and hit the team’s first homer of the season.

Hughes picked up her first win of the year in a 9-2 romp against Claremore (2-3), pitching six strikeouts.

Jordan was 3-of-4 with a run and two RBI, Mikena Stephens was 2-of-4 with a run and three RBI, and Ashlyn Clark was 2-of-4 with two runs. 

Broken Arrow (4-1) spoiled their tournament title hopes 7-5 in the third game of the day, despite out-hitting the Tigers eight to seven. The Sandites committed two errors and stranded nine in the close battle.

On Saturday the Sandites won a 9-0 shutout against Jay (0-5). Hughes only gave up one hit in three innings for the win and Jordan blasted her second homer of the season.

The Sandites’ day ended in a 9-2 loss to Bristow (6-1) in bracket play despite a seven-hit performance that included solo homers from Jordan and Hilton. 

Abby Glasglow went 3-for-3 at the plate but was stranded every time, as were four other Sandite runners. 

The Sandites will look to get back above .500 Monday with a district double-header Monday at Enid (2-2) before playing at the Rogers State Festival on Thursday and Friday.

Fishing

Two teams of Sand Springs bass fishers earned their way to the Bassmaster High School National Championship on Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina this week.

Freshmen Eli Rogers and Nathan Griffin placed 158th out of 311 teams, catching eight fish weighing 12 pounds, 7 ounces. Seniors Mack Taylor and Parker Haling caught nine fish weighing 12 pounds, 1 ounce. 

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.”

Lady Sandites Place Fourth at First Girls Powerlifting State Meet

Courtesy of Kevin Avey.

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Anyone who watched Jaden “JJ” Jordan on the softball field as a sophomore can testify to the strength of the .743 slugger. Now a junior, Jordan is starring in a brand new sport. 

In her first year of competition in girls powerlifting, Jordan finished as a State runner-up and led her team to a fourth-place finish at the State meet. 

When strength and conditioning coach Kevin Avey saw her strength in the gym last winter, he knew she was special. In fact, her numbers on squat, bench, and deadlift were higher than last season’s state champion in girls powerlifting. 

“I looked it up and last year, she would have won State,” said Avey. “So I said, you know what, next year we’re going to do this. And then it just kind of expanded.”

Mikah Hampton and Melanie Skelly joined up and the Sandites competed at their first OGPCA meet in Nowata this January. 

“I realized that with three girls we weren’t going to do very well as a team,” said Avey. “So I started recruiting even more and I got four more right at the end of January.”

As the strength coach for all of the district’s athletic programs, Avey already knew which girls would be the most competitive in their weight classes, and who would be most interested.

He recruited Ashley Blake and Madison Thompson from cheer, Kasidy Holland from volleyball, and Carson Sargent from soccer in time for the Catoosa Invitational. There, the Sandites took seventh place with Jordan winning all three events.

The team improved to fourth place at the Dickson Invitational with Jordan and Holland finishing as runners-up. 

Then, at the North Regional, the team finished second with Jordan winning deadlift and squat, and placing second in bench. 

Jordan, Hampton, and Thompson all qualified for the 6th annual State meet on Monday, March 7th, at Dickson High School in Ardmore.

Jordan was second overall at heavyweight, placing fourth in squat, third in bench, and second in deadlift at 405 pounds.

Hampton placed sixth overall at 108, third in squat, and was first in bench with 120 pounds. 

Thompson was just ten pounds shy of placing in the top-ten at 198 pounds.

The Sandites are also poised to see increased participation next year. Avey coaches more than 60 girls in the high school strength program and has a growing junior high program as well. Several underclassmen have already expressed interest in joining the powerlifting team next year.

“After Jaden, there were two other girls that had quit their sports and were still wanting to do something. And I’ve got seven already that have asked about it for next year, and I know one of them doesn’t do any sports.”

“So my idea is just for more athletes to just come and do something as opposed to nothing. Yeah Carson Sargent and Kasidy, they can do another sport - we all welcome them in. But my real main focus is let’s get more people involved and get them lifting and exercising. It opens up so many avenues while they’re in high school but especially when they graduate.”

The program is also a great opportunity for athletes who want to compete but aren’t seeing a whole lot of minutes in their primary sports. 

“In whatever sport it is, there’s only nine, five, eleven players on the field at a time,” said Avey. “In powerlifting, you can take as many as want to go.”

For now, there’s no immediate plans to start a boys team, though a few guys have expressed interest.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” said Avey. “I started with Jaden then went to two girls, then went to seven, now there’s seven more wanting to do it. I’m just trying to figure out how to make it better.”