Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Softball Ends Season at Broken Arrow Regional

The Charles Page High School softball team ended a successful season Wednesday afternoon with a Regional loss to Broken Arrow (28-10). The Sandites went 25-16, a seven-win improvement over last year.

Kelsi Hilton pitched a one-hitter with five strikeouts to start the Regional tournament Tuesday, and the Sandites won 2-0 against Muskogee (15-24).

The Sandites were derailed in a 9-0 loss to the host Tigers (27-10), but got back to work in their elimination rematch with Muskogee and prevailed 10-0 to stay alive.

Addison Hughes struck out 11 in a three-hitter while the Sandites combined for 14 hits. Ashlyn Clark was 4-for-4 at the plate with three runs in the five-inning run-rule victory.

The Sandite bats couldn’t keep up with Broken Arrow in the rematch, however, ending in a 16-6, five-inning loss. The Tigers took a 16-0 lead before Jaden Jordan hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth.

Jordan ended the season with a team-best .493 batting average, followed by Kelby Little with a .433 and Hilton with a .407. Jordan had a .944 slugging average with eight home runs.

Hughes went 14-11 in the circle with 139 strikeouts and a 3.05 ERA, while Hilton was 11-5 with 94 strikeouts and a 3.11 ERA.

Fishing

Hayden Lowrance and Hunter Spencer took 21st place at the Oklahoma Bass Nation trail event on Ft. Gibson Lake, Sunday, October 2nd. The duo caught four fish totaling 6.79 pounds.

Jonathan Isley and Jaxon Trotter placed 29th, Nate Griffin and Eli Rogers placed 42nd, Caden Strawn and Drew Turner placed 44th, and Decana Plummer and Gunner Beasley placed 51st.

Volleyball

The Sand Springs volleyball team ended the regular season with a 3-0 loss to the conference champions from No. 1 Jenks (28-4, 9-0). The Sandites are 16-17 overall and 3-6 in conference play.

Next up is the Regional tournament at Jenks, where the Sandites will play No. 16 Booker T. Washington (11-15) in a Tuesday elimination game. The winner of that match will play either Jenks or Ponca City (13-20) in the finals.

Cross Country

The varsity girls team placed sixth at the Cleveland meet Thursday, led by Kelsi Hilton in seventh place. Hilton ran the two-mile race in 13:28.

The varsity boys placed fifth, led by Rafi Huff in 11th and Taigh Wright in 12th. Huff ran the 5K in 19:22 and Huff finished in 19:24.

Football

The eighth grade Sandites improved to 5-0 on the season with a 48-20 win over Muskogee Green on Thursday.

E-Sports

Sand Springs Public Schools announced Thursday the addition of an eSports program at Charles Page High School. eSports became an OSSAA-sanctioned activity last school year. The school acquired new gaming computers through partnership with an unnamed donor and will be competing in Rocket League.

UFC

Sand Springs fighter Jimmy “The Brick” Flick (16-5) will officially be coming out of retirement with a flyweight bout against Jeff Molina (11-2) Saturday, January 14th.

Jolee McNally finds closure at All-State Softball game

Courtesy.

This story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

For most of the girls at the OFPCA All State softball games, the exhibition match between the state’s best seniors was just the final game in their high school uniforms, but for Jolee McNally it was the final game of her career.

As the announcer read off name after name, almost all of them were signed to play at the next level, but due to issues with her back, the Sandite outfielder will spend the next few years at Tulsa Community College where there are no athletic programs.

“It’s heartbreaking, and it’s not by choice,” said McNally. “At least I got the closure I needed.”

She went out with a bang, going two-for-two at the plate with a pair of singles, two RBI, and scored the final run in a 10-7 loss for the Large School East while playing three innings in left and right field.

McNally wasn’t the only Sandite at Oklahoma Christian University’s Tom Heath Field Saturday. Reagan Rector also donned the black and gold one last time. She didn’t get a hit, but saw three innings of action at first base and one inning in right field.

Rector will continue her career alongside Avery Tanner, who was in the stands as an alternate, at Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville.

Keaton Campbell added a few extra innings to his high school career at the OBCA All-State baseball game in Enid on Sunday, June 5th. 

The Cowley College-bound senior played third for the East team and recorded an assist and one put-out with no errors.

At the plate he was 1-of-4 with a triple off the outfield wall in the bottom of the third, and scored one run in the East’s 5-4 victory.

Ty Pennington was also selected for the All State team, but was unable to attend the game. He was also selected to the All-State football team alongside teammate Gabe Brown, but that game won’t be played till Friday, July 29th.

In soccer action, first-year Sandite head coach Cisco Chavez got to coach Karsen Lynch and the All-State East team in a 2-0 loss against the West Thursday night at Bishop Kelley High School. 

Lady Sandite basketball coach Josh Berry got to coach Journey Armstead one last time as the OGBCA East fell 72-55 to the West on Saturday, June 4th in Mustang.

Armstead didn’t score any points but collected a handful of steals and assists. She will also play in the Oklahoma Coaches Association All State Games later this summer, and will continue her career at Hutchinson Community College.

Fishing

Nathaniel Griffin and Jaxon Trotter took fifth place at the Oklahoma Bass Nation High School State Championship on Keystone Lake, Saturday, June 4th. The duo caught three fish weighing 8.13 pounds. They also placed 28th in the regular season.

Gabriel Castellano and Dallas Elifrits placed 26th at State with a 2.39 pound catch and were 57th in the regular season.

Mack Taylor and Parker Haling placed 28th at State with a 2.12 pound fish and finished third in the regular season standings.

Eli Rogers and Caden Shea didn’t fish the State Championship but placed fifth in the regular season. Cruz Norris and Gunnar Casey also didn’t fish at State but were 83rd in the regular season.

Caden Strawn and Drew Turner placed third in the youth division with a 2.79 pound catch, while Hayden Lowrence and Hunter Spencer placed fourth with a 1.94 pound fish.

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.