Lady Sandites win Bishop Kelley Invitational, Jackson named MVP

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The Sand Springs girls basketball team didn’t start the year the way it would have liked to, but, since a road loss at Sapulpa, the Sandites have won seven in a row and look poised for another successful season.

Hailey Jackson averaged 22.3 points per game and earned MVP honors over the weekend as the Sandites (7-1) swept the Bishop Kelley Invitational for the fifth time in their last six visits.

In the finals matchup against Owasso (2-2) Jackson scored 20 points and was complemented by 20 from Sakauri Wilson, who also received All-Tournament accolades.

“I don’t think they’ve both really even scratched the surface,” said head coach Josh Berry. “I think we’ve got a couple other ones that have the potential to be just as good and big as they are.”

“It’s going to take more games and a little bit more confidence and I think everybody will see a couple of these other ones end up stepping up in some of those roles.”

With only nine players on the varsity roster, everybody saw solid playing time at the tournament. Taiona Morris was out sick and Kiaryn Taylor missed the Thursday game against Bishop Kelley (1-4).

Patience Pearce and Abigaile Martin scored career highs of 6 and 7 points respectively, against the Comets. Jackson led all scorers with 22 and Wilson added 12.

The Sandites stormed out to a commanding 35-17 halftime lead before the Comets battled back and cut it as close as 44-39 late in the fourth. The Sandites held on to win their tenth straight against their former conference foes, 51-44.

In the semifinals the Sandites won 45-43 against Mustang (3-3) behind a 25-point effort from Jackson.

Sand Springs led by as much as 10 points after the first quarter but Mustang took a 31-28 advantage into the fourth and didn’t relinquish the lead till a seven-point run late in the game.

Tied at 43-43 with five seconds left, Taylor scored the go-ahead bucket on an inbound throw from Walker.

The finals game saw only seven lead changes and the Sandites led for all of the fourth quarter save for a brief tie at 41-41, but neither team ever led by more than six.

Martin hit a big three-pointer to go up 48-44 on an inbound throw from Wilson late in the fourth.

“(Martin) is one of them that ain’t practiced all week (due to sickness) and she’s been just gutting it out so I’m proud of her for that,” said Berry. “She made a big shot at the end and she played pretty big for us today.”

Wilson sank a pair of crucial free throws with 30 seconds left to go up 50-46 but Alex McGarrah hit a three to make it a one-point game.

Wilson added one more free throw in the final seconds but Makenna Yokley’s last-ditch three-pointer was short and the Sandites escaped with the win.

“I’m just proud of the girls,” said Berry. “They fought.”

“We had contributions from different players at different times. That’s what it’s going to take for us, along with big contributions from Hailey and from Sakauri. We really missed (Taiona Morris) this weekend. Once we can get her back, we just hope the others can continue getting better like they did with her out.”

Earlier in the week the Sandites notched their first conference win, 56-46 against Muskogee (1-3) behind a 23-point effort from Wilson and 14 points from Jackson.

The varsity boys also got their first win of the year against the Roughers (2-2) on Tuesday, 38-30, led by Michael Foster with 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Patience Pearce scored 11 points in a 37-35 JV girls win, while Blake Johnson scored 12 in a 33-31 JV boys loss.

Sand Springs will host Bixby on Tuesday and the boys will compete in the Memorial Invitational festival over the weekend.

Sandite Sports Weekly Roundup: Softball Places Third at Bixby Tournament

The Charles Page High School softball (15-9, 5-3) started a successful week with a pair of perfect games and ended it with a third-place finish at the Bixby tournament.

The Sandites celebrated Senior Night with a perfect double-header Tuesday against the combined team of Tulsa Memorial and Booker T. Washington (0-15, 0-7).

Kelsi Hilton (7-1) struck out 10 and the Sandites totaled 15 hits in a 20-0 game-one rout. Addie Hughes (8-8) struck out 10 and the Sandites recorded 13 hits in the 10-0 second game. 

The Sandites rode that momentum into a crucial 8-3 district win Thursday against Bartlesville (11-8, 3-4) behind a six-strikeout performance from Hughes. 

On Friday the Sandites rolled to a 14-0 shutout of Union (6-18) in the first round of the Bixby tournament. Hughes pitched a one-hitter with six strikeouts and Mikenna Stephens went 3-of-4 at the plate with four RBI.

Hilton struck out seven in a 4-2 win over El Reno (4-9) while also recording three RBI in the second game of the tournament.

The win streak came to a close in a 6-0 loss against Perry (24-5) Friday evening but the Sandites got back in the win column with a 5-1 victory over Raymore Peculiar (7-6) Saturday morning. 

To cap off the week, Hilton hit a walk-off RBI single to prevail 5-4 over Coweta (16-7) and pay back an August defeat. 

Hilton batted .583 on the week with a team-high 14 hits, three triples, 13 RBI, and 11 runs. Morgan Rector was .565 at the plate with 13 hits, six RBI, and 12 runs.

Hilton went 3-0 in the circle with a 1.44 ERA and Hughes was 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. with a key district game at Jenks (19-3, 10-0), then will travel to Stillwater (14-6, 6-3) Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

Cross Country

Josie Grona led the Sandite elementary with a fourth-place finish at the Sapulpa Chieftain meet, Saturday, September 3rd. She ran the one-mile race in 6:23.36. Kellen Adkins was 18th to lead the boys in 6:47.05.

Kelsi Hilton led the varsity girls with a ninth place finish, running the two-mile in 13:29.31. Taigh Wright led the boys in 12:23.49.

Chloe Grona was runner-up in the junior high girls’ one-mile run, finishing in 5:59.85. Dax Wilcox was the top junior high boy, placing 14th in 5:54.46. 

On September 10th the Sandites took a depleted roster to Broken Arrow. 

Wright led the boys with a 50th place finish, running the 5K in 19:38.80. Gracie Gifford led the girls, finishing in 26:11.92 for 57th place. Melany Lamb led the junior high girls, placing 63rd in 37:08.79. 

Volleyball

The No. 15 Sandite volleyball team (7-6) snapped a five-match skid with a 3-0 sweep of Pryor (2-15) Tuesday night on the road. Sand Springs won 25-14, 25-10, and 25-14.

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. with a conference rivalry game at 5A No. 7 Sapulpa (13-10, 1-3). Sand Springs is 0-4 in conference action.

Football

The Sandite freshman class (2-0) continued an undefeated streak stretching back to its seventh grade season, winning 34-0 against Bartlesville. The eighth graders also moved to 2-0 with a 48-14 win against the Bruins. 

Wrestling

The first-year Lady Sandite wrestling program had a successful first meeting with prospective athletes. New coach Ty Bowling hopes to have as many as 20 girls in the program this season.

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.

Sports Roundup: Daton Fix wins World Freestyle Silver

A version of this story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

The Sand Springs fast-pitch softball team (16-13) has received its Regional assignment. The Sandites will be traveling to Owasso on Tuesday and Wednesday October 5-6th. 

In the first round they will play Muskogee (17-16) Tuesday at 12:30 in the first meeting of the season between the two teams. On the other side of the bracket is Owasso (27-5) vs. the combined Tulsa Memorial / Booker T. Washington team (2-21). 

Sand Springs previously lost 8-0 to Owasso in the second game of the season while it was short five starters due to injuries and COVID protocols. They beat the Tulsa Public Schools team 16-0 twice in district play.

Sand Springs has won ten Regional Championships in its 25 years under head coach Shelli Brown, including five in a row from 2015 to 2019 before coming up one game short last season. The team will look for its 18th in school history. 

Sand Springs finished the regular season with a 7-2 senior night win over Sperry, Monday, September 27th. 

After giving up two runs in the top of the first inning, the Sandites tied it up in the bottom of the fourth. Lauren Hammock hit a double and scored on an error, then Kelsi Hilton hit an RBI double to score Nataley Crawford.

Avery Tanner’s RBI single gave her team the lead in the fifth, then Crawford added a two-run double. Hammock scored on a passed ball and Crawford made it 7-2 on a ground out for the final run of the game.

Hilton picked up the win in the pitcher’s circle with no hits, no runs, no walks, and three strikeouts in four innings. 

The final game of the regular season, scheduled for Thursday at Oologah, was canceled due to rain.

Cross Country

The Sand Springs Varsity Boys Cross Country team placed seventh and the girls took ninth at Claremore, Friday, October 1st. 

Jazmin Lopez placed 13th in the 5K run, finishing in 21:57 to lead the girls. Alejandro Lopez led the boys in 18:01 for 28th place, closely followed by Noah Hanlon in 18:03 for 31st. 

The junior high boys placed ninth in the two-mile run, led by Taigh Wright in 12:05 for 20th. 

Volleyball

The Class 6A No. 16 Sandite Volleyball team (13-18) lost a 3-0 set to No. 3 Jenks on Tuesday, September 28th. The Sandites are 2-5 in Frontier Valley Conference action.

Senior setter Tehya Johnson surpassed the 1,000 assist career milestone in the match, and Layla Lenex set the school record in career blocks.

The Sandites were supposed to host Booker T. Washington on Thursday, but that match was canceled due to a leak in the roof of the Ed Dubie Field House, and will not be rescheduled. 

Sand Springs will host 5A No. 12 Glenpool (13-16) for senior night Tuesday, October 5th at 6:00 p.m. and will wrap up regular season action at No. 9 Union (21-9, 4-3) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Wrestling

Charles Page High School graduate Daton Fix placed second at the Senior Freestyle World Championship finals Sunday in Oslo, Norway. 

The Oklahoma State University redshirt junior won his first four matches by technical superiority, outscoring his opponents 41-0. 

In the finals he fell 4-1 to Russia’s Abasgadzhi Magomedov in a rematch of their 2015 Cadet World Championship finals match, which Madomedov won 3-2. 

The tournament earned Fix his first Senior-level World medal, and his sixth World Championship medal at any age level. He has won one World Championship, earning Junior gold in 2017 in Finland. He currently holds a 37-10 record in Senior Freestyle. 

Sand Springs Weekly Sports Roundup: Daton Fix wins World Team Trials, Carter Young flips to OSU

A version of this story was originally written for the Sand Springs Leader.

Varsity Cross Country traveled to Stillwater Saturday for the Cowboy Jamboree but neither the boys nor the girls had a complete lineup to earn a team place. The junior high and elementary teams competed at Holland Hall.

Jasmin Lopez led the varsity ladies in 64th place with a 5K time of 23:06. Alex Lopez led the boys in 130th place with a time of 19:33, followed by Noah Hanlon in 142nd with a time of 19:43.

Junior high boys placed seventh, led by Taigh Wright’s 12:28 two-mile run in 19th place. Junior high girls didn’t have a full lineup, but Maddyx Hampton placed 48th in 15:14.

The elementary boys placed second, led by Conner Williamson with a 6:11 mile for second place. The elementary girls placed fifth, led by Josie Grona with a 6:48 mile for sixth place.

Softball

Sand Springs (11-10, 5-6) went 2-2 in district action last week, winning a pair of 16-0 district double headers against the combined Tulsa Memorial / Booker T. Washington team before falling 9-3 to Jenks and 8-3 to Stillwater.

The Sandites needed only three innings apiece to run-rule the Tulsa team on Monday, out-hitting TPS 19-1 over the two games. 

Kelsi Hilton and Raeagn Rector combined for a no-hitter with six strikeouts in game one, and Hilton got the win. Nataley Crawford pitched all of game two and tossed six strikeouts with one hit.

The Sandites will host Bixby Thursday at 5:30 p.m. to wrap up district play.

Volleyball

The 6A No. 15 Sandites (10-14) went 3-3 overall last week and 2-3 at the Owasso tournament. They beat No. 14 Bartlesville 3-1 on the road Tuesday in conference action, then beat Ponca City 2-0 and Southmoore 3-1 in tournament play. They dropped matches of 2-0 to Owasso, 2-0 to Edmond Memorial, and 2-0 to Booker T. Washington.

Wrestling

Former 4X State Champion Sandite and current Oklahoma State wrestler Daton Fix won the 61kg freestyle world team trials in Lincoln, Nebraska. Fix outscored his opponents 41-5 with two technical falls to earn the right to represent the United States at the World Championships in Oslo, Norway this October.

In the Round of 16 he defeated Carter Young 13-2, then he beat 2018 NCAA Champion Seth Gross 11-0. In the semifinals he topped defending World Team member Tyler Graff 2-0 to earn a best-of-three finale against Nathan Tomasello. The 2015 NCAA Champion was no match for Fix, who won 8-3 and 7-0. 

After falling to Fix in his second match, Carter Young battled back to win the consolation bracket and place third. Young is also a former Sandite, winning a state title as a freshman at Sand Springs before transferring to Stillwater.

Young won his first match 8-6 over 2020 ACC Champion Jakob Camacho. In consolation he received a forfeit from Ethan Lizak, won 10-8 against 2016 NCAA Champion Nahshon Garrett, received a forfeit from Nick Suriano, then beat Graff 9-2 and Gross 15-12.

Young previously committed to and enrolled at Northwestern in Illinois, but he has now signed with Oklahoma State University instead.

CPHS Basketball: Eric Savage earns 100th win at Sand Springs, surpasses 400 in career

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When Eric Savage was hired as Charles Page High School’s new Head Boys Basketball Coach in 2013, he was arguably the most elite hire in the history of the school, fresh off his third State Championship win at Tulsa Memorial. In his twelve seasons at Memorial he led them to four finals appearances and a 305-93 record.

At Sand Springs he had a tough task ahead, inheriting a program that went 1-21 the prior year and hadn’t had a winning season in over a decade. In his first year he took them to eight wins, which was as many as the previous three seasons combined. By year two they were 12-12 with a winning regular season record, and in year three they were 14-10.

After a slight hiccup in 2016-2017 in which they went 12-14, they bounced back with a 19-8 effort the next year and their first State Tournament appearance in 50 years. Last year they went 17-9 overall and 9-5 in the Frontier Valley Conference for the second straight season.

Savage’s Sandites have won two Regional Championships, an Area Consolation Championship, two regular season tournaments, and they’ve gone undefeated four times at the Memorial Invitational festival.

2019-2020 has been a big year for the Sandites, as Savage led his team to wins over No. 6 Union, No. 3 Jenks and No. 2 Booker T. Washington. The Union and Washington wins were his first against those elite programs since he arrived at CPHS. On January 31st he earned his 400th career victory and 95th at Sand Springs in a 64-49 conference win over Bixby.

Last Friday Savage earned his 100th Sand Springs win and 405th overall against No. 11 Broken Arrow, avenging two regular season losses to earn back-to-back Regional titles for the first time in school history.

The Sandites are on pace for a potentially historic season, and the next stop will be at Catoosa High School on Friday when they get a rematch with No. 1 Booker T. Washington (19-5) at 6:30 p.m. in the Area Championship.

A win will advance them to the State Tournament for the second time in three years, and a loss will send them to the Area Consolation Championship where they will take on either No. 13 Putnam City North (14-9) or No. 18 Owasso (12-13) with a State berth on the line. The Consolation finals will also be played at Catoosa, Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Catoosa High School is located at 2000 South Cherokee Street.