Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Baseball Opens Season With Run-Rule Wins

The Charles Page High School baseball team won its first two games of the season by 12-3 run rule against Shawnee on Friday and Yukon on Saturday.

The Sandites capitalized on a disastrous error-filled second inning from the Wolves to take a 6-1 lead and Northern Oklahoma College signee Dom Ornelas blasted a third-inning grand slam to put his team in run-rule territory.

Kayden Campbell got the win against Shawnee with nine strikeouts, four walks, and two hits in four innings.

Gage Elliott got the win against Yukon with three strikeouts, no walks, and five hits in four innings.

Brody Rutledge, Rhen Rutledge, and Jackson Turney totaled three hits apiece and Rhen Rutledge capped the scoring off with a three-run homer in the top of the fifth to secure the run rule.

Sand Springs wrapped up the preseason with a 6-2-1 record, beating Pryor 3-1 on Monday before falling 4-2 to Union on Tuesday.

Oklahoma State-committed freshman Easton Webb tossed eight strikeouts in three innings with only two hits against the Tigers.

Ornelas hit a solo homer against the RedHawks and Eli Buxton struck out eight in four innings.

The Sandites will kick off district play Monday at defending State Champion Owasso (2-0), before hosting the Rams Tuesday and Victory Christian (1-1) on Thursday.

Girls Powerlifting

The CPHS girls powerlifting team took third place at the OGPCA North Regional Tuesday in Miami, qualifying seven for the State Championship.

Senior heavyweight Jaden Jordan won her second Regional title and fourth meet of the year, benching 165 for first place, deadlifting 405 for first, and squatting 370 for second.

Also qualifying for State are Madison Thompson, Melanie Skelly, Gracie Worthington, Olivia Alexander, Kelsi Hilton, and Kiyah Dover.

Worthington placed third at 136, Thompson placed fourth at 220, Alexander placed sixth at heavyweight, Dover placed seventh at heavyweight, Hilton placed seventh at 136, Skelly placed ninth at 150, and Thompson placed 11th at 108.

The State meet will be held Monday, March 6th, at the Choctaw Event Center in Durant.

Dance

The Sandite dance team advanced to the finals in both Pom and Hip Hop at the NDA High School Nationals in Orlando, placing third in Hip Hop and fifth in Pom.

Sandite Weekly Sports Roundup: Two Sandites Medal at State Wrestling Tournament

The Sand Springs boys’ wrestling team took tenth place at the OSSAA 6A State Tournament with two placers in their best finish since 2020.

Mitchell Smith took fourth place at 150 pounds to end his career as a four-time State qualifier and two time placer with a 108-35 record.

Mason Harris took fourth place at heavyweight and finished his junior year with a team-best 40-9 record.

The Sandites went 3-3 in the wrestle-in round and 3-3 in the quarterfinals with Jayden Pait, Jaxon Trotter, and Ethan White earning their way into the main bracket.

Smith, Harris, and Kase Skaggs all advanced to the semifinals before taking their first losses. Skaggs and Trotter were both eliminated one win short of the podium.

Sand Springs will graduate Smith and White but will return 12 starters and seven state qualifiers next season.

Soccer

The CPHS boys soccer team improved to 2-0-1 in preseason action while the girls fell to 2-1-0.

The boys won 3-0 against Collinsville on Tuesday with goals from Elias Villanueva, Zac Ritter, and Elgin Hernandez, with Brian Boyles recording an assist. They battled to a 1-1 draw against Sapulpa with Eli Bise scoring the lone goal.

The girls fell 2-1 against Collinsville, with Alyssa Cunningham scoring the lone goal on an assist from Ava Watts. On Thursday they defeated Sapulpa 4-1 with two goals from Watts and one goal apiece from Avery Miller and Ashley Feigenbaum.

The Sandites have one more scrimmage scheduled Tuesday against Glenpool before opening the regular season Friday with home matches against Tulsa NOAH at 6:00 p.m.

Bowling

The CPHS girls bowling team of Tabby Hicks, Olivia Alexander, Zoe Butler, and Kyeara Owens finished as Regional Runners-Up on February 18th in Sapulpa, advancing to the State Tournament Saturday in Enid.

At State they sat in second place after eight games of qualifying, but were eliminated in the first round of bracket play.

“I’m so proud of this team,” said coach Shawn Judy. “Three out of the four girls on the team, this is the first year they have competed in high school bowling. I believe we overachieved every expectation that anybody put on us.”

Baseball

Sandite baseball improved to 5-1-1 in preseason games, losing 6-7 at Owasso on Monday before winning 9-6 Tuesday against Bartlesville and 13-0 Thursday against Glenpool. On Saturday they beat Edmond Santa Fe 2-0 and tied Noble 3-3.

The Sandites will travel to Pryor on Monday and will host Union on Tuesday to conclude the preseason.

The regular season will kick off Thursday at 11:00 a.m. against Greenwood, AR with a home game Friday at 6:00 p.m. against Shawnee. Sand Springs will travel to Yukon Saturday at noon.

Lady Sandites Beat Union and Owasso, Receive Regional Assignment

The Sand Springs girls’ basketball team should be battle tested and ready when the Regional playoffs arrive Thursday.

The 6A-East No. 6 Lady Sandites went 2-1 in a tough final week to the regular season, ending the year 16-7 overall and 9-5 in the tough Frontier Valley Conference.

“We’re a team that’s still learning every day,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We’re up and down, but hopefully we’re going to be going up over this next week, which I think we will.”

The Sandites were on upset alert Tuesday against No. 16 Union (5-18) on Senior Night but survived 48-43 behind a 23-point performance from Hailey Jackson.

On Thursday, however, they suffered a 58-30 drubbing at No. 1 Booker T. Washington (17-5) as the team struggled with a 20% field goal performance, their worst since a season opening loss at Sapulpa.

“The best thing is to see if you can come back and regroup the next night and play, and we were able to do that,” said Berry.

The Sandites stormed out to a 26-12 halftime lead at No. 7 Owasso (12-9) on Friday in a game that the Rams probably felt due to win. The first two meetings between Sand Springs and Owasso were decided by a total of three points, but the Sandites only trailed once in the rematch.

The visitors surrendered an uncontested opening bucket to Laila Hamilton, a senior who has missed the entire season to injury. The senior tapped in the final bucket of her career and exited the game to applause, and fortunately the Sandites’ charity didn’t come back to haunt them.

After taking their biggest lead of the game at 29-12 to open the third, the Sandites suddenly found themselves on the ropes after Owasso used a 16-2 swing to make it a one-score game entering the fourth.

“(Thursday) we might have lost this game, but today they stayed together, they kept their composure, and they found a way to win, and that’s the most important part,” said Berry.

Jackson broke the Rams’ momentum with a three-point play to open the fourth and scored seven of her 15 points in the final stanza to secure the team’s 11th consecutive win against Owasso.

Jackson’s 15 led all scorers, while Sakauri Wilson added 11 and Taionna Morris had 10.

“We played a few tough teams this past six games,” said Berry. “I think that we did well, we held ourselves well. I’m proud of them for the season that we had but now everybody’s 0-0 and let’s just go see what happens.”

Sand Springs will travel to Norman Thursday for a first-round Regional playoff against No. 11 Stillwater (8-15) at 6:00 p.m.

No. 7 Norman (17-4) will host No. 14 Muskogee (6-15) in the other semifinal. The finals will be Saturday at 2:00 p.m.

“We’re going to need a lot of people to pitch in,” said Berry.

“We always say ‘I don’t know how we’re going to win, but however it is that night, just be ready. It might be your night, it might be somebody else’s night. Just be ready.’”

Boys

The 6A-East No. 11 Sand Springs boys (10-13) suffered a tough final week to the regular season, falling 66-37 to No. 8 Union (12-10) on Tuesday, 86-69 to No. 4 Booker T. Washington (12-8) on Thursday, and 57-34 to No. 5 Owasso (13-8) on Friday.

The Sandites led Union 22-20 at halftime on Senior Night but the RedHawks got hot in the third quarter for a 42-35 lead before starting the fourth on a 19-0 run. Michael Foster, Alijah Roper, and Kade Holland scored 8 apiece.

Thursday was a similar affair as the Sandites led the Hornets 36-34 late in the second quarter before Washington went on a 12-0 run to enter the half with a double-digit advantage that it never relinquished. Kooper Kelly scored 16, Holland 12, and Khalil Allen had 10.

On Owasso’s Senior Night the Rams jumped out to a 19-2 first-quarter lead and never trailed. Blake Johnson, Zane Fueshko, and Sam Hayes scored 6 apiece to lead the Sandites.

The boys ended the season with a 3-11 record in conference action, an improvement over the past two one-win seasons in the brutally tough Frontier Valley.

Sand Springs will return to action Friday at the Bixby Regionals with a first-round elimination game against No. 6 Moore (16-6).

Sakauri Wilson scores 27, Sandites Upset No. 1 Sapulpa 57-53

Sakauri Wilson says she puts up a hundred free throws a day, and it paid off Friday night at the Ed Dubie.

The junior guard went 8-for-8 at the charity stripe, including four free throws in the final 20 seconds of a 57-53 upset against 5A No. 1 Sapulpa (17-2).

The Sandites (14-6) previously lost 61-21 to the Chieftains to open the season but managed to keep pace in the rematch for their first rivalry win since 2019. It also snapped a 10-game win streak for Sapulpa, who hadn’t tasted defeat since December.

“I wasn’t intimidated at all,” said Wilson, who scored a career-high 27 points to lead all scorers.

“I just knew the first time (we played them) we weren’t ready, everybody was scared.”

“We all came together as a team, clutch free throws at the end, everybody’s coming together on defense and shutting everybody down.”

Sand Springs trailed for most of the first quarter but traded leads through the second and entered the locker room with a 26-24 advantage on Wilson’s first of three treys.

A five-point run midway through the third gave Sand Springs the lead till the final two minutes when a Sapulpa rally nearly staved off the upset.

Sapulpa trailed 49-42 before surging ahead to a 52-51 lead, but Abigaile Martin put her team back on top from the free throw line and the Chieftains never led again.

Hailey Jackson also had a big night with 20 points and 7 rebounds while Oklahoma State signee Stailee Heard had 23 to pace the Chieftains.

“That’s a good team over there,” said head coach Josh Berry. “We just had a great all around effort tonight and some girls stepped up and made some plays.”

The Sandites also won 54-38 at No. 13 Bartlesville (7-13) on Monday behind a career-high 17 from Calla Fueshko, but dropped a 69-40 decision to No. 2 (15-6) Bixby on Tuesday.

“We just challenged them to match (Sapulpa)’s energy and their effort and I think that’s what they did tonight. Plus they made plays.”

“That’s what it comes down to. It’s not too much about Xs and Os, it’s about the players. When they make plays, it makes it easy on us.”

(Boys) Sand Springs 78 Sapulpa 57

Sapulpa’s warmup shirts said “beating Sand Springs never gets old,” but it was the Sandites who prevailed 78-57 in a Friday night romp.

The Sand Springs boys (10-10) paid back a season-opening 60-51 loss at Sapulpa (5-14) with a balanced team attack.

Alijah Roper scored 15 to lead the Sandites, closely followed by Blake Johnson and Kade Holland with 14 apiece - a career-high for Holland.

“We always enjoy a rivalry win against Sapulpa, especially after they got us in the first game of the year at their place,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“The guys were focused and ready. They were excited - we really didn’t have to motivate them much to play this game.”

Jalen Pratt’s opening three-pointer gave Sapulpa its only lead of the night but the Sandites soon set the tempo and took a 21-11 lead into the second quarter.

“I thought we came out and set the tempo early and really dominated inside the paint,” said Savage.

“Our bigs really controlled offensive and defensive rebounds inside and made their guards alter their shots a little bit and that was a huge factor for us getting off to a good start.”

By halftime the Sandites led 39-25 and Sapulpa never got within double digits in the second half.

The Sandites fell 58-52 to Bartlesville (7-12) on Monday despite a career-high 14 points from Khalil Allen. They also lost 73-44 to Bixby (17-4) on Tuesday.

Sand Springs will return to action Tuesday with a Senior Night home finale against Union.

The Sandites also received their Regional playoff assignments on Wednesday.

The girls will play No. 11 Stillwater (7-13) in the first round of the Norman Regional on the 23rd, while the boys will play No. 6 Moore (14-6) in the first round of the Bixby Regional on the 24th.

Box Scores

CPHS;21;18;18;21;--;78.
Sapulpa;11;14;18;14;--57.

Scoring: (CPHS) Roper 15, Holland 14, Johnson 14, Hooper 9, Allen 8, Kelly 7, Foster 6, Shope 2, Mitchell 1. (Sapulpa) Harris 18, Abbage 10, Lewis 8, Read 8, Ragsdale 6, Pratt 5, Willbey 2.

(Girls) Sand Springs 57, Sapulpa 53
CPHS;8;18;12;19;--57.
Sapulpa;12;12;11;18;--53.

Scoring: (CPHS) Wilson 27, Jackson 20, Martin 4, Fueshko 4, Taylor 2. (Sapulpa) S. Heard 23, Ri. McQuarters 12, Ra. McQuarters 11, T. Heard 5, Adkisson 2.

Mitchell Smith Secures District Title for Sandites in 39-34 Win over Ponca City

After missing out the past two years, Sand Springs is headed back to Dual State thanks to straight toughness and senior leadership.

With one match left in the Sandites’ district dual against No. 11 Ponca City, Sand Springs trailed 34-33. It all came down to Mitchell Smith at 150 pounds.

With a knee injury that many would consider season-ending, the senior put his team on his shoulders and came out with a pin of Braden Perciful in 30 seconds to secure the 39-34 victory.

“We needed him big time,” said head coach Ty Bowling.

“I said, ‘Hey. The score is close enough. We don’t need anything big, we just need to go out and get a win.’ He goes out and finds a pin. That’s huge for us. Senior leadership.”

“We haven’t gone to dual state since my freshman year, so this is big,” said Smith. “We had some bad losses the past two years, to teams we all felt like we should have beat, so it’s nice to win like this.”

Sand Springs went on to win 46-27 against Edmond Deer Creek and 48-25 against No. 13 Union to clinch its 18th District Championship Tuesday evening at the UMAC.

“Straight toughness,” said Bowling. “We had a handful of injuries. It’s January, that’s what wrestling is. We’ve got guys with bad ankles, bad knees, so they dug deep, a lot of toughness. They battled. They showed that they wanted it.”

“We’ve been looking toward these duals all season. We knew Ponca City was the defending champ, we know what they had coming back. We knew it was going to take all 14 doing their job, whether it was finding bonus, not giving up bonus, or just going out and just gritting out a win.”

Four Sandites went undefeated at the quad, including Jaxon “Scout” Trotter, who had to start each dual at 157 pounds.

“We usually start at 106 and we started all three duals at 157,” said Bowling. “He had three tough matches and came away with three wins, so he started us off right every time.”

Freshman Hudson Sheppard and junior Mason Harris also went undefeated, winning all three of their matches by fall.

“I’m just excited,” said Harris. “It’s my first time and I just want to know what it’s like. I was one year off from knowing what it’s like so I’m just excited to bring Sand Springs back into it.”

“We have a few injuries right now that are still healing up. By the time those heal back up we’re going to be even more dominant than we are now.”

Smith won both of his matches as well. With a 46-21 lead against Deer Creek, the Sandites forfeited Smith’s weight, but the senior insisted on wrestling against Union, where he collected a 31-second pin.

“I really wanted to,” said Smith. “I wanted to wrestle the second match as well, but my coach told me not to because he didn’t want to risk it, which is fair but I’m not a big fan of sitting on the bench and watching my teammates wrestle, so I tried to get some matches in as well.”

The Sandites still have a few tough duals left before Dual State, and will host No. 4 Broken Arrow (8-1) Tuesday for Homecoming and No. 2 Stillwater (10-1) on Thursday.

The varsity boys took the weekend off but the varsity girls and junior varsity boys competed at the Morey Villareal Memorial tournament at Will Rogers High School.

The JV boys won the tournament against a field of mostly varsity competitors, topping Bartlesville 207 to 194.5.

Dawson Briscoe won the 106-pound bracket with five pins, Brody Ensten won at 157 with two pins, and Peyton Callis won at 165 with four pins.

Colt Hood, Landen Horton, and Christopher Cooper were runners-up and Jackson Burdge, Preston Reyna, Brock O’Dell, Dallas Flores, and Cash Lucas took third place.

Madison Chambers took first place, Gracie Young was second, and Kreedence Behnke was third to lead the girls varsity to a fifth-place finish.

Youth

Gage Fadenrecht, Ryker Dawes, Collin Randall, Brackton Upton, Hunter Sims, Kase Skaggs, and Jace Simms all won their brackets at the Broken Arrow Wrestlemania tournament, representing the Keystone Kids.

Luke Hooper Has Career Night in 60-33 Verdigris Rout

Luke Hooper didn’t play basketball his junior year but he shook off any lingering rust Saturday afternoon in the Port City Classic consolation finals.

The 6-foot-4 power forward hit his stride for a career-best 12 points and 9 rebounds to lead Sand Springs (8-7) in a 60-33 romp against Verdigris (10-7) for fifth place in the Catoosa tournament.

“You don’t realize how much it can slip away from you, just getting back into basketball shape and timing,” said head coach Eric Savage.

“He’s a big body and does a good job rebounding. If we can get him scoring on offense like he was able to today then it’s really going to help us.”

The Sandites suffered a 69-61 loss to 4A No. 16 Catoosa (11-4) in the first round to cap a four-game losing streak, but snapped back with a 66-48 win over 5A No. 16 Claremore (8-7) in Friday’s consolation semifinals.

“We went through a tough stretch right there in a conference that’s arguably very tough,” said Savage.

Sand Springs lost conference games against Union and Owasso the prior week, and fell 72-50 to Jenks on Tuesday. Now back above .500, the Sandites will be looking to ride some momentum into their next week’s conference games.

“I think it does a lot for the players’ confidence and our team to be able to experience some success,” said Savage.

“I wish we would’ve got three (wins) this weekend, but to finish on two wins - hopefully we can build on that”

Several Sandites had notable performances on the weekend. Alijah Roper and Micahel Foster scored 13 apiece in the loss to Catoosa and Kade Holland had a career-best 12. Blake Johnson was a bucket shy of a double-double with 8 points and 11 boards.

“We’re getting better and guys are stepping up and realizing they can make plays during games,” said Savage. “We’re getting some maturity and growth out of those sophomores.”

The sophomores being Kooper Kelly, Zane Fueshko, Khalil Allen, and Johnson.

Foster led the team with 14 against Claremore and Roper added 10. Against Verdigris, Roper and Kelly had 10 apiece, Allen added 9, and Foster had 8 points and 10 rebounds.

In Tuesday’s game against Jenks it was Kelly with 11 and Allen with 10 to lead the team.

“Alijah’s been playing a lot better and he’s been really consistent for us this year - probably our most consistent,” said Savage. “We need Alijah playing like he played this tournament.”

“I think by the end of January, going into February, I’m hoping we’ll be hitting our stride and playing our best basketball.”

The Sandites will return to action Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. with a road game at No. 9 Booker T. Washington (9-4, 4-2) followed by a home battle against No. 1 Broken Arrow (14-0, 6-0) on Friday.

Girls

For only the second time this season, Hailey Jackson didn’t lead her team in scoring against No. 9 Jenks (9-4, 4-2) on Tuesday.

It wasn’t because she had an off-night - it was because her entire team was on fire.

Five Lady Sandites scored in double digits, each with impressive stat lines, in a 67-43 win that was arguably the best performance of the season for No. 10 Sand Springs (11-4, 4-2).

Freshman Calla Fueshko led her team with a career-high 16 points, going 4-of-6 from three-point range before fouling out midway through the fourth quarter.

Sand Springs actually trailed 20-14 after the first quarter but Fueshko and Taiona Morris opened the second with a trio of treys to go up 23-20 and never relinquished the lead.

By halftime the home team led 37-29 and they used a 14-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to put the game to bed.

Jackson scored 15 points with 6 boards; Sakauri Wilson had 13 points, 3 steals, and 5 assists; Kiaryn Taylor had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals; and Morris had 10 points with 6 boards, 3 steals, and 5 assists.

Jill Twiehaus led all scorers with 21 points for Jenks, but was held to only 4 in the second half.

Sand Springs will take to the road Tuesday against No. 4 Booker T. Washington (13-2, 5-1) before hosting No. 13 Broken Arrow (10-5, 4-2) on Friday.