Sports

Bears await EHS in first of two road bids

Body

El Reno High School’s football team will play back-to-back road games in District 5A-1 play beginning with a road trip to Noble Friday night.

The Bears (1-3) are fourth in the district following a 28-27 overtime win over Ardmore. El Reno is tied with the Tigers, Altus and Duncan for fifth, but by tiebreaker points, stands in sixth place.

El Reno leads Noble 16-7 in the all-time series as the teams have met yearly since 2018, with the Indians holding a 3-2 lead in those five games.

In-page image(s)

El Reno splits final games of road trip

Body

Senior Raley Hartley belted out three extra base hits as El Reno High School’s fast-pitch softball team closed out a 14-game road slate with an 8-5 win over Clinton.

El Reno went 6-8 over the road trip, which started Aug. 29, following a 10-3 loss to Carl Albert the day before to close out District 5A-2 action.

The Indians finished third in the standings with a 7-5 record behind the Titans and Piedmont.

The Indians won four of the final five games of the road slate, three of those wins coming in district play to make the jump from fifth to third.

In-page image(s)

ER spikers fall in four to Noble

Body

Putting games and eventually matches into the win column continues to elude El Reno High School’s volleyball team after a close 3-1 loss to Noble last week.

The 23-25/19-25/25-16/22-25 setback dropped El Reno to 3-13 on the season. The Indians are now 1-2 in the Suburban Conference standings with their ninth straight loss.

El Reno had opportunities to win the first two games but blew a 9-2 lead in the opening game.

The Indians then held a 23-21 lead before allowing four straight points by the Bears, three of those on errors.

In-page image(s)

Hop, skip and jump

Body

The longest road trip of the season for El Reno High School’s fast-pitch softball team produced its biggest doubleheader sweep as the Indians ventured into the Oklahoma panhandle for the first time since 2021.

The eight-plus-hour round trip to Guymon netted a 12-3 and a 13-5 win over the Tigers that catapulted El Reno from fifth into third place in the District 5A-2 standings with a 7-4 record.

El Reno leap-frogged both Guymon and Noble for the third spot with the sweep.

In-page image(s)

El Reno bitten at home again by St. Bernards

Body

El Reno High School’s volleyball team is still seeking its first win for the month of September after Santa Fe South, ranked 12th in Class 5A, rallied for a 3-1 win over the Indians.

The St. Bernards took the first game inside Jenks Simmons Field House, 25-22, after watching El Reno rally from a seven-point deficit to make it a two-point game.

El Reno would win a see-saw second game by a 25-22 margin to even the match at 1-all. Santa Fe South, which defeated the Indians earlier in the year at the EHS Invitational, took the final two games by scores of 25-11 and 25-15.

Times falling for ER runners

Body

Both El Reno High School’s cross-country teams continue to show marked improvements in both times and overall finishes two meets into the 2023 season.

The El Reno girls placed ninth overall in the recent Mike Driskell Turkey Creek Invitational, hosted by Hennessey, with an overall score of 212 points.

The teams had an overall time of one hour and 28.37 minutes, which broke down to an average time of 17:43 per runner.

Emmary Elizondo led the team with a time of 14:51 for the two-mile course at Turkey Creek Golf Course, to place 23rd overall.

In-page image(s)

Charging into playoffs on winning note

Body

Dalton Belcher belted out a pair of doubles and drove in four runs as Calumet High School’s baseball team closed out the fall regular season with a 14-1 win over Sentinel.

The win sends the Chieftains, ranked second in the state in Class B, into the postseason on a nine-game win streak. Calumet improved to 22-2 on the season and was set to host Dover and Carney in the District 2 Championships.

Belcher’s effort was part of a 14-of-27 (.518) showing at the plate for Calumet. Kingston Arnold logged three base hits, while Hunter Arnold and Kaleb Thiessen added a double each.

In-page image(s)

Okarche defeats Calumet; rain hampers UCHS bids

Body

While Union City has been hit by the rainout bug, Calumet High School’s fast-pitch softball team was able to sneak in a game with cross-county rival Okarche last week.

The Chieftains slipped to 4-18 on the season with a 15-2 loss to the Warriors. Calumet was scheduled to close out the regular season with a road game at Okeene.

Laney Rogers’ team will travel to Lookeba-Sickles, ranked 10th in the state, for the Class B, District 12 Championships.

In-page image(s)

Redlands soccer team drops third match from top tier run

Body

Redlands Community College women’s soccer team returns home Sunday to host Northeastern Oklahoma A&M seeking an end to a three-match losing streak.

All three losses came against the upper echelon of the NJCAA Region 2 standings, the latest a 4-1 setback to Eastern Oklahoma State College, ranked third in the league.

The three-goal setback dropped Redlands to 1-6 in the standings and 1-7 for the season.

The Cougars slipped to eighth in the league behind NEO.