Sports

ELGIN - It was a feast and famine effort at the plate for El Reno High School’s fast-pitch softball team during the opening day of the Class 5A West Region 2 Championships.

With artillery shells booming in the distance from nearby Fort Sill, El Reno cranked out 22 hits, including 10 extra base swings, en route to a 24-1 win over Lawton MacArthur in the first round.

However, the hits dried up in the second round as El Reno dropped a 10-0 contest to the Elgin Owls. The split left the Indians with a 16-16 season record.

Calumet High School will take a 13-game win streak into the first round of the 2023 Class B Fall State High School Baseball Championships after breezing through the regional round.

The second-ranked Chieftains clinched the Region 2 Championships with wins over No.15 Big Pasture (25-3) and No.10 Asher (11-3) to improve to 27-1 on the season.

Calumet was slated to take on ninth-ranked Mulhall-Orlando in the state quarterfinals. The first two rounds of state are being played at Edmond Santa Fe High School before the finals move to the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

El Reno surpassed 2,000 total yards in the win over Noble.
 

El Reno High School’s volleyball team snapped a two-match losing streak and closed out the regular season with a 3-1 road win over Hennessey.

The 28-26/22-25/25-18/25-5 win over the Class 3A Eagles left El Reno with a 5-15 overall record heading into Monday’s Class 5A regional playoffs.

The Indians will be headed to Sapulpa for the one-day postseason event with the winner punching a ticket to state.

Pictured are members of El Reno’s eighth-grade volleyball team crowned the 2023 Suburban Conference Champions after going through the league tourney undefeated and without dropping a game, said coach Bill Reeves.

Redlands Community College’s soccer team kicked off a four-match regional road swing last week with back-to-back losses by a combined five goals.

The Cougars dropped a close 4-3 match to the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain before being shut out by Rose State College (4-0).

The losses extended Redlands current losing streak to seven matches. The Cougars are 1-11 overall and 1-10 in the NJCAA Region 2 standings, which is eighth.

Redlands logged 21 shots for the two matches, three of those credited as team shots.

El Reno High School tailback Malachi Nicholson was having a career night running the football in the Indians game with Noble last week – but he had no clue just how big.

After bursting through Noble’s line untouched en route to a 56-yard touchdown run, the senior was still breathing hard when he carried in the 2-point conversion to give El Reno a 68-61 lead with 3:26 to play.

Running off the field, he stopped to ask me a simple question.

“You wouldn’t know how many yards I have, do you,” said Nicholson.

NOBLE – The biggest offensive effort of Malachi Nicholson’s career set up El Reno High School's football team for its first district win of the season.

Yet it was his biggest defensive play that sealed the deal as the Indians defeated Noble 68-67 after rallying from 18 points down late in the third period.

Noble made it a one-point game with 55.2 seconds left, scoring on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Joey Bear to Logan Kirby. Following a timeout, the Bears opted to go for a 2-point conversion.

El Reno High School’s fast-pitch softball team played its final road games of the regular season last week, dropping two games at Enid and a neutral site game to Edmond North.

The Indians fell to 15-15 overall with 12-4 and 4-1 setbacks to Enid, followed by a 4-2 loss to the Huskies.

El Reno went 14-of-57 (.246) from the plate over the three games, getting a double each from Iliana Ashford and Micah Woods. Maddie Moss (.556) and Ashford (.556) led with five hits each.

Justine Johnson, Maddie Brinkman, Woods and Ryah Hardy closed with a hit each.

Pictured are members of El Reno’s seventh-grade volleyball team, winners of the 2023 Suburban Conference Championships.