Sports

While it will be heavily scripted, fans and opposing teams wanting to get an early glimpse of El Reno High School’s football team will have their one and only chance Friday night.

El Reno will hold its only preseason scrimmage at Memorial Stadium against Elk City.

Junior high teams will play at 5:30 p.m. Varsity squads will follow around 6:30 p.m.

Price for admission will be either towels or a bottle of laundry soap to be used by the football program this season.

OKLAHOMA CITY - When 12 teams pulled out of the El Reno tournament in favor of the famed Hall of Fame Fast Pitch Softball Festival, Indians head coach Bri Michalicka was forced to cancel her event and follow.

What her team found waiting was a tough Class 6A-dominated pool and a 1-3 record.

“There were some good quality 6A teams there but we did not execute well.

“We did not play up to our level,” said Michalicka.

El Reno defeated Lawton MacArthur (11-0) but dropped games to 6A squads Edmond Memorial (10-5), Stillwater (10-1) and Yukon’s junior varsity (5-4).

In one of its best finishes in recent years, El Reno High School’s volleyball team placed second in its own tournament following a 25-16/26-24 loss to Duncan in the Gold Bracket finals.

The loss snapped a four-match win streak for El Reno after a non-tourney win over Capitol Hill (3-0) and pool play wins over Guymon (2-0), Guthrie (2-1) and Chickasha (2-0).

El Reno is now 4-2 on the season.

The team recorded 45 aces over the five-match run, led by Radley Miller with 14 aces, 11 from Brantlie Charmasson, 10 by Deyana Cookston and six by Jaida Richardson.

Yukon outscored El Reno High School’s softball team 8-2 over the final two and a half innings as the Millers broke a 5-all tie and pulled out a 13-7 victory over the Indians.

The loss dropped El Reno to 0-2 on the season following a 9-1 road setback a day earlier to Enid.

El Reno tied the game with the Millers with a five-run effort in the fifth inning. Key hits in the comeback were a two-run double by Kyla Killingsworth and a follow-up two-bagger by Taylor Acosta, which plated a run.

Though the scores improved each game, El Reno High School’s volleyball team found itself on the short end of a 3-1 score against Southwest Covenant School in the 2025 season opener.

El Reno won game three 25-18 and led in game two by a pair of points before falling 25-20. The Patriots took games one and four by scores of 25-10 and 25-16, respectively.

El Reno High School’s football program was slated to jump into full pads on Friday after the mandatory heat acclamation period of four days in shorts and helmets mandated by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.

El Reno will have its lone preseason scrimmage on Friday (Aug. 22) at home with Elk City.

Lawson Geheb and Callie Cramer logged a home run each as Okarche High School’s fast-pitch softball team posted season-opening wins over Amber-Pocasset (6-1) and Chattanooga (7-1).

Geheb (.571) logged four base hits total for the two games, including two doubles, as the Warriors went 16-of-49 as a team for a .327 average. Chesney Black and Katie Parham added a double each.

Parham (.429) closed with three base hits, while Black (.400) and Sara Jacobs had two singles each.

CALUMET – Without an extra base hit, Calumet High School’s baseball team kicked off the 2025 fall season with a 7-2 wire-to-wire victory over Drummond.

Calumet, the Class B state runner-up, outhit the Bulldogs 9-3 with Konnor Thiessen and Talon Arnold logging three singles each on seven combined trips to the plate. Kaleb Thiessen added a one-bagger as did Jackson Burns and Wade Reed.

The Chieftains outscored Drummond 4-0 over the final two and a half innings after the Bulldogs closed the gap to 3-2.

Long before the sun tried to peek over the clouds Monday morning, El Reno High School kicked off its fall football preseason workouts at Memorial Stadium.

The Indians went through a three-hour nonpadded drill.

According to Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association rules, teams must have three days of non-padded drills before hosting full-contact padded drills. El Reno's first practice in pads will be Thursday.

Those on the outside might think El Reno High School head softball coach Bri Michalicka is hitting the panic button after her Indians closed out their preseason run with a 2-4-1 record.

In fact, it’s just the opposite.

“We’ve seen everything we need to see, and I don’t look at those games as losses at all. We gained a lot of knowledge and I feel really good about going into the season,” said Michalicka.

Entering her second year, Michalicka had a pre-set rotation for most of the preseason, with the majority of players switching every two innings to different positions.