Sports

OKLAHOMA CITY – Chase Johnson’s tenure as El Reno High School’s baseball coach got off to a fast start as the Indians jumped out to a 2-0 record in the Putnam City Summer League.

The varsity posted a 19-1 win over the PCO orange squad, while the junior varsity shut out the Pirates by a 10-0 margin.

El Reno’s varsity offense was led by Maddox Ferguson with a 3-for-3 effort and Austin Steffler’s 3-for-4 tally as the Indians belted out 13 hits.

Three of those were triples by Gage Lesperance, Austin Steffler and Ryker Crain.

Picking from 8-man through Class 6A, only 74 players were chosen to take part in next month’s Oklahoma Coaches Association’s All-State Football Game.

The West roster for the 2026 Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association’s Small School All-State Baseball Game will have five spots filled by players within a 25-mile radius of each other.

Calumet High School, which won the Class B title for both fall and spring, earned two first-pick spots in catcher Kingston Arnold and outfielder Kaleb Thiessen.

El Reno High School baseball player Ryker Crain leaps into the air to make a throw toward first base during the Indians junior varsity game with Putnam City Orange to kick off summer league action.

Crain was getting extra time at a different position after playing third base in the varsity game.

El Reno defeated the Pirates in both games, with varsity winning 19-0 and the junior varsity 10-0.

See Wednesday’s paper for a recap.

Josh Davis held his first youth skills camp as head coach of the El Reno High School boys basketball program.

Thirty-seven players in grades 2-8 went through three days of skills challenges, layup and shooting contests as well as one-on-one and 5-on-5 team games.

WEATHERFORD – Three El Reno High School graduates and a trio of their former coaches narrowly missed logging a win in their final baseball game together.

Jonathan Shelley, Mason Fulton and Preston Archer played for the Large North squad in the 2026 Western Oklahoma Baseball Coaches Association’s All-Star Games.

The squad, which lost 6-3 to the South, was coached by El Reno’s Keith Hill, Rusty Shamblin and Gavin Beavers. It’s the first time since joining the WOBCA for El Reno to have that many representatives.

Cody Thiessen has won a bunch of awards since arriving in Calumet with his wife, Jennifer and their three boys prior to the start of the 2022 fall baseball season.

As a matter of fact, four state runner-up trophies and this year’s back-to-back Class B State Championships – the first in school history.

For close to two weeks, Chase Johnson has been a man splitting his loyalties between two sporting programs.

That ends on Memorial Day, holiday or not.

“Monday morning I’m all in for El Reno baseball,” said Johnson.

The 2026 Mustache Bash is billed as one of the most lucrative single-day bull riding events in the state.

There were 15 riders in the second go-round but only four rode bulls to a score.

After 10 years in the third-base box as El Reno High School’s head baseball coach, and even more years coaching area youth, it’s hard to pull the wool over the eyes of Keith Hill.

Yet the veteran coach does admit there are times he’s been caught off guard, like last week’s tribute slow-pitch softball tournament held in his honor.

“I was pleasantly surprised. Coach Shamblin (Rusty), Coach Beavers (Gavin) and Coach Michalicka (Bri) worked hard to put all that together.