Sports

Believe it or not, the biggest upset of the fall baseball season was the ousting of No.11 Ripley at the hands of unranked Union City High School in the Class A, District 11 Championship.

It was the third overall fall district title for head coach Ludy Griggs, but his first since the Tigers jumped to Class A.

Union City improved to 21-5 on the season and head to the regional round.

The Tigers path to the district title started with a 6-1 win over Carney/Agra before sweeping Ripley by scores of 6-3 and 4-3.

What could have been a moving day in the district standings turned into a two-game dogfight as El Reno High School’s fast-pitch softball team battled to a split with Guymon.

The Tigers scored seven runs in the fourth inning to rally for a 13-8 win in the series opener, but El Reno rode a six-run fifth inning to a 13-3 win in game two for the split.

El Reno improved to 10-15 on the season and 6-6 in the District 5A-2 standings.

With two league games left, the Indians remain in fifth place but now trail Guymon by a half game in the loss column following the split.

Taking advantage of a series of unforced errors by Amber-Pocasset, El Reno High School’s volleyball team snapped a four-match home losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Panthers.

The 25-16/25-21/20-25/25-20 non-conference win moved El Reno to 9-12 on the season and 2-4 inside Jenks Simmons Field House for non-tournament matches.

The Panthers committed 59 errors in the loss but were able to take leads in three of the four games after El Reno struggled to 44 total miscues. The Indians had a strong serving night with 14 aces and a 95 percent team serving effort.

A schedule swap sent El Reno High School’s cross country team back to Anadarko for a second time in a week for the 2022 Warriors Invitational.

The boys team placed 15th overall with 447 points. Logan Singletary led the effort in 51st place with a time of 22 minutes and 44.8 seconds over the 5-kilometer (3.1-mile) course.

Shane Caso Estrada (24:45) took 93rd, followed by Cobyn Mendez (25:20) in 102nd and Jayden Taylor (25:49) seven spots back. Bryce Black (30:55) took 137th.

It’s playoff time in Oklahoma for the lower classifications in fast-pitch softball and Union City High School enters the postseason riding an offensive juggernaut.

The Tigers take an eight-game win streak into the Class A, District 29 Championships at Rush Springs having outscored their last four opponents by a 43-10 margin.

Union City’s run margin led to wins over Community Christian (14-2), Calumet (11-5), Riverside Indian School (17-3) and Class B’s fifth-ranked Lookeba-Sickles (1-0).

The highest-ranked Calumet High School baseball team in more than a decade will take a three-game win streak into the playoffs after winning the Hammon Invitational – its second tourney title of the fall season.

Calumet, ranked third in Class B, improved to 19-3 on the season with wins over Canute (No. 5/B) 10-4, Cheyenne/Reydon 10-4 and Duke (No. 20/B) 12-0.

The Chieftains were slated to host the Class B, District 3 Championships to start their playoff run.

Redlands Community College’s soccer team dropped its fourth straight league match last week after a 6-0 road setback to Northern Oklahoma College of Tonkawa.

The loss dropped the Cougars to 1-7 for the season and 1-5 in the NJCAA Region 2 standings.

Redlands had eight shots in the loss, four of those on goal, led by Gladis Avalos with four attempts. Amya Lindsey and Moriah Reed closed with two shots each.

Kaitlynn Runnels allowed two goals in net but logged five saves in a half of work. Haley Inglehart picked up nine saves but allowed four goals.

For a fifth straight year, El Reno High School’s football program has had an open date on its regular-season schedule, but that doesn’t mean the Indians took last week any differently than normal.

“The off week has been good. We have been trying to focus on us and trying to get better each and every day,” said El Reno head coach Russell Cook.

El Reno High School’s volleyball team heads into three winnable matches this week after dropping a 3-0 home outing to the Lawton MacArthur Highlanders, ranked third in Class 5A.

The 25-20/25-13/25-13 Highlanders win dropped El Reno to 8-12 on the season. The Indians have upcoming outings with Amber-Pocasset, Noble and Santa Fe South, which they have beaten once this season in tourney action.

In the loss to MacArthur, El Reno served at 94 percent with a team-high three aces from Madison Patswald. Makenna Curtis, Emma Patswald and Trinity Black added one ace each.

Just eight pitches into its series with Capitol Hill and El Reno High School’s fast-pitch softball team was leading 2-0 en route to a twinbill sweep of the Red Wolves in less than two hours.

El Reno posted wins of 15-0 and 15-1 to improve to 9-11 for the season. The sweep moved the Indians to 5-5 in the District 5A-2 standings.

Kira Taber hit a lead-off single for El Reno and would circle to score on a stolen base, wild pitch and a passed ball. Kaydence Pawnee reached by error and scored two pitches later on a passed ball.