Sports

Union City High School’s baseball team got a delayed start to the 2022 fall season over the weekend, taking third in the Earlsboro Invitational with a 2-1 record.

The Tigers dropped a close 6-5 game to Moss in pool play but bounced back for a 10-8 decision over Vanoss.

Union City then run-ruled the host club 11-1 in the third-place game.

Ludy Griggs’ club went 23-of-75 (.307) from the plate over three games with five doubles and two triples.

Brayden Armstrong (.750) led the team with six base hits including two doubles and a triple.

As other teams fine-tune their starting lineup ahead of season openers, El Reno High School’s volleyball team has been retooling its attack due to an untimely injury.

Three-year veteran and first-team All-Suburban Conference standout Bailey Denwalt suffered a torn labrum while playing for her club team.

The injury occurred during the first day of June’s national championship, according to El Reno head coach Kristen Koehler.

Union City pitcher Emily Griggs snagged a game-ending groundout with the tying run at second base as the Tigers opened up the fast-pitch softball season with a 7-6 win over Velma Alma.

The victory also served as Union City’s first-ever league game as the Tigers joined the Southern Plains Conference over the summer.

Griggs threw seven innings for the win with a line of six hits, six runs, six walks and five strikeouts. The right-hander had a .520 strike percentage as 64 of her 123 pitches found the zone.

Calumet High School’s baseball team cranked out its first double-digit hit total of the season last week en route to a 12-2 win over Hydro-Eakly.

The Chieftains improved to 2-0 on the season with the win.

Cody Thiessen’s team went 10-of-29 (.344) from the plate against the Bobcats, logging nine runs batted in and four walks against five strikeouts.

Kingston Arnold and Dalton Belcher added a double each.

El Reno High School’s football program was slated to wrap up its four days of non-contact preseason drills on Thursday, before putting the pads on for the first time this preseason on Friday.

The Indians will travel to Elk City Aug. 19 for their lone scrimmage.

El Reno’s Maizlynn Steenbergen, a fifth-grader at Banner School, recently won the Girls 11 and Under age bracket during the 2022 Lake Hefner Golf Championship.

El Reno High School’s football program kicked off two-a-day preseason football drills Monday morning on the turf at Memorial Stadium.

The Indians will be in shorts and helmets through Thursday while following heat acclimation protocol set forth by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.

El Reno will have its first practice in full pads on Friday.

NORMAN – Being billed as an upper echelon team with state tournament potential, Calumet High School’s baseball program wasted little time in testing those predictions.

The Chieftains, under new head coach Cody Thiessen, opened up the 2022 fall season with a 5-3 win over Rattan in the Best of the Best East vs. West Baseball Festival.

Rattan was a 25-game winner last spring and made the Class A state quarterfinals. Calumet posted a 22-win season run that ended in the regional finals.

A year ago, El Reno High School’s softball team went on the road and beat higher-seeded Duncan twice to earn a trip to the Class 5A State Championships – the program’s second trip in three seasons.

Now the Indians head into their 2022 season opener Monday against Yukon looking to prove that their 2021 efforts were no fluke.

With temperatures expected to reach near triple digits, El Reno High School’s football team will begin preseason workouts Monday with a non-traditional two-a-days schedule.

“We will practice from 7 to 9 in the mornings, take a break, then return about 9:30 and finish up by 11 a.m.,” said head coach Russell Cook.

As part of its policy for heat-related practices, the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) requires every football player to take part in a four-day acclimation period – no matter when they report for drills.