Sports

Indians seek out wins, momentum as playoffs near

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El Reno High School’s baseball team headed into its final District 5A-1 doubleheader of the season looking to gain some needed momentum for the upcoming playoffs.

The Indians were slated to play Del City after losing a close 4-2 contest to Guthrie last week in a makeup game.

The teams split the series, leaving El Reno with a 6-6 mark in league play and in fifth place, a game back in the loss column to the Bluejays for fourth.

El Reno was coming off an 11-5 loss a day earlier to Elk City after squandering a 5-1 lead.

Davin Shamblin eyes a pickoff throw as a runner slides into second base

The goals before the storm

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Severe storms in the panhandle halted El Reno High School’s match last week with Guymon but not before the Indians secured a spot in the upcoming Class 5A girls playoffs.

El Reno was leading 3-1 when the match was called with 33 minutes left in the second half.

“We stood in the locker room for 25 minutes waiting for the weather to clear and it wasn’t. Then their athletic director and the head referee came over and said they were calling the match.

Conley Knapp uses her body to direct the ball

El Reno boys to make return trip to Guymon for 5A-2 bid

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El Reno High School Athletic Director Rodney Haydon and head coach Gabriel Gonzalez confirmed the boys soccer team will return to Guymon Tuesday night to complete District 5A-2 play.

The match was postponed last week due to severe weather, which cut the match short in the second half.

“As of right now we are going. We are going to try and play around 4:30 or 5 p.m. depending on if they can get officials that early or not,” said Gonzalez.

Redlands left waiting for at-large pass to NJCAA tourney

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A move to cut down the field at the NJCAA Women’s Golf Championship may leave four-time winner Redlands Community College on the outside looking in.

This season the NJCAA did away with the regional championship round of the postseason and the automatic berth to the national tourney for each winner. In its place were six district championships.

Teams in the 17 regions making up Division I golf under the NJCAA banner were then divided up. RCC was placed into the Southwest District along with teams from Regions 1 and 5.

Top nine individual medalists from the NJCAA Southwest District Championship

Cutting out the mistakes

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With its overall score consistently coming in around 400, El Reno High School’s girls golf team is turning its attention toward cutting out needless mistakes ahead of the upcoming Class 5A West Regional Championships.

El Reno will be among the 12 teams bidding for one of the six West passes to the state tournament, which will be held this year at Chickasaw Point in Durant.

The West regional will be played on the South Course at Lake Hefner.

Callie Maifield watches a low chip shot

El Reno fifth at state

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Despite holding the No.1 spot in the 16-team bracket, El Reno High School’s trapshooting squad was thrown a tough pigeon in the second round of the 2022 Oklahoma Scholastic Shooting Sports Program’s State Shoot.

After defeating Sequoyah in its opening match with a team score of 195, El Reno drew perennial powerhouse and eventual state champion Merritt in the second round.

A puller waits for Kenyon Burt to call for a clay pigeon

Road trip yields split

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It took nine innings and a shocking loss for El Reno High School’s baseball team to shake off the rust of a four-hour bus ride to Guymon last week as the Indians rallied to split a District 5A-1 doubleheader with the Tigers.

El Reno slipped to fifth in the league standings at 6-5 after losing the first game to Guymon 3-0.

The Indians were tied 3-all after the first inning of the second game, before going on an 8-2 run to secure an 11-5 victory. The split left El Reno with a 14-16 overall record.

Gabe Compton connects with a pitch

Down to the wire

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The Indians went into the final match of District 5A-2 play tied with Bishop McGuinness for fourth place, both schools at 3-3.

El Reno, which has won three straight, needed a road win against Guymon and an Irish loss to Midwest City to make the postseason.

Luis Ramirez dribbles the ball around a defender

Chieftains snap skid ahead of districts; Tigers down Jets

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Three home runs propelled Calumet High School’s slow-pitch softball team to its first win of the season, a 10-0 shutout of Olustee-El Dorado in the Fletcher Spring Swing Invitational.

Calumet moved into the playoffs with a 1-17 record after posting a 1-3 mark in the Fletcher tourney.

The Chieftains dropped games to Class 2A’s 13th-ranked Canute (17-0), Class 6A’s 20th-ranked Elgin (14-4) and the 15th-ranked (2A) host team by a 10-3 score.

The Chieftains were slated to play in the District 2A-1 Championship at Binger-Oney.

Payton Barnes belts out a single

Calumet, Union City charge into playoffs on seven-game blitzes

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Calumet High School’s baseball team entered the Class A playoffs riding a seven-game win streak after closing out the regular season with an 11-1 non-tournament win over Binger-Oney.

The Chieftains, ranked 17th in the state with a 17-3 record, were hosts of the District 19 Championship.

Calumet’s win streak included the championship from the 2022 Johnny Bench Invitational after beating Class B’s seventh-ranked Leedy (8-2), Cheyenne/Reydon (7-2), Binger-Oney (14-2) and Tuttle’s junior varsity 5-3 in the title game.

Getting the jump
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