Sports

Sweeping three ranked teams in Class 2A, Calumet High School’s baseball team earned its third tournament or festival title of the fall season amid an 11-game win streak.

The top-ranked team in Class B moved to 12-1 on the season after beating No.7 Latta (9-2), No.5 Byng (4-3) and No.6 Tushka (9-1) to win the Roff Invitational. 

Calumet then defeated Oktaha 7-4 on a neutral site at Seminole State College.

The Chieftains hold the No.1 spot in the polls for a second straight week and garnered 36 of the 43 first-place votes cast.

Redlands Community College women’s soccer team opened up the 2024 season on the road with a 13-2 loss to Kansas-based Garden City and a scoreless tie with Dallas College of North Lake.

The Cougars dropped a 3-2 decision closer to home against Mid-America University’s junior varsity squad.

In that loss, Ashinti Lewis scored both goals and has logged three on the season. Lewis leads the team in shots with eight and four on-goal attempts. Billie Orth had two shots and a goal against Garden City. Gaby Figueroa (2) and Payton Brickey (1) had scoring chances in the losses.

On paper, it’s the youngest rivalry for El Reno High School football.

On the field, though, there is no question that the series with Piedmont has become one of the program’s biggest and sometimes heated rivalries.

The two face off Friday at Memorial Stadium with kickoff set for 7 p.m. 

“There is no love lost between El Reno and Piedmont. It’s a good game and our kids look forward to playing this team every year,” said El Reno head coach Russell Cook.

So what makes it such a big rivalry? Is it the short distance between schools (24.4 miles?)

While it was not an error-free performance on either side of the ball, El Reno High School’s football team made the plays it needed to emerge from the U.S. 81 Battle with a 30-13 decision over Chickasha.

The win marked the second straight year for El Reno to kick off a new season with a victory and moved the Indians overall lead in the series with Chickasha to 40-36 in the 76 meetings since 1944.

Six unanswered runs over the final two innings and a solid pitching outing from freshman Presley Bilderback in her varsity debut catapulted El Reno High School’s fast-pitch softball team to an 11-6 road win over Del City.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak as El Reno improved to 5-4 on the season and 1-2 in the District 5A-2 standings - alone in fifth place.

Del City led 3-0 before El Reno rallied for a 5-3 lead. The Eagles jumped back in front by a 6-5 count before the Indians 6-0 final rally – highlighted by a five-run sixth inning.

As his team shook hands with players from sixth-ranked Asher following Union City High School’s 5-4 win in the third-place game of the Varnum Invitational, head coach Ludy Griggs had an epiphany.

“We won the game on a pop-up to the catcher. After the game was over and we were in line shaking hands, I look over and saw the ball sitting on the field and it was then I realized that was my 700th win,” said Griggs.

So what did the veteran coach do after that aha moment? 

El Reno High School’s volleyball team took a step closer to evening its season after logging a 3-0 road win over Capitol Hill for a fourth straight victory.

The 25-18/25-9/25-18 decision over the Redwolves moved El Reno to 7-8 on the season.

El Reno served at 87.8 percent for the three games, logging 12 aces to three for Capitol Hill. Ava Felton paced the team with four aces, followed by three from Makenna Curtis and two from Mary Gonzalez.

Daily Maples, Brantlie Charmasson and Emercyn Looper added one ace each.

Riding a two-game win streak and a third-place finish in the recent Ninnekah Invitational, Union City High School’s fast-pitch softball team has eclipsed the double-digit win mark for the season.

The Tigers have won eight of their last 10 games, including a 5-1 tournament run, to improve to 12-6 on the season.

The losses in the 10-game stretch were close games to Fletcher (3-0) and Rush Springs (8-4).

NORTHEAST

Birch: Elevation is 1 ft. below normal and stable, water temperature 80°F and stained.
Crappie good on jigs and minnows around brush structure. Striped bass hybrids fair on crankbaits and live shad around channels and points.

CALUMET – While the defense was spotty at times, Calumet High School’s baseball team made up for those shortcomings with its sticks, winning its own festival with a combined .429 team batting average.

The Chieftains, ranked atop the first Class B poll of the fall, moved to 7-1 on the season with festival wins over Granite (17-1), Class A’s No.18 Drummond (12-3) and Leedey (7-6), which is ranked 10th in the same B poll.