Lady Sandites defeat Skiatook 4-3 to end regular season 25-7
/By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief
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The Charles Page high school varsity softball team ended the regular season with a 4-3 extra-inning win over Skiatook Thursday evening at the Sandite Sporting Complex.
Senior Goose Salyers got the win on the mound for the Lady Sandites. Taylor Rogers started for the Lady Bulldogs but was replaced by Linzie Hopkins in the bottom of the third.
Skiatook took the lead early in the second inning. Mikayla Shulanberger and Maci Willingham each hit singles, then stole bases on a catching error by Kali Mallory. Sara Griffin brought home Shulanberger on a sacrifice bunt and Chloe Cooper scored Willingham on a bunt single.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Sand Springs scored a pair of runs of their own in the bottom of the third.
Salyers was walked and Jessica Collins hit a single, then the both of them stole bases on an error by Skiatook catcher Morgan Worley. Jessica Schuler was walked to load the bases then Mallory brought home Salyers on a sacrifice fly.
Rachel Blair was next up to the box and hit her second of three doubles for the night to score Collins. Stella Millican was walked next and the bases were loaded once again. That’s when Hopkins was brought in and the inning came to a close with a line drive from Cheatham to Willingham.
Worley, Shulanberger, and Willingham loaded the bases for Skiatook in the fifth inning, but short-stop Kimi Presnell put a stop to the Bulldogs, scooping up a groundball from Guardiola and tagging second base to bring the Sandites in to bat.
Oklahoma State University-commit Sydney Pennington hit a homerun over the left field fence to give the Sandites the 3-2 lead.
The sixth inning went scoreless and it looked like the Sandites would get the win as Worley and Tayler Andersen both got put out on flyballs in the top of the seventh. Then, Shulanberger was walked and stole second while Willingham was at bat. Willingham hit an RBI Triple into the fence and the home team failed to get on base. The game was forced into extra innings.
Salyers struck out Griffin, but Cooper was walked. Mikael Bunn tried to bunt but was put out at first on a pass from Salyers to Schuler. Next up was Taylor Anglen with a line drive into left field. Cooper got caught in a rundown between third base and home plate and was finally tagged out by Pennington.
Finally, in the bottom of the eight, the Sandites found their batting game. Rachel Blair hit a leadoff double into the fence, then Jacie Taber entered the game as a pinch-hitter to hit a double into centerfield. Cameron Clemons was caught out, but Madelyn Blair pinch-hit a double to score her sister and end the game.
Four Sandites had perfect on-base percentages and three had perfect batting averages. Rachel Blair had a game-high seven total bases. Defensively, Schuler led the Sandites with 10 of their 24 putouts and Willingham led the Bulldogs with 6 of their 19 putouts. Both teams allowed a total of 11 base hits.
Skiatook (11-22) still has two games left in the regular season against Bartlesville and Sapulpa. Sand Springs (25-7, 13-1) will be sitting out the Bixby Festival they had originally planned to participate in and will next take on Claremore (13-15) in the first round of Regionals at home on October 8th at noon. They will also host Union and Ponca City.
