October 18, 2025 Issue, Page 3 of 12

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SPORTS The Elk City News SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2025 • 3 Canute - McKenzie Thompson Canute - Tatum Gillett Canute - Kinley Pruett hitting Canute - Jaylee Gray in Action Canute - Jaylee Gray in Practice Canute-Coach Gillett Getting Field Winning Out Ready CANUTE’S ROAD TO THE STATE TOURNAMENT By Alex Alvarez mal, that is, until practice started and players measure the true hard and coach Gillett had the girls bat, work and trains the girls to not take As you read in another article pitch, and field balls all over. He anything for granted. The result? A in this Elk City News issue, the Elk was batting the balls randomly to ticket to the State Tournament! City Elkettes qualified for the State different places, some high, some No wonder why they finished Tournament in fast pitch softball, grounders and some mid height their regular season seeded #3 and and since the tournament is be- with force. Those girls were getting with a record of 27-9 before the Canute - One of us will get it Canute - Destiny Jackson ing played on October 16-18, we a workout for sure. State Tournament, where they won do not have those results, but we I thought the practice was pret- the first game 4-0 against Turner, loaded bases. At the time, Canute Canute, but you can sense that they In closing, as the Elk City girls would like to concentrate on what ty intense, which is what I had ex- and lost the tight semifinal game was up 4-0 and Turner had the ty- never gave up the quest. Congratu- play this week in their 4-A State it really takes to qualify for a State pected since they would play the 1-0 against Arapaho/Butler, the ing run at the plate with only one lations to coach Gillett, his staff and Tournament, you can bet that Tournament, which the boys and first game of the State Tournament eventual champions. out. Pressure situations are where of course, all his players. coach Kaleb Murray has similar girls from our sister city Canute the next day. But, in speaking with In the game against Turner, the will of winning and the previ- Meanwhile, the Trojan boys did standards for his girls as coach Gil- also did. the girls, this actually was a “light” during the 6th inning, Turner load- ous training kicks in. Good play- a little better than the girls by get- lett for his, and more when he is I had the opportunity to go to practice, since most practice days ed the bases with only one out on ers do better under pressure. You ting in the State Tournament and assisted by coach Jay McClure who the last practice of the Lady Troja- are much more intensive. This the board. The pitcher, Tatum Gil- could hear the excitement of coach reaching the final game, where they has also qualified his baseball team nettes before the State Tournament practice was only like a “remind- lett was having a little slump where Gillett after the inning, “They had lost to Okarche in the final 8-2. The for the State Tournament. It takes in Oklahoma City last week. When er” of fundamentals, strategy and she couldn’t find the strike zone, us against the ropes and they didn’t boys had beaten Wister 4-3 in the a lot of work, a lot of love for the I arrived, I saw coach JW Gillett memorizing coach’s signals for after coach Gillett took a short time score! Let’s go finish this!” And fin- first State game and Navajo 10-0 in game and a lot of love for the kids leveling the field with a small trac- different situations. The hard work to go speak to her and the rest of ish it they did. the second game. They finished the they lead. Thank you and congrat- tor dragging the sandy field and had been done over two and a half the players, Tatum settled down Sadly, the next day, they lost to season 30-8 and ranked 2nd, just as ulations to all. then placing the bases. I saw a large months of softball season, and a to- and retired the next two batters, eventual champion Arapaho/But- they finished the season. Congratu- Other pictures not published bucket full of softballs, and the girls tal of thirty six games in a winning one with a strikeout and one with ler in a very close game. Someone lations to coach Bobby Blackburn, here are in http://www.facebook. warming up for practice in various season of 27-9, sometimes against a pop-up, and Turner failed to take has to win, and this time it wasn’t his staff and all his boys! com/alexalvarezphotos places on the field. It all looked nor- bigger schools, which helps coach advantage of the opportunity of Elk City - Brenyn Ball Elk City - Blakely Ball Elk City - Aubrie Pogue Elk City - Game Face Lou Wyatt & Aubrie Pogue Elk CIty - Bo David Cheering in Softball Elk City - Respect to the national Anthem Elk City - Coach Kaleb Murray Deserved Celebration Elk City - Morgan Miller with winning run College & High School & Local By Alex Alvarez they were leading 6-3, however, tie the game at 13 point, Okla- State Tournament being played Miller in 3rd won the game. You Won Regional and Super Re- the second half belonged to Arch homa was pushed back through as you read this column. They are girls need those conversations as gional and headed for the State OKLAHOMA COLLEGES Manning and Texas. A half full of penalties, sacks, etc., and was ranked #4 in the State with a record often as possible! Tournament October 16-18 in FOOTBALL errors, including three intercep- forced to punt, only this time, of 31-3. State Tournament began Elkettes will play Oologah in the Oklahoma City. Results will be Oklahoma State Cowboys suf- tions, missed opportunities and a the punt was returned 75 yards Thursday. The girls qualified by first game. posted in the next issue. fered one more loss and have one of confused defense, yielded twenty for a touchdown by Ryan Nib- winning the Regional Tournament Marritt Softball, Coach Sarah the worst seasons starts ever at 1-5 unanswered points for Texas and lett and a 20-6 lead that turned by beating Harrah 6-4 and Sulphur FINAL STANDINGS OF AREA Partain Record 25-13. in the Big-12 Conference, where a final score of 23-6. John Ma- out to be insurmountable, when 14-0, then beating Poteau 2-1 and SCHOOLS IN SOFTBALL & Did not qualify for State Tourna- they stand in last place. BYU Cou- teer, coming back from an injury, Texas scored a late field goal to 5-4 in the Super Regional Tourna- BASEBALL ment. gars are leading the conference with did not seem to have any rhythm make the final score 23-6. Texas ment. Canute Baseball, Coach Bobby a 6-0 record. In their last game they or consistency, even though he is now 3-2 for the season and In the first game of Super Re- Blackburn. Record 20-8. Ranked CURRENT STANDINGS OF lost to Houston 39-17. Rebuilding had more passing yards than Oklahoma is 5-1. Both teams are gional, the teams were tied 1-1 #2 AREA SCHOOLS IN FOOT- will slowly take place. Next for the Manning (202-166). However, 1-1 in the conference. Ole Miss going to the 7th inning. Right Was 2-1 at the State Tournament BALL Cowboys is Cincinnati. Texas rushed much better than and Texas A&M are on top of the before the teams took their po- to finish their season., Merritt Football, Coach Dustin Meanwhile, the Oklahoma Oklahoma and had 138 rushing conference at 6-0 and 3-3 in the sitions, Aubrie Pogue and Lou Canute Softball, Coach J.W. Gil- Beasley. Record 2-4 Sooners suffered their first loss yards while the Sooners only 56, conference games. Next for the Wyatt were last to leave the dug- lett. Record 28-10. Ranked #3 (Af- Last Game: Loss versus Sayre against their biggest rival, Texas! all of which seemed to be at the Sooners will be South Carolina. out, where they were discussing ter State Tournament) 6-28. Sooners traveled to Texas to play right time to keep their offense strategy, that is when the photo of Was 1-1 at the State Tournament Elk City Football, Coach Zach in the Red River Classic and after going. Late in the 4th quarter, ELK CITY SOFTBALL “Game Face” was taken. It turned Elk City Softball, Coach Kaleb Maynard. Record 2-4 missing a scoring opportunity in when Oklahoma was fighting The Elk City girls had a great out that Aubrie retired three in a Murray. Record 31-3. Ranked #4 Last game: loss versus Clinton the last second of the first half, to get a touchdown that would regular season and qualified to the row, and Lou’s hit with Morgan (Before State Tournament) 12-17. Professional Individual Sports By Alex Alvarez Xander had rounds of 71, 63, 67, Korn Ferry Tour Championship Out of these 20, there are nine ending on October 20. Just as the this difficult golf course, Steve 64 at the par-71 Yokohama Coun- with 14 under par, but, the main countries represented and 12 play- FedEx Cup on the main Tour, the Flesch, Tim O’Neal and Robert PGA TOUR’S STOP LAST try Club. Other high finishers were: story of last weekend, are those ers who will be rookies (8 will be Seniors have their end of the season Karlsson. WEEK WAS IN JAPAN Michael Thorbjornsen at -16, Taku- twenty players who qualified for players who had played the PGA cup sponsored by Charles Schwab. The first playoff tournament will Last week’s PGA Tour stop was mi Kanaya at -14, four tied at -14: the PGA Tour in 2026, and they are Tour but lost their status finishing Last week, the SAS Champion- be the Dominion Energy Charity in Japan, and Xander Schauffele, Rico Hoey, Alex Smalley, Byeong as follows: Johnny Keefer, Chan- outside the 125 top earners – Note: ship was won by Alex Cejka, who at the Country Club of Virginia whose maternal grandparents live Hun An and Garrick Higgo. dler Blanchet, Austin Smotherman, this year, anyone outside the top won his fourth individual title as a (Richmond, VA) on October 17- in Tokyo, made the best out of it Next tour stop will be Bank of Neal Shipley, Emilio Gonzalez, 100 lose their status). senior for a total of 21 profession- 19, followed by the Simmons Bank by winning the Baycurrent Classic Utah Championship on Octo- Hank Lebioda, Adrien Dumont de Two PGA University alums al victories. Cejka won the SAS by Championship at Pleasant Valley at 19 under par by a shot over Max ber 23-26, in between, a non-tour Chassart, S.H. Kim, Christo Lam- earned their first PGA Tour card. three strokes over hall of famer, C.C. in Little Rock, AR, and the Greyserman. The last tournament event, the Tiger Woods Invitational precht, Davis Chatfield, Zach Bau- Ernie Els, who won three majors in final, the Charles Schawb Cham- that Xander played was the Ryder at the Bahamas with only 20 players chou, Pierceson Coody, S.T. Lee, PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS his PGA Tour career. Cejka ended pionship at Phoenix C.C. in Phoe- Cup, where despite not having his this weekend. Jeffrey Kang, Kensei Hirata, Trace The PGA Tour Champions up at 9 under par, Ernie Els ended nix, AZ. The winner of the Cup in best, won 3 out of four matches Crowe, John VanDerLaan, Dou finished their regular season and at 6 under par. They were followed points will receive an additional played, including his singles match KORN FERRY TOUR Zecheng, Sudarshan Yellamaraju the top 72 players will begin the by Steven Alker at four under par, $1,000,000 on top of his tourna- against Jon Rahm. Chandler Blanchett won the and Pontus Nyholm. Schwab Cup’s playoffs this weekend and three tie3d at 3 under par on ment winnings.