SAND SPRINGS — There are hot starts, and then there is whatever Sand Springs is doing to people.
The Lady Sandites are 13-3, which by itself is a pretty good way to get somebody’s attention. But the record doesn’t really even tell the whole story.
This isn’t a team fattening up on cupcake matchups and hoping nobody checks the schedule.
Sand Springs has been twirling bats all over northeastern Oklahoma and leaving dents in every parking lot.
They opened with nine straight wins, beating Oologah-Talala, Union, Grove, Union again, Westmoore, Newcastle, Sequoyah-Tahlequah, Sapulpa and Crossings Christian before Poteau finally slowed them down. Since then, they’ve kept collecting quality wins, including an 8-0 shutout of Bartlesville, a 17-4 demolition of Bixby and a 10-3 road win over Sapulpa just last week.
Coach Shelli Brown has a team right now that can beat just about anybody, in several different ways.
They can pitch. They can hit. They can run. They can defend.
And when the mood strikes, they can turn an inning into a carnival ride and tell everybody else to hang on.
Bixby found that out the hard way.
Fire up the Tilt-A-Whirl Sand Springs was already leading Bixby 9-4 in the sixth inning when the Lady Sandites decided they’d had enough.
So they scored eight. Not with one lucky swing. Not with somebody booting three straight ground balls. Not with someone in the circle plunking batters or throwing balls.
They did it honestly. They just kept hitting.
Top of the sixth: Bella Wilson singled. Lakelyn Harger singled. Carlee Brewer doubled home Wilson. Lexi Penner brought home Harger. Ava Pritchard singled home Brewer.
Kylie King reached. 12-4. Kam Lumsden drove in Penner with a sacrifice fly.
And then Bailey Copeland did something that makes you wish fast pitch had old-time organ in the press box.
She hit an inside-the-park home run.
Three runs. Around and around they went. 15-4 At that point, Bixby probably would have preferred the lazy river. At least you can climb out of that thing when you are done.
Sawyer Briscoe followed with a triple, Wilson brought her home, and by the time the inning finally ended Sand Springs had hung eight runs on the board and taken a 17-4 lead.
Copeland finished with three hits and five RBIs, including a double and that inside-the-park boomer. Harger also had three hits, while Penner, Brewer and King each had multiple hits as Sand Springs finished with 16 hits overall.
King handled the rest from the circle, allowing four hits and four runs — only one earned — over six innings while striking out four.
That’s not sneaking around anybody.
That’s putting the furniture out on the lawn.
Then came Sapulpa
Two nights later, Sand Springs didn’t need an eight-run explosion.
They just kept their cleats on the Lady Chieftains throats until they submitted.
The Lady Sandites scored three in the first, one in the second, two in the third and three more in the fifth.
No flash flood. Just drip, drip, drip until suddenly the basement is under water.
Briscoe singled home the first run, then Wilson launched a tworun homer to left.
King went deep an inning later. Harger doubled home two in the third.
Brewer added a solo homer in the fifth, and Lumsden singled home two more.
By then, Sand Springs had built a 9-1 lead and had made it pretty clear this was not going to pleasant for Sapulpa.
The final was 10-3. This lineup is deep.. Copeland scored a run. Briscoe went 1-for-3 with two runs, an RBI and a walk. Wilson went 1-for-3, scored three times and drove in two. Harger had a hit and two RBIs.
Brewer had a hit, scored once and drove in one. Penner had a hit and an RBI.
King went 2-for-4, scored twice and drove in one. Lumsden went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Even when Sand Springs wasn’t hammering the ball all over the place, there was somebody else waiting behind the hitter to hurt you.
That is an irritating way to spend seven innings if you are the other team.
The pitching was just as rude. Penner worked 4 and one third innings, allowing four hits and three runs, only two earned, while striking out nine. Then King entered and shut the door, turned off the porch light and told Sapulpa to go home.
She threw 2 and two thirds scoreless innings, allowed zero hits and striking out five.
Fourteen strikeouts between them. Four hits allowed. No errors on the field behind them.
A complete evening — like sweet tea on the porch with no mosquitos and fireflies out in the yard.
Wilson had 15 defensive chances and handled all of them. Briscoe stole two bases. Lumsden and King each had two hits. Harger and Wilson each drove in two. There was no single hero because Sand Springs spent the whole night passing the superpowers around.
This has not been an accident
The lady Sandites are not playing a soft schedule. They are voluntarily walking through the rough neighborhood of 6A-II fast pitch.
And every week the heroes keep changing.
Copeland has had monster games. Wilson has supplied power and stability behind the plate. Briscoe has been getting on base and creating problems with her legs. King has contributed with the bat and in the circle. Penner has been missing bats. Brewer, Harger and Lumsden keep driving in runs. Pritchard keeps finding ways aboard.
This is a lineup full of players who believe the next good at-bat belongs to them.
And that is a dangerous thing for their opponents.
Brown’s Lady Sandites are not playing like a team hoping to be good by October.
They’re playing like everyone in October should probably start worrying about them now.
Thirteen wins in 16 games over quality opponents. Power up and down the lineup.
Two pitchers who can pile up strikeouts.
A defense that plays error-free rivalry games.
Enough offensive depth to turn a 9-4 game into a 17-4 carnival ride before anybody had time to find the exit.
The season has a long way to go. But through the first few weeks, Sand Springs has already made one thing very clear: These girls did not show up to be part of your schedule.
They showed up to wreck it.