BIXBY — The Sand Springs Sandites had already felt it once. Monday night at home against Bixby stretched into an extra inning and slipped away, 5-4. A game that lingered. So when the Sandites rolled into B-town Tuesday and fell behind early, this felt like Monday all over again.
Bixby jumped on Sand Springs in the first — manufacturing a run on a ground ball to short that pushed a runner across, then breaking it open with a sharply struck double that split the field and drove in two more. Three runs. Early control. The Spartans settled in.
But the Sandites didn’t blink. They answered.
The third began with contact. Jaxon Wadley stepped in and shot a ground ball through the right side, a clean single that found its way past the infield and into shallow right. He stood at first, and there was pressure on Bixby.
Kayden Worthington followed with something tougher — a bunt down the first-base line.
Surprise, Spartans! It was perfect. Spartan fielders rushed the play, and by the time business was handled, both runners were safe. Wadley on second, Worthington aboard, Sandite fans soaking it up and making noise.
Then… chaos.
Alex Dudley dropped a sacrifice bunt of his own, down the first base line again. The throw did not go where it was intended — an error that allowed Dudley to reach and set every seat at the table, bases loaded, zero outs.
The Sandites hadn’t hit a deep ball in the inning yet. They didn’t need to.
Boston Kissee stepped in and took a thudding pitch off his body. The first run forced home. No swing. Just a bruise. 3–1. Worth it.
Moments later, the Spartans cracked further.
A pitch skipped away from the catcher, rolling to the backstop. Worthington broke from third and scored standing. Dudley advanced. Kissee moved up. The game tightened to 3–2 without a ball put in play. Runners at two and three. Now it was real.
And then Landon Joice lifted a fly ball into center field — deep. Dudley tagged and came home, in the dirt with the tying run — knotted at 3.
On the high ground, Joice took control. After that first inning dumpster fire, he settled in and became something else entirely — working the edges, changing speeds, finishing hitters. Eleven strikeouts by night’s end. Bixby kept coming to the plate to feed.
They kept walking back hungry.
The sixth Tie game. Late. Jayden Bussel made contact — driving a fly ball into the flats in left field for a single. Charles Page had a runner. It was courtesy runner Gage Gunn who took Bussell’s place at first.
Then Cael Knight stepped in. He didn’t try to do too much. Just met the ball and drove it—high, deep into center field. It carried over the outfielder’s head, one hop to the wall. Gunn was all flying elbows and infield dirt. Around third, home in stride.
The throw was in too late. Sand Springs had the lead. 4–3.
Closing Bixby had chances. A walk in the sixth. A runner in scoring position on an error, creeping closer. Joice didn’t flinch. Neither did his backup band — finishing the inning with a ground ball, throw to first. Out. Threat stranded on base.
In the seventh, it came down to routine plays. Clean throws. A ground ball to short — fielded across the diamond, one out.
Another grounder — same result. Two down. Bixby put two runners on, extending the inning just enough to raise the blood pressure one last time. But the final swing never found any altitude — ground to short, handled, fired to first. Ballgame.