BARTLESVILLE ROUNDUP: Bruins blank Holland Hall; Lady Bruins broom Owasso; jr high tennis
Bartlesville High School catcher Jaxon Zaun walks back to the plate during an earlier season game. The Bruins are 4-4 on the season,
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
By Mike Tupa
March 14, 2025
BARTLESVILLE AREA SPORTS REPORT
Following is a roundup of recent Bartlesville High School sports action.
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BASEBALL
In what has been a sputtering start so far for the Bruins (4-4), Thursday’s 4-0 thumping of Holland Hall might be the surge that unclogs the engine and leads to smoother traveling ahead.
Boosted by the pitching arm of Hunter Shea and the thunder stick of Damien Niko the Bruins ended a two-game losing skein and scored their first runs of the week.
They quietly amassed 11 hits against Holland Hall but did most of their damage with small ball, scoring most of their runs on squeeze plays.
“We also made a lot of loud outs,” said Bruin head coach Cody Price, referring to hard-hit balls that tracked to the greedy gloves of Holland Hall defensive players.
On the other hand, Holland Hall’s bats were smothered by the complete game mastery of Shea, who improved to 3-0 on the mound. Shea snapped off a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts and three walks. Bryce Luelf handled catching chores.
“Hunter did a really good job with his slider,” Price said. “He and Kaden (Romesburg) have been carrying us on the mound,” Price said.
While Shea and Luelf silenced Holland Hall’s bats, Niko invigorated Bartlesville’s offense with a double and triple. Following his triple he scored on a two-out hit by Sam Marcella.
Romesburg, Kanin Romesburg and Barrett Merciez all delivered key bunts to fuel the offense, Price said.
Earlier in the week, Merciez made his season pitching debut, turning in a gritty effort against Broken Arrow. A feisty pitching duo led to a 0-0 deadlock in the fifth inning. But Broken Arrow took advantage of Bruin errors and won, 6-0.
In all four of its defeats Bartlesville has been shut out.
Next up, the Bruins will look to pile on several innings of experience as they participate in the Gulf Coast Classic in Alabama, destination of their spring break playing vacation.
They open play Monday morning against Greenbriar (Ark.), at 11:30 a.m.
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Bartlesville High School’s Jazz Campbell smacks a hit during an earlier season game. The Lady Bruins slow pitch softball team improved to 4-2 on the season.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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SLOWPITCH SOFTBALL
Bartlesville Lady Bruins uploaded their ‘A’ game and unloaded on Owasso during a powerhouse sweep Thursday at Owasso.
Coach Kyle Minton saw the Lady Bruins improve to 4-2.
BARTLESVILLE 10, OWASSO 9 — The Lady Bruins cut short an Owasso seventh-inning rally to seize the win.
Lexi Durao, Erin Bridendolph and Savannah Alden each blasted homers for the Lady Bruins. Bridendolph also doubled and drove in three runs.
Durao recorded two RBI and Alden plated one tally.
Lola Redington and Jazz Campbell also each drove in a run.
Alden pitched the distance to earn the win.
A. Kesterson, T. Edwards and E. Tutskey lashed a double apiece for Owasso. Tutskey also suffered the pitching loss.
Both teams crushed 14 hits; Bartlesville held on despite four errors.
Bartlesville bolted to a 9-2 lead in the fourth inning. Owasso fed off a comeback spark the final three innings but fell just short.
BARTLESVILLE 20, OWASSO 2 — Falling just short had no bearing on this contest.
An 8-run explosion in the first inning settled the issue quickly.
The amazing thing?
No Bartlesville batter ripped an extra-base hit.
The Lady Bruins pounded 15 singles — led by Alden with three and Maddie Czaja, Bridendolph, Chloe Robbins and Kenzie Denny with two apiece.
Madie Nachbor and Robbins drove in four and three runs, respectively, followed by Denny and Redington with two apiece. Karmandy Marsheck plated a run with a sacrifice fly.
Marsheck also pitched the distance (three innings), allowing just two hits — including a solo homer by C. Erpelding — and two walks. Nachbor handled Bartlesville’s catching duties.
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A Bartlesville High School soccer player controls the ball during earlier season action. The Bruins fell to Ponca City, 3-2.
BECKY BURCH/Bartlesville Area Sports
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BOYS SOCCER
It was a week of growing pains for the Bruins — but it ended on a surge of promise in a 3-2 loss at Ponca City.
In its first two matches the Bruins had lost by a combined score total of 9-0.
They came out Tuesday fueled by determination.
But “Things just didn’t go our way to start the match,” said Bruin assistant coach Hosteen Walsh. “We gave up a goal early (and after that a penalty kick to put Ponca City up, 2-0) and had to fight our way back into it.”
Braxton Decker tallied one of the Bruin goals, unleashed a direct kick from 25 yards out that bent around the defensive wall and went into the net like a homing pigeon.
Carson Cole also scored, off an assist from Austin Bastings.
“We did well during parts of the game,” said Walsh. “We’re still looking to put together some final pieces.”
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The Bartlesville Junior High boys tennis team qualified for state at the recent Union Qualifier.
PHOTO PROVIDED
The Bartlesville Junior High girls tennis team participated at the Union Qualifier.
PHOTO PROVIDED
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JUNIOR HIGH TENNIS
The boys team has already qualified for state after finishing fourth as a team at the recent Union Qualifier.
The Bruin results included: No. 1 singles Jack Ihrig (5th), No. 2 singles Silas Otten (10th), No. 1 doubles Rylan Green and Karsten Proctor (4th) and No. 2 doubles Tieg Christensen and Peter King (2nd).
The Bartlesville girls’ results at Union included: No. 1 singles Sophia Kelly (5th), No. 2 singles Mathi Jayaprasad (9th), No. 1 doubles Josie Childers and Lydia Daniels (7th) and Berkley Frye and Adilynn Kuntz (4th).
Jayaprasad won the consolation championship.