Senior duo glad to play on ‘Turf of Dreams’ this season

EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview was conducted Tuesday evening after the Senior Night game against Pocola before Thursday afternoon’s Class 4A Regional Tournament got underway in Glenpool. See complete regional-tournament coverage in Wednesday’s edition of Your TIMES.

Earlier this year, the Sallisaw High School baseball field was completely turfed, with games getting to be played on it after Spring Break.

It was only fitting that not only did the Black Diamonds get to play last spring on “The Turf of Dreams,” but so should the Lady Diamonds this fall — and they did, as a temporary fence was put in the outfield.

Sallisaw’s only softball seniors, pitcher Delaney Compton and catcher Sydney Weedon, both enjoyed the change of venue.

“I really liked it,” Compton said. “The environment was a lot better. We definitely got more fans over here. I liked the environment a lot more.”

“The atmosphere was a lot different,” Weedon said. “We kicked some ‘juju’ that the dirt field had on us. That felt like a little bit of a curse. The atmosphere was a big change.”

This season, the Lady Diamonds entered this week’s Class 4A Regional Tournament at Glenpool, which was slated to have started with a match-up with Verdigris, with six wins — which was more than the four wins combined over the last two seasons. Both seniors believed team unity has been a big factor in the team’s improvement in 2025.

“I think one of the biggest overall improvements has been we’ve grown closer as a team,” Compton said. “That has really affected us. We all love each other. It’s been easier to have fun on the field together.”

“I think we’ve gotten a lot of the pieces together,” Weedon said. “We’ve been missing quite a few pieces in past years that just didn’t complete a team. We’ve finally been able to put people in positions that really put us together as a team. Like Delaney said, we’re a lot closer this year. We’re playing for each other more than we ever have before.”

Because of the team’s improvement, Compton believes the team can get postseason wins, which would be the Lady Diamonds’ first since 2023.

“I think we have a great chance to get some (playoff) wins,” Compton said. “I think we’re all on the same brain wave. We just need to stay locked in against whoever we face.”

Weedon believes getting to the state tournament would be a great way to end this season.

“It would be a different feeling,” Weedon said. “My freshman year, we made it to the Super Regional, and we were one game away from state. I think it would be big for this team. Knowing how to win that big win would really help this team going win to next year. It would give them some confidence. It would really put all the pieces together and make this last year really fun.”

Both seniors said ending their Sallisaw softball careers as state champions would be special.

“I think it would really be big for the program,” Weedon said. “We haven’t had any state-tournament appearances. If that (winning state) were to happen, it would be really big. It would really be fun to end my softball career in a softball (state) championship game.”

“It would mean so much to me just growing with this team,” Compton said. “Getting those two wins my sophomore year and two wins my junior year, and to bring it all the way to state (this fall) would be awesome.”

Whenever the 2025 high school fast-pitch softball season ends, it also likely will be the end of the seniors’ competitive softball careers.

“I don’t think I will be continuing (softball career),” said Compton, who will be attending Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. “It’s sad. I’ll miss it. It’s going to be hard to let it go for sure.”

“It’s really not on the platter right now,” said Weedon, who will be attending Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. “I’m not saying it’s not completely out of the equation, but it’s not my plan. I think I really want to end (softball career) on a happy note. I feel that this year has been that for me. I feel like I have changed my point of view on softball this season. I really want to leave on a high note, and I feel like that’s what I’ve done this year.”