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STORM CENTER: Guard your face in softball

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Never has the sports editor seen a more polarizing issue than softball players wearing face guards.
As with everything, there are pros and cons, and whether to wear a face guard is currently a hot-button issue.
Nocona High School softball player Jessica Vogel wears a mask at the insistence of her mother, Jennifer.
“It’s not for pitchers,” Vogel said. “Pitchers are just 43 feet from home plate, and batters are hitting the ball as hard as they can.”
One reason why Jessica Vogel wears a face guard is because of dental surgery, she is on her second set of braces.
“She started wearing it when she started pitching junior varsity,” Jennifer Vogel said.
Other Nocona players wear the face guard, including Jordan Dingler and Laci Stone, who will be an incoming freshman on the Lady Indian squad.
“She started (to wear it) during summer league this year,” said Chelsi Stone, Laci’s mother. “Last year, she started having seizures, and we still aren’t sure exactly what is causing them.
“But, anything to help at all to help protect her face and head is a plus for us,” Chelsi continued. “We are also about spend a lot of money on braces, and we don’t want anything happening to those.”
Stone will serve as a back-up pitcher for Vogel this season.
The sports editor isn’t the only member of the media talking about this issue, either.
A select travel ball player named Nanas Limon from Georgetown was recently hit square in the face during a recent game.
“It was the championship game,” Limon reported to Fox 7 based in Austin. “I think it was the third inning. The first batter, she actually hit a line drive right at me. I stopped it with my glove, and got her out.
“You know the next thing I was going to get my mask, that’s too close,” Limon continued. “And the next batter hit it right at me.”
Bowie High School head coach Brant Farris chimed in on the use of face guards.
“I think the days are numbered for pitchers having the choice to wear one or not,” the coach commented. “I think the University Interscholastic League will make it mandatory for pitchers.” Read more from this column in the July 1 Bowie News.

Editor’s Note: The Storm Center column is the expressed written views of sports editor Eric Viccaro and not The Bowie News.

One of the dilemmas facing the game of softball today is whether a pitcher should be mandated to wear a face guard or not. Nocona’s Jessica Vogel wears a guard during an Express Summer League game at Bowie on June 22. (News photo by Eric Viccaro)

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SPORTS

Softball Roundup

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The Nocona Lady Indians beat Saint Jo at home on Saturday morning.
The Lady Indians won 16-1 after four innings due to run-rule against the smaller school.
Nocona was coming off a competitive loss at Collinsville earlier in the week while the Lady Panthers were hoping to compete after a busy week of their athletes doing everything else besides just softball.
The Lady Indians easily won the first matchup between the teams in March, 19-2 and it was more of the same on Saturday.
Saint Jo struck first to start the game off well. Jordyn O’Neal hit a one out single. Krista Reeves followed with a walk after O’Neal had stolen second base and had advanced to third thanks to an error trying to throw her out. A wild pitch then allowed her to score to put the Lady Panthers up 1-0.
The lead did not last long. Nocona’s first two batters drew walks which set up Abby Hill to drive them both in with a single to right field.
Despite giving up a single and a walk later in the inning, Saint Jo’s defense did not allow another run. A line out and groundout to the shortstop while picking off a runner attempting to steal got the Lady Panthers out of the inning unscarred.
The Lady Indians led 2-1.
That was about as competitive as it got. In the second inning, Nocona’s bats got going. Two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases up with no outs.
Reagan Phipps drew a walk that drove in a run. Hill hit another two RBI single. Skye Kirby followed with a two RBI double.
After the first out, Allie Sutton drove in one run with a single. There was a fly out for out two, before a runner came in to score after a passed ball. Finally, an error allowed two more runs to score on the base paths.
Nocona had scored nine runs and led 11-1 to break the game open heading into the third inning.
Taylor Patrick hit a double, with O’Neal and Reeves following with singles. Unfortunately for Saint Jo, Patrick was thrown out before the hits attempting to steal a base so the Lady Panthers scored no runs from this.
The Lady Indians kept pouring on the runs. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases up with no outs. Tinley Cable then hit an RBI single. Shelby Swell was hit by a pitch that drove in another run.
After two strikeouts, Evelyn Marquez drove in two more runs on a double to put Nocona up 15-1, coming up one run short of ending the game early.
The Lady Indians scored that one run in the fourth inning. After Phipps drew a leadoff walk, Hill hit a triple that drove her in to end the game.
Nocona won 16-1.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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SPORTS

Bowie, Nocona compete at area track

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Both Bowie and Nocona track teams competed at the area meets on Thursday, with the Jackrabbits running at Breckenridge and the Indians at Graham.
As a team, the Bowie boys placed sixth overall, the Lady Rabbits finished 14th overall, the Indians got seventh overall and the Lady Indians earned sixth overall.
The Bowie boy’s team had four athletes finish fourth or better to qualify for the regional meet while the Nocona teams had 10 athletes move on.
The Jackrabbits had Case Curry and Tyler Richey gets second and fourth place in the pole vault to move on.
Tucker Jones finished third in the 110 meter hurdles to qualify along with Russell Anderson who also finished third in the 400 meters.
The Lady Rabbits did not have anyone move on, with Harlei Hudson getting sixth in the 100 meters and the 4×200 relay team finishing in eighth place.
From Nocona, both teams had athletes qualify in several events. Defending state champion Graci Brown won both the 400 and 800 meter races. She also anchored the 4×400 relay to second place and earned second in the long jump.
On the boy’s team, Caden Gaston finished first in the long jump, second in the 100 meters and third in the 200 meters. Kyle Waters finished fourth in the 400 meters and third in the 800 meters.
Individual qualifiers included Meg Meekins placing fourth in the 200 meters, Cooper Waldrip placing second in the 300 meter hurdles and the boys 4×400 relay team finishing in fourth place.
The regional meets are both scheduled for April 19-20 if weather permits. The Bowie team will compete at Elmer Gray Stadium at Abilene Christian University. The Nocona team will compete at Springtown High School.

Results for all Bowie and Nocona athletes are in the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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SPORTS

Lady Rabbits beat Vernon on senior night

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Catcher Chloe Kinney goes to tag a Vernon runner out as she tries to head back to third base.

The Bowie Lady Rabbits won their senior night on Friday against Vernon.
The Lady Rabbits won 10-4 against the Lady Lions.
Bowie was hoping it could play well after a couple of losses where one bad defensive inning had really set the team back. The Lady Rabbits knew it would be a good opportunity as they had beaten Vernon a few weeks back 14-3.
The first two innings saw Bowie’s bats fail to go off and challenge the Lady Lions much. In the second inning, Vernon hit a leadoff single and two fielding errors later allowed one run to score.
Down 1-0 heading into the third inning, the Lady Rabbits started to get hot with their bats following a flawless defensive inning.
After two singles, Serenity Klump drove in two runs with a double to help Bowie take the lead. After getting on third base, she eventually was able to score thanks to a passed ball.
Following a walk and a double hit by Sadie Britt, Kaylie Kinney followed with a double that drove in two more runs to make it 5-1 for the Lady Rabbits.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Vernon answered back in the fifth inning. After hitting a batter and walking another, a Lady Lion hitter drove the ball into the gap. An error trying to field the ball allowed not just both base runners to score, but the batter to get all the way around to score. Vernon cut the lead to one run 5-4.
Bowie got one of the runs back. Klump led off with a walk and Laci Goodwin then drove her in with a triple to make it 6-4.
After another flawless defensive inning, the Lady Rabbits added to their lead in the sixth inning to put the game away.
After three straight singles from Victoria Cox, Chloe Kinney and Rhyan Carle led off the inning, Klump cleared the bases with a double to drive in three runs.
Three batters later, she was able to score from third base after an error at catcher to make it 10-4.
The Lady Lions needed to come alive in the final inning, but besides a one out single, the Bowie defense was able to shut them down for the final two outs with no issue.
The Lady Rabbits won 10-4.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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