SPORTS
Saint Jo beats Perrin-Whitt in straight sets for area championship Thursday
After gaining the luxury of earning a bye in the bi-district, the Saint Jo Lady Panthers made sure they proved it was well deserved by dispatching Perrin-Whitt on Thursday night in Alvord.
Despite some slow starts, the Lady Panthers won in straight sets and by comfortably big margins.
The first set saw Saint Jo struggle at the beginning as they fell behind 4-1 as they struggled with their serve receive.
“They wanted it so bad, I think they frustrated themselves once they could not make the first pass,” Coach Charlie Pittman said.
Once the nerves settled down and the Lady Panthers started executing, there was not much hope for the Lady Pirates. Saint Jo quickly made up ground and grabbed a 9-6 lead.
From there it only went more right for the Lady Panthers as they won 16 of the next 20 points to win the first set 25-10.
That momentum carried over into the start of the second set. An early 4-1 lead proved substantial as Perrin-Whitt could not close the gap as they played mostly even with Saint Jo up until the middle of the set. The lead grew from 17-13 to 23-17 as the Lady Panthers won 25-18 to take a 2-0 lead.
Not wanting to give the Lady Pirates any hope for a comeback, Saint Jo again came out struggling at the beginning of the third set in the same way they did in the first set. After falling behind 4-1, the Lady Panthers quickly righted the ship and reeled off 10 straight points to take an 11-4 lead.
Things only got worse for Perrin-Whitt as they could tell the end was near. The lead went to double digits as Saint Jo took an 18-7 lead. The momentum from the Lady Panthers could not be stopped as they smelled blood in the water as they ended up winning 25-9.
They will play a familiar foe in the regional quarterfinals against another Montague County team Prairie Valley.
Information about the game is not set at the time of writing besides the date of the game being played Nov. 5-6. Look forward to our social media where we will post all of the information when we learn of it.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
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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