SPORTS
Prairie Valley plays Forestburg, Saint Jo
The Prairie Valley volleyball team played fellow Montague County teams Forestburg and Saint Jo on Friday and Saturday at home.
The Lady Bulldogs were able to beat the Lady Horns for the second time this season while the Lady Panthers avenged last year’s playoff loss.
Prairie Valley and Forestburg’s game on Friday night was a rematch of both team’s season opening game. The Lady Horns won the first set in that match, but the Lady Bulldogs would win the next three sets.
With several games under both team’s belts since then, both coaches were hoping for better, more clean performances from their teams.
Prairie Valley was in control the first two sets, winning 25-9 and 25-14. The third set Forestburg got off to a great start, earning several easy points thanks to a strong stream of serving. Up 8-2, the Lady Horns were showing they were not done.
The Lady Bulldogs came storming back with solid play as the ever relentless attacks found holes in Forestburg’s defense. The Lady Horns were sending more players to the net than they have been known to do this game and are still working out the kinks.
Once Prairie Valley was rolling, it did not stop until the end as the Lady Bulldogs won 25-15 to win the match.
Emily Carpenter led the Lady Bulldogs with nine kills, 11 assists, 10 aces while libero Hailey Winkler dove for 22 digs.
Coach Jeannie Carpenter liked how her team was able to learn from the first game and did a better job handling Forestburg’s heavy serves.
The Lady Horns were led by Katie Willett who had a team high two aces, two kills and three assists. Faith Moore led the team with 10 digs. Kendall Cross and Athena Britain also had a team high two aces while Keeleigh Burnam tied with a team high two kills.
Coach Cori Hayes knows the new defensive scheme threw his team off a bit as everyone is still figuring out what they are doing, but he liked some of the early good things he saw despite the score not being as good in the first game.
The Lady Bulldogs next hosted Saint Jo on Saturday morning. With both teams trading playoff wins the previous two seasons, this game still carried some weight for an early season game despite both teams being made up of mostly different players.
The home team won a close first set 25-22, but the Lady Panthers bounced back strong to win the next three sets 25-18, 25-22 and 25-15.
Saint Jo was led by Hannah Reyling with 13 kills, Kaitline Harris with 23 assists and Kassidy Pitman with 15 digs. Kayden Skidmore added 10 kills, 10 assists and a team high three aces.
Coach Charlie Hamilton downplayed the rivalry as she is more worried about trying to get her mostly inexperienced team to mesh well together.
Picking up a four set win against the previously undefeated Lady Bulldogs, Hamilton saw some good things.
For Prairie Valley, the loss is the team’s first of the season. Carpenter led the team with 20 kills, Veronica Gutierrez led the team with 23 assists and Winkler had 33 digs.
Coach Carpenter thought her team made too many mental errors despite hitting the ball well.
The Lady Bulldogs next play at Alvord at 5 p.m. on Sept. 1. Forestburg next plays at Savoy at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 28. Saint Jo next hosts Vernon Northside at 5 p.m. on Aug. 28.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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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