SPORTS
Tennis athletes compete at state
Montague County athletes competed at the state tennis tournament on Thursday at the Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio.
The five athletes from Gold-Burg, Prairie Valley and Saint Jo lost their first round matchups, but still broke a several year streak for Montague County just qualifying in the first place.
The girl’s doubles team of Kelly Contreras and Shadie Whitaker from Gold-Burg hoped to pull some more magic.
Coming into the regional tournament as a two seed and matched up against other district champions throughout, they proved doubters wrong by not just qualifying for state, but becoming regional champions.
Unfortunately, that magic was not in the cards at the state meet. The duo lost the first set 6-1, but were more competitive in the second set. It was not enough as they lost 6-3 and were eliminated from the tournament.
For Saint Jo, Jacqueline Hanna was the only singles player from the county to qualify.
Singles players who make it to the state level often have several years of experience outside of school to draw upon which makes it tough for any aspiring player.
Hanna was competitive in her opening match in both sets, but lost both by the score of 6-3.
From Prairie Valley the mixed doubles team of Isaac Yeargin and Veronica Gutierrez qualified as well.
Many schools employ the strategy of pairing their best boy and girls players together in the hopes they can qualify for state if they mesh well.
It worked for this pair, but it came to an end in their first round matchup. They lost both sets 6-0 to get knocked from the series.
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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