SPORTS
Crabb departs from Bowie
The Bowie girl’s basketball team will have a new person stalking the sideline next year and leading practices.
Coach Joe Crabb, who has served as the program’s head coach the past two years, took the job at Stamford to be the girl’s basketball coach and be the girl’s coordinator.
The decision to leave was a tough one for Crabb.
“They contacted me, I wasn’t looking and it was a great opportunity,” Crabb said. “They have a great program and I’ll be the girl’s coordinator as well as basketball coach. The softball team just won the state title the other night. We have friends in that area from when we were in Garden City.”
Crabb came to Bowie after 20-plus years of experience working at 1A programs like Strawn and Garden City. He had some adjustments to make working in a bigger school district, but ultimately enjoyed the experience.
“It was a challenge, but after the initial period of getting used to more kids in the school and in the program, I got used to it thanks to the help I had from Coach (Jaimie) Hickey and all she did for me,” Crabb said.
On the basketball court his teams featured mostly upperclassmen who bought into his aggressive, trapping style defenses that forced turnovers in bunches.
While the district title eluded the program with rival Nocona having its golden age, that did not deter the program from making some serious noise in the playoffs.
The 2019-2020 team went into the playoffs as a third seed and upset a talented young Peaster team, completed a last minute comeback against Cisco and gave second ranked Jim Ned a run for their money in the regional quarterfinals.
This year’s team had a similar run after finishing third in the district, upsetting Brock in the bi-district in dramatic fashion, handling Merkel before falling to state power Jim Ned once again in the regional quarterfinals.
Despite the program losing four starters and returning only four varsity players Crabb was excited about the future of the program which is what made the decision to leave so hard.
“I have mixed emotions about leaving,” Crabb said. “I know we have some people graduating, but I liked the kids we had coming back. Loved the young kids I got to work with and the junior high kids this year. I am excited about the future here too, but it was just a great opportunity there.”
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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