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Awards given at Bowie

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The 2017-18 school year was full of super big highs and really tough lows for Bowie High School athletes and every moment was honored at the annual sports banquet Monday night.
The Lady Rabbit and Jackrabbit of the Year awards, voted on by coaches, went to two athletes who just returned from the University Interscholastic League Class 3A track meet.
Lady Rabbit of the Year recipient Kamryn Cantwell has competed in four sports during her high school career and advanced to the state cross country meet twice, the state track meet twice and just last week finished fifth in long jump and second in the 400-meter at the state championship.
This year alone, Cantwell was selected all-state cross country, all-state basketball and all-state track. Her athletic career is far from over as she heads to Southeastern Oklahoma State this fall to play basketball.
Kason Spikes received the prestigious Jackrabbit of the Year award. Spikes competed in three sports this year and was a member of the state championship basketball team. He also was selected all-state basketball and was the regional champion in high jump and advanced to the state track meet.
Fan of the Year was awarded to two recipients, the Bowie Rural Volunteer Fire Department and the City of Bowie Volunteer Fire Department. The award is given to the fan who shows the most love, support and heart for the Jackrabbits and Lady Rabbits.
“This year’s fans have been fans for a long time. They’re at every parade send off, every welcome home and even the late night welcome homes. Our Rabbits and Lady Rabbit spirit would not be the same without them,” said Bowie Booster Club President Jill Jones.
Booster of the Year was awarded to Ray Jones for his dedication to the booster club and the long hours spent organizing a team to set up the 30-foot inflatable Jackrabbit used by the football team.
Coach Jody Steele was awarded the Assistant Coach of the Year for her time not only as a coach but for her time spent working and volunteering to help the high school athletes.
Longtime Bowie coach Gayno Shelton presented the Hutto Award, which honors the coach of the year, to Bowie Jackrabbit Head Basketball Coach Doug Boxell.
“I have seen excellence everywhere in this community, in these athletes and the supporter of those athletes,” said Shelton. “We are blessed in so many ways with tradition. We are blessed with leaders and I am blessed to have been here in this community and seen it time after time. This year is no exception.”
Shelton said if he had one word to describe the Bowie High School athletic program, it would be class.
“We had dedicated folks out there who gave it their all and didn’t end up with a state championship or with a trophy, but did their very very best and are great kids. Now we have state championships that will go on the memorial.
“If I were to have one word of this team and coaching staff I would say class. They have class. We all know they’re winners but they are winners in so many ways. These are great kids and great coaches. I have seen some great coaches in high school basketball but no better than Doug Boxell,” said Shelton.
The coach also awarded the state championship rings to each member of the basketball team, coaching staff, administration and managers during a ring ceremony conducted at the banquet.
The banquet also saw the creation of a new boy’s track award, named in honor of Trent Walker, a Bowie High School senior who tragically passed away two weeks ago.
Track Coach Justin Prescott had planned to award Walker with the perseverance award during the night’s ceremonies.
“Webster dictionary defines perseverance steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty. That is the best way I can think to describe Trent. He didn’t know how to quit,” said Prescott. “He was not the most gifted of athletes. He didn’t wake up in the morning and he was fast. He had to work hard for everything he got. He was going to get my perseverance award, but I thought what better way to do it than to name it after him so this will be the first annual Trent Walker perseverance award.”
Prescott presented the first annual award to Joey Crawford, an athlete he said never listened to anybody else.
“The only word he ever heard was supposed to. He wasn’t supposed to make it out of district. He wasn’t supposed to make it out of area. He wasn’t supposed to make it to regionals. He wasn’t supposed to make it to the regional finals. He wasn’t supposed to place at the regional track meet. This man goes out and works hard, maintains his grades and holds down a job. If that’s not perseverance I don’t know what is,” explained Prescott.
Walker was honored with a memorial at the ceremony and his younger brothers, Mackenzie and Landyn, were in attendance to accept their big brother’s cross country and track awards.
The Bowie Booster Club awarded more than $37,000 in coaches requests this year to help high school athletes, club president Jill Jones reported.

For pictures, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.

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Nocona softball wins final game of the season against Alvord

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The Nocona Lady Indians played their final game of the regular season with a drubbing of Alvord at home.
The Lady Indians won 11-1 after six innings due to run-rule to end their season on a positive note despite no playoffs.
The game was rescheduled from last week due to weather.
Nocona was coming off a tough loss against Muenster the previous game, but knew it had a chance against Alvord after beating the Lady Bulldogs 6-4 in the first game.
The game started slow, but the Lady Indians got the lead with one run in the first inning. Alvord answered with one run in the third inning before Nocona retook the lead and never let it go.
The Lady Indians scored three runs in the third inning, two in the fourth, three in the fifth and the final two in the sixth inning to end the game on Charity Claxton’s sacrifice bunt that scored the last run.
Nocona won 11-1.

Coach Nolan Lanham thought it was the most complete game the team had played all season.
While he is sad this year’s season is complete, he is excited about what the team accomplished this year and what it can build off of it in the coming years.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

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Baseball Roundup

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Nocona
The Nocona Indians won their first game against Chico on Tuesday night to keep their playoff hopes alive.
The Indians won 9-4 against the Dragons.
Nocona was coming into the game after a close, low-scoring series against Perrin-Whitt that saw the Indians win one game and lose another.
The Indians took an early lead with Brody Langford driving in a run on a single. Chico answered with two runs in the same inning to take back the lead 2-1.
The teams exchanged runs in the next four innings.
Nocona tied the score at 2-2 in the second inning when RJ Walker hit a sacrifice fly ball deep enough to score one run. The Dragons took the back the lead with an RBI double in the third inning to make it 3-2.
The Indians again tied the score in the fourth inning when Langford hit into a fielder’s choice out with the bases loaded. Once again, Chico retook the lead in the fifth inning, also scoring on a fielder’s choice groundout to go up 4-3.
After a scoreless sixth inning, Nocona was down to its final three outs of the game.
With two runners on base and two outs and looking at a full-count, Caden Belcher came through for the Indians with a base hit. It scored the tying run and the second runner was waived home and had a chance to score the game’s winning run. He was just tagged out for out three, but not before Nocona had tied the score at 4-4.
Chico loaded the bases up with one out in the seventh inning, but Wesley Murphey stepped up and struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam scot free and force the game into extra-innings.
Nocona was still reeling from the momentum of the last inning and it came through in the eighth inning.
With two runners on base and two outs, the Indians started a two-out rally with Wesley Murphey hitting a triple that brought both runners home to score.
Langford followed with a single that drove in one run. Following another single, Konnor Harrington hit a single that drove in another run. Following a walk that loaded the bases, a passed ball allowed Nocona to score another run.
The Indians more than doubled their seven inning total, scoring five runs and leading 9-4.
Wesley Murphey and the defense then closed the door, striking out the first batter before inducing groundouts to shortstop and second base for outs two and three to end the game.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers played their final regular season series in a double-header on Tuesday against Lindsay.
The bigger Knights won both games by run-rule, 12-2 after six innings and 15-2 after five innings.
Saint Jo had last played a week ago in a double-header against Muenster’s JV and varsity teams. The Panthers competed well with the JV team, but struggled more against the varsity team.
Lindsay had no JV team so Saint Jo had to play the 2A school twice and hoped it could compete.
The Knights got off to a fast start in game one, scoring seven runs in the first inning and never looking back.
The Panther defense played better from then on, never allowing Lindsay to score more than two runs in an inning and even holding the Knights scoreless in two innings.
Saint Jo was able to score in the fifth inning when the team loaded the bases and drew two walks to score two runs.
That was enough to keep the game from ending after five innings, but Lindsay scored two runs in the sixth inning to end the game early with the score 12-2.
The second game saw Lindsay score at least one run in every inning, highlighted by seven in the second inning.
Saint Jo scored two runs in the fourth inning. Charlie Evans hit an RBI double. Later he scored on the base paths after Lindsay failed to prevent a stolen base elsewhere.
The game ended after five innings with the Knights winning 15-2.

Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles lost its final regular season game against Alvord on Tuesday.
The Bulldogs won 22-0 after four innings due to run-rule.
Bellevue knew it was going to be tough competing against a bigger school, but was hoping to compete.
Unfortunately, the Bulldogs came through and scored 14 runs in the first inning to suck any momentum from the Eagles before they had even had a chance to bat.
Bellevue prevented Alvord from scoring in the second inning, but not the third or fourth innings.
The Eagle bats did not have much luck scoring any runs as the Bulldogs won 22-0 after four innings.
Bryce Ramsey and Blake Reese got the only two hits for Bellevue in the game. Alvord racked up 15 hits, drew nine walks and were hit by five pitches which led to all of the runs.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

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Saint Jo softball beats Perrin-Whitt in the playoffs

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The Saint Jo Lady Panthers won their one-game playoff game agaisnt Perrin-Whitt on Wednesday 16-1 to continue their season to the area round.

The Saint Jo Lady Panthers won their playoff one-game series against Perrin-Whitt on Wednesday afternoon.
The Lady Panthers stomped the Lady Pirates 16-1 after three innings by run-rule to advance in the playoffs.
Saint Jo was coming into the playoffs after a tough regular season. The Lady Panthers won their first game of the season, but struggled the rest of the way due to injuries, the busyness of spring and because most of their opponents were larger 2A schools.
Finally playing a school their own size while having more than a week from its last game to prepare to get everyone more healthy and focused paid dividends on Wednesday against Perrin-Whitt.
Saint Jo has struggled with its pitching and aspects of its defense, but its ability to score runs when locked in has been documented this year.
In four of its 10 games this season, the team has scored 13 or more runs in high scoring affairs.
Starting out hitting in the top of the first allowed the Lady Panthers to start out strong against the Lady Pirates team that had their own problem with pitching and defense.
Maxey Johnson drove in the team’s first run on a bunt that she somehow stretched into a double. Later she and Jordyn O’Neal would score on wild pitches to put Saint Jo up 3-0.
While the team was hit by two pitches and drew a walk during the inning, a surprising double-play from Perrin-Whitt ended the Lady Panthers scoring start to the game.
Pitcher Johnson has struggled through injuries this season, but started great on the mound. Her first pitch thrown was lined out right to the shortstop for an out. She then struck out the next two batters to keep Saint Jo’s momentum going heading into the second inning which would break the game open.
Nevaeh Spann led off with a single and Tatum Morman followed with a double.
After the next batter loaded the bases up with a drawn walk, the next two batters were hit by pitches while the following drew a walk to drive in three runs.
In between another batter getting hit by a pitch and another drawn walk scoring two more runs were a strikeout and fly out to the pitcher.
Morman was then up again for the second time in the inning and hit a double to left field to drive in two runs. Saint Jo earned one more run in the inning on a wild pitch before a strikeout ended the scoreathon. The Lady Panthers had scored eight runs in the inning and now led 11-0.
The Lady Pirates were able to get some offense going in retaliation. A leadoff walk would come back to bite Saint Jo.
Johnson struck out the next batter and fielded a pop up for out two. After a walk put another baserunner on, a fly ball to center field resulted in an error that allowed one run to score for Perrin-Whitt.
The Lady Panthers put out the fire before it could grow out of control. The next batter hit a groundball that was easily fielded by Johnson who tossed her out at first base.
Up 11-1 entering the third inning, Saint Jo hitters were getting inpatient just sitting idly by for good pitches to it after drawing so many walks and being hit by pitches. They started to take more chances and put the ball in play.
Two singles led off the inning for the Lady Panthers. O’Neal then grounded out to third base, but it drove in one run. Aubrey Morman followed with an RBI single.
Following a hit, Saint Jo would draw three walks in a row. However, the Lady Panthers scored three more runs thanks to wild pitches to grow their lead to the limit of the run-rule before a strikeout ended the offensive onslaught.
Heading into the bottom of the third inning and up 16-1, Saint Jo had to not let Perrin-Whitt score at all to end the game early.
The Lady Pirates got their leadoff hitter on base again, this time thanks to an error on a fly ball in the outfield that got the runner on second base.
The baserunner would then successfully steal third base and was in perfect position to score on any contact hit or wild pitch.
Johnson was not fazed and induced a weak pop up to the catcher for out one. Johnson then struck out the next batter four out two.
The final batter then grounded out to second base for out three to end the game.
Saint Jo won 16-1.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.

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