SPORTS
Panther baseball earns first playoff win in 35 years
History was made Saturday night as the Saint Jo baseball team won the program’s first playoff game in more than 30 years against Northside.
Moved from Windthorst to Bowie High School due to weather, the Panthers were able take control early and win 6-2 against the Indians.
Saint Jo had beaten Northside 14-2 and 12-1 earlier in the season and came in confident they would be able to easily get the win. The Panthers learned they were going to have to work for it this time around.
The Indians were able to draw a one out walk. The runner was able to advance to second due to a bad pick off throw that put Northside in position to score first. Fortunately, pitcher Harper Roberts was able to get the next two outs seamlessly to get out of the inning.
Roberts led off for Saint Jo and was able blast a line drive single. The quick Roberts was able to steal second and third. A wild pitch then allowed him to advance home as he beat the throw to score the game’s first run and put the Panthers up 1-0.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Saint Jo batters were having some trouble. The Indians pitcher threw a slow ball with an unorthodox delivery that gave many Saint Jo batters trouble squaring up to it as hit balls landed safely in fielder’s gloves as the game moved to the second inning.
Roberts had some trouble on the mound again as he walked two batters with one out to put a runner in scoring position. He was able to bounce back by striking out the next two batters to get out of the pickle.
Wyatt Geurin led off the inning with a single. He was able to advance to second due to a bad pickoff throw.
Cody Thurman was able drive him in with a single line drive to put the Panthers up 2-0 heading into the third inning.
A leadoff walk came back to bite Saint Jo. The runner was able to advance to second due to a ground out.
With two outs, the Indians got their first hit of the game on a bloop single right in between the infield and outfield. It was enough to score the runner and cut the lead to 2-1 for Northside.
The Panthers answered back with Connor Thompson who was able to get on base with a hit.
After advancing to second, he was able to steal third base. The throw was bad and this allowed Thompson to advance home as he beat the throw, bumping Saint Jo’s lead to 3-1.
It was the Panther’s second run due to advantageous base running as the game went into the fourth inning.
A leadoff walk from the Indians got worked into scoring position at second on a ground out.
The next batter hit a fly ball to the center fielder, who caught it and threw the ball to second before the runner could get back for the inning ending double play.
The Saint Jo Panthers could not get anything going offensively as the game moved into the fifth inning.
Northside was able to draw another leadoff walk to start the inning. A ground out moved him to second and into scoring position, but Roberts was able to get the next two batters out to leave the runner stranded on second.
Jose “Pepe” Gams led off the inning with a drawn walk. Next batter Preston Lyons was then hit by a pitch to put two base runners on.
Thompson came up to bat and drilled a ball into the gap of the outfield. There was some trouble handling the ball and this allowed Thompson to get all the way around the bases for an inside the park home run to put the Panthers up 6-1 heading into the fifth inning.
The Indians started to get a hold of some of Roberts pitches as they led of the inning with back-to-back singles. With no outs, Roberts looked like he might be in trouble.
Roberts was able to pick off the runner on second who was not paying attention to get the first out. He was then able to strike out the next batter and force a ground out to third base for the third out.
Thurman was able to get on base due to fielding error and Logan Morman followed with a single. Unfortunately, Saint Jo was not able to get extend their lead any as both runners stayed where they were and the lead stayed 6-1 heading into the final inning.
Roberts looked like he was going to be able to finish the game on the mound, despite his pitch count reaching its limit. He was able to get the first two outs easily enough and was one strike away from ending things. Another bloop single right over the second basemen’s head and right in front of the right fielder allowed a runner to get on base. A passed ball allowed the runner to advance to second and put himself in scoring position. The next batter hit a ground ball, but the infielder could not make the play at first for the final out, allowing the base runner on second to score and cut the lead to 6-2.
It was the final batter Roberts could face due to his pitch count and Thompson came in to close the game. It did not take him long as his three pitches all went for strikes as he struck out the final batter to end the game.
To read more, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Nocona Indians wrapped up their first playoff berth since 2005 with a dominant win against Chico on Thursday at home.
The Indians won 10-0 in four and half innings due to run-rule to earn the district’s final playoff spot and break a nearly two decade drought.
Nocona was in a similar situation last year after beating Chico in the first game before losing twice more to the Dragons, once in the regular season finale and then in the play-in series.
The Indians won the first game earlier in the week 9-4, but knew they could play better. On Thursday they then proved it.
In the bottom of the first inning, Nocona got the scoring going as Wesley Murphey hit an RBI double. Two batters later, Landon Fatheree drove in two runs with a double.
Konnor Harrington followed with a groundout that scored another run as the Indians led 4-0.
In the second inning, Nocona kept up the pressure. Brody Langford drove in a run with a single. Later with the bases loaded, Caden Belcher was hit by a pitch that scored a run. A later passed ball allowed one more run to score as the Indians extended their lead to 7-0.
Nocona got one more run in the third inning. With the bases loaded, Wesley Murphey grounded into a fielder’s choice out that scored one run to make it 8-0.
The Indians got the final two runs they needed in the fourth inning. Walker Murphey and RJ Walker hit back-to-back RBI singles to put Nocona up 10-0.
Chico needed to score at least one run to prevent the game from ending early due to run-rule. Instead Walker Murphey completed the shutout performance by retiring the next three batters to end the game and the Dragon’s season.
The Indians won 10-0 and earned the district’s final playoff spot.
Wesley Murphey and Fatheree drove in two runs each to lead the team. Walker Murphey led the team with three hits. The team finished with 11 hits and drew six walks.
Walker Murphey also allowed zero runs and one hit while striking out five batters and walking none. The defense behind him committed only one fielding error.
Coach Zach Denson was beyond proud of this team for breaking the playoff drought.
“The amount of growth that they have shown throughout the year has been the most incredible I’ve seen in 13 years of coaching,” Denson said. “We went on a little skid in the middle of the year and that could have derailed our young team, but it actually brought us closer together as a unit.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie Jackrabbits were able to clinch the final playoff spot on Thursday with a senior night home win against Henrietta.
The Jackrabbits won 6-1 in a game where all of the offensive action happened in the first three innings for both teams.
Bowie came into the game needing to win. Failing to do so would mean setting up a series with the Bearcats for the final playoff spot. If the Jackrabbits just took care of business against a team they had already beaten once pretty easily then they could avoid that whole situation.
Henrietta knew it was playing for the future of its season and struck first. A one out double followed by a single two batters later put the Bearcats up 1-0 against Bowie’s top pitcher Edmond De Leon on the mound.
The offense responded in the same inning with a two-out rally. Troy Kesey hit a single and Hayden Rodriguez drew a walk. De Leon then hit a double to drive one run in.
Cooper Hammer was then hit a by a pitch to load the bases up. Rayder Mann then drew a walk that scored one run and the Jackrabbits led 2-1 before the next batter popped up for out three.
Bowie added to that lead in the second inning. Boston Farris led off with a triple. Tucker Jones then hit a groundball to second base that resulted in an error that allowed Farris to score and make it 3-1 for the Jackrabbits.
Bowie then extended the lead in the third inning. Hammer hit a one-out single. Mann and Cy Egenbacher followed with hits that resulted in fielding errors for the Bearcats. The Jackrabbits scored one run on the second error.
Farris then hit a single that drove in another run. After a strikeout, a wild pitch then allowed another runner to score as Bowie was up 6-1. Another strikeout ended the scoring for the Jackrabbits.
The next three and half innings saw neither team score runs, though both had several chances with two runners getting on at times.
Henrietta’s best chance came in the fifth inning with two singles, but De Leon and Bowie’s defense shut that down. De Leon retired the final seven batters he faced as the Jackrabbits won 6-1.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Last week all of the area schools competed in their district’s tennis tournament and several schools had athletes qualify for the regional tournament.
In the end, 10 athletes finished second or better at district to move on for a chance to qualify for state.
Unfortunately, no players from Bowie were able to break through and qualify.
Many faced early seeding opponents from tennis power Vernon that ended their tournament.
The highest finish for a Bowie player was Lily Hodges who placed fourth in girls singles.
From Nocona, one girl was able to break through as Kaygan Stone finished second in girls singles to qualify for regionals.
Stone has had a tough year, dealing with shoulder problems that shortened both her volleyball and basketball seasons, but she bounced back this spring to qualify for regionals in tennis.
Her teammate Melissa Segura was not so lucky, as she finished third in girls singles and just missed the cut, having to settle for an alternate spot
At the 1A tournament, several schools had multiple athletes in one division qualify.
From Saint Jo, last year’s state qualifying girl’s doubles team of Kyler Dunn and Taylor Patrick won the division.
They beat out the second place finisher and their teammates, the girl’s doubles team of Maxey Johnson and Bailey Nobile, who also qualified for regionals.
From Gold-Burg, Jimena Garcia and Alyson Rojas placed first and second in girls singles to move on to the regional tournament.
Other schools only had one team or individual.
From Forestburg, the mixed doubles team of Jesse Wadsworth and Alli Cisneros finished second as they qualified for regionals.
From Prairie Valley, Case Carpenter finished second in the boys singles division.
To read the full story and see pictures of all of the qualifiers, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
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