SPORTS
Saint Jo baseball loses to Poolville
The Saint Jo Panthers played Poolville at home on Friday night in another tough district game against a bigger school.
The Panthers competed, but ultimately lost to the Monarchs 9-2.
Poolville was able to score first thanks to three walks, a fielding error and a base hit to go up 2-0. Saint Jo was able to load the bases as Tyler Cook and Logan Morman drew a walk and Wyatt Geurin singled to center field. Unfortunately, the next batter popped up to first base to end the scoring chance.
In the second inning, a leadoff walk from the Monarchs came back to bite the Panthers. After two groundouts advanced the runner to third base, a balk by Saint Jo’s pitcher allowed the runner to score, giving Poolville at 3-0 lead.
The Panthers were able to respond. A leadoff walk from Brock Durham and two steals later put him on third base. Batter Preston Lyons was hit by a pitch. Connor Thompson was able to get Durham home on a sacrifice fly to right field and move Lyons to third base after tagging up. Cook was able to single to left field and drive in Lyons to cut the lead to 3-2 heading into the third inning.
All the momentum Saint Jo had just gotten was erased by the Monarchs. With four base hits, two walks, two hit batters and one fielding error, Poolville scored five runs to go up 8-2. After two pitching changes, Thompson was able to get the third out.
The Panthers offense tried to respond. They loaded the bases with base hits from Morman and Jace Johnson and a drawn walk from Eli Jones. Saint Jo just could not get any runners across as the next batter grounded out to third base for the third out.
A fielding error at third base and a walk looked like Poolville was ready to add on to its lead, but Thompson was able to strike out the next two batters to end the scoring chance. Besides getting a base runner on with two outs thanks to an error, the Panthers failed to do anything as the game moved to the fifth inning.
A leadoff single from the Monarchs paid off later. After swiping second base with a steal, a wild pitch allowed the runner to advance to third base. A ground out to second base got the runner home to make the score 9-2 for Poolville, but Saint Jo’s defense made the plays to not allow any other base runners that inning.
On offense, the Panthers had their first unsuccessful trip to bat as they got no base runners and were sat down in order as they entered the final two innings still down seven runs.
The Monarchs led off with a single, but Saint Jo was able to pull off a double play. The next batter bunted right to pitcher Thompson who got the runner out at first. The lead runner tried to stretch for third base, but was thrown out. The next batter struck out. Panthers repeated their effort from the fifth inning, failing to get a base runner on as the final inning approached.
Poolville was allowed to get a base runner on thanks to a fielding error from Saint Jo. The base runner was promptly thrown out trying to steal second base, but the Monarchs replaced him with a walked batter. Thompson was able to strike out the next batter for the third out.
Unfortunately, the Panther’s offense could not get any momentum going as the three batters were sat down in order to end the game. Poolville won 9-2.
To read the full story, 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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