The Bowie Jackrabbits walk-off win against state-ranked Holliday on Tuesday was a good bounce back after falling to Jacksboro the day before.
The Jackrabbits lost to the Tigers 11-4 on Monday before turning around and beating the Eagles at home on Tuesday 7-6.
Holliday was not only the district favorites, but also were ranked number eight in the state in 3A in this week’s coaches poll with only one loss all season.
The game did not seem to start off great as the Eagles leadoff drew a walk. Pitcher Kawlyer Swearingin bounced back though as the next three batters were grounded or flew out.
Bowie batters made contact early, but failed to get the ball anywhere the Holliday was not as the first inning ended scoreless.
The Jackrabbits allowed nothing from the Eagles hitters in the second. On offense, Bowie put together a two-out rally starting with Kynan DeMoss hitting a double. After Logan Hutson hit a single to move him to third base, an error allowed him to score to make the score 1-0.
The Eagles answered in the third inning. A dropped third strike followed by two singles scored two runs. After a double steal, a squeeze bunt play allowed one more run to score as Holliday’s lead was at 3-1.
The Jackrabbits had no answers as all three batters grounded out in the infield on only four pitches to move the game into the fourth inning.
The Eagles added another run thanks to a leadoff walk. Bowie forced two outs, but a ground out had moved the base runner to second base. A two out double allowed the runner to score to extend Holliday’s lead to 4-1.
A single followed and it looked like the Eagles might add more, but Swearingin struck out the next batter to get out of the jam. The Jackrabbit’s batters again had trouble hitting to where Holliday players weren’t as all three batters were sat down.
Parker Price came in to pitch in the fifth inning. After forcing an out, the Eagles loaded the bases thanks to two singles and a hit batter. With the momentum going Holliday’s way, it looked like it might be the big inning the Eagles would need to break open the game.
Instead Bowie’s defense stepped up. A hit to third base allowed the Jackrabbits to get the force out at home for the second out. Bowie catcher Melton was then able to pick off the runner at third base during the next at bat for the third out, leaving all three runners stranded.
That kind of sequence was just what Bowie needed to get some momentum going, which carried over to its bats.
DeMoss and Price led off with back-to-back singles. After two groundouts, Sanders came through with a single to drive in one run.
Cade Thompson then hit a double to score another runner followed by Melton driving in two runners on a single to give the Jackrabbits the 5-4 lead.
Holliday looked like it was going to respond with its leadoff batter hitting a single. The defense came through again though, pulling off a double play to clear the base paths. Price then struck out the next batter for the third out.
Bowie had a chance to add to its lead in the sixth inning. Swearingin led off with a single and DeMoss followed up by getting hit by a pitch. Unfortunately, the next three batters failed to move the Jackrabbit runners any as the game moved to the final inning.
The Eagles were not going to make this easy though. They led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Following a strike out, a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position.
Sanders came in to pitch and forced a ground ball to third base. Bowie got the out at first base, but failed to get the third out at home due to miscommunication. This allowed both base runners to score as Holliday now led 6-5.
The costly mental error looked like it might cost more runs as a double, a walk and a hit batter followed to load the bases. Thankfully, Bowie was able to get the force out at home for the third out.
The Jackrabbits would need to come back while also bouncing back mentally from a blown defensive sequence that would have ended the game.
Sanders led off with a single. A ground out moved him to second. Melton then hit an infield single. Following a steal from Melton, Richey was then hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Swearingin came through with a single to drive in one run to tie the score. It was then DeMoss who hit a line drive to left field to end the game with the walk-off RBI. His teammates swarmed him in right field as Bowie won 7-6.

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