The Bowie Lady Rabbits came back from seven runs to down to beat rival Nocona on Tuesday night.
The Lady Rabbits won 17-9, with 16 runs scored in the final two innings to come back from what looked like a game controlled by the Lady Indians threw five innings.
Both teams started the second round of district play against the other. The first game was a back-and-forth high scoring affair that ended with Bowie winning 19-18 on a walk-off RBI hit.
It was the most competitive game both teams played throughout the first round of district as neither were able to win in their next six games.
Nocona struck first. Tobie Cable led off with a triple and Makenna Nobile’s groundball induced an error that allowed one run to score. Nobile would later on score the basepaths thanks to an error trying to prevent her from stealing second base.
Two more errors on hits from Stephany Gutierrez and Katy Barrtt allowed two more runs to score to make it 4-0 after the first inning in favor of the Lady Indians.
Bowie was able to get one run back in the second inning. Maddie Mandela grounded out which allowed Addie Farris to score from third base to make it 4-1.
Nocona made up for it with its next time to bat. Cable hit another triple to drive in a run. Nobile then drove her in on a groundout at third base to make it 6-1 heading into the third inning.
It was the rare scoreless inning as Lady Indian pitcher Sydnee Mowry struck out the side and Bowie pitcher Kaylie Kinney worked her way out of a bases loaded jam with one out.
After the Lady Rabbit bats again failed to produce in the fourth inning, Nocona added another run to its lead as Gutierrez hit an RBI single to make it 7-1.
The fifth inning saw Bowie get two base hits, but those runners were left stranded. The Lady Indians got their biggest lead of the game thanks to Cable’s bat again. After hitting the ball in right field, an error on the throw into the infield and then at third base allowed her to score.
With Nocona’s lead up 8-1 heading into the sixth inning, the Lady Indians could feel the program’s first victory against their rival in who knows how long coming if they could keep their composure defensively. Unfortunately for them, that slowly slipped away in the final two innings.
Kenzie Short led off for Bowie and hit a triple. Rylie Vieth followed and hit a groundball that induced an error that also led to Short scoring.
The Lady Rabbits loaded the bases with a single and drawn walk before an infield pop up was caught for out one. Mandela came through and hit a double that cleared the bases for three runs.
Following a strikeout for out two, Sadie Britt hit a double to drive another run. Traycee Stewart followed and hit a groundball that induced another fielding error that drove in another run.
Short came back up for the second time in the inning and hit a hard hit groundball to right field. An error trying to field the ball allowed the seventh run of the inning and tied the game up at 8-8 before Nocona got out three with the next batter.
The feeling of frustration on the Lady Indians side was palpable following the inning, but the team was determined to try and hold onto this game while they still could.
Following a fielding error at shortstop from Bowie that put one runner on base, Avery Crutsinger came through and hit a double to drive in the run and give Nocona back the lead 9-8 heading into the final inning.
Unfortunately for the Lady Indians and fortunately for the Lady Rabbits, the combination of timely hitting, some pitching wildness and some key errors led to another big inning for Bowie.
Farris would drive in a run on a groundout following Hannah Love’s leadoff double. Haley Webb hit another double that allowed Mandela to drive her home on an infield hit. Kinney then drove in a run thanks to an error on a groundball to the shortstop.
Following a strikeout for out two and the Lady Rabbits lead was only 11-9, but Bowie would keep the two out rally going for awhile.
The Lady Rabbits loaded the bases following two drawn walks. Vieth then hit a groundball to the shortstop that induced another error and scored one more run. Love drew a walk to score another run. Farris hit a groundball to second base and an error fielding it allowed three runs to score.
Following a hit batter, Mandela hit a single to drive in another run to make it 17-9 before the next batter struck out for out three.
All of the energy seemed sapped out of Nocona at this point as the game seemed out of reach following an inning where nothing seemed to go right for them. Still, the Lady Indians had some big bats coming up.
Raylee Sparkman led off with a single in the final inning. Cable then followed with a double for her third extra base hit of the night to put two runners in scoring position.
Unfortunately, the next two batters hit infield pop flys that were caught, followed by a groundball hit to pitcher Kinney, who mad the throw to first for the final out of the game.
Bowie won 17-9.

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