SPORTS
Softball Roundup

Bowie
The Bowie Lady Rabbits finished up their season at Breckenridge on Friday night.
The Lady Buckaroos won 19-9 after six innings due to run-rule as the Lady Rabbits season ended.
Bowie initially was ahead, scoring runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. Breckenridge scored four runs in the third inning to take the lead 4-2, but the Lady Rabbits answered with four runs of their own to make it 6-4. Before the fourth inning was done, the Lady Bucks scored two runs to tie the game up at 6-6.
Bowie scored two runs to give it an 8-6 lead, but Breckenridge would break the game wide open with 10 runs scored to take a 16-8 lead. The Lady Rabbits answered with one run, but the Lady Bucks looked to finish the game one inning early as they scored three runs, ending the game with the score 19-9.
Hannah Love led Bowie with three RBIs as she also hit two triples in her final game. Kenzie Short, Haley Webb, Addie Farris, Maddie Mandela and Sadie Britt each drove in one run. The team finished with 10 hits in the game.
Unfortunately it was not enough to keep up with the Lady Bucks, whose 22 hits and momentum stealing fifth inning made all the difference in a high scoring game.
It was another tough year for the Bowie Lady Rabbits program. With the district as tough as ever, getting any wins was an endeavor this year.
First year head coach Jordon Roth brought back the fun this year after last year’s program numbers fell off to where there was no JV team. This year there was and it needs to stay that way for her to try and build the program back up to start challenging for playoff berths again.
While seniors Stephanie Allen, Farris and Love will be tough to replace, it is not such a big number of players for Bowie to hopefully take a big step forward next year as youth and inexperience should not be an issue anymore.
Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians lost their final game of the season on Friday against City View.
The Lady Mustangs won 19-2 against the Lady Indians in three innings due to run-rule.
City View scored five or more runs in all three innings as its bats where hitting it all over the field. Nocona committed two fielding errors, but most of the damage came from the 16 hits given up, six going for extra bases.
The Lady Indians scored both of their runs in the second inning. Reagan Phipps drove one in on a double to left field. She would later score on a passed ball.
Nocona had other chances as the team finished with six hits in three innings, but could not get another run home.
It was a tough season for the softball program. A late start to the season meant the team had less than a week before playing in district games. The team had to count on several players who had not played softball in high school prior to this season, a couple of whom were seniors. Coach Nolan Lanham was the fifth new coach the last five seasons.
Off the field, the team and community was grieving from recent graduate and softball player Laci Stone’s tragic death early in the season.
The team finished with no district wins, which is not new for the program. What that doesn’t tell you is how much better this team competed this year in a district that is as tough as ever now.
Both games against rival Bowie that usually has had no trouble beating Nocona in the past went down to the wire and called for the Lady Rabbits to pull out all the stops to win.
Some final scores looked worse than they actually were as Nocona was susceptible to giving up that one big inning killer on defense.
The growth the team made from the beginning to the end has Lanham excited for the future as well as the program moving down to 2A.
“I believe we have a bright future moving forward,” Lanham said. “We move into a new district next year, which allows us to compete against different teams and especially teams we don’t necessarily know a lot about. It will be good to see the upperclassmen get a clean slate and also for our core of freshman to see new competition that they haven’t always played against.”
Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers ended their regular season with their second win against Alvord on Friday.
The Lady Panthers won another high scoring game against the Lady Bulldogs 26-11.
It was a game where there were more walks and hit batters than base hits on both sides. Still Saint Jo did it better, scoring 25 of its 26 runs in the first two innings. The team drew 14 walks and were hit 12 times for free bases that allowed runs to score with little effort.
Comparatively, Lady Panther pitcher Krista Reeves walked eight batters and hit one batter. Reeves and Aubrey Morman also picked up two hits apiece to lead the team when they did find a ball to hit.
Coach Kelly Skidmore thought her team did okay, but hopes some mental mistakes on the base paths will get cleaned up heading into the program’s first playoff game against Bryson.
The game is at 5 p.m. on April 28 at Alvord.
SPORTS
Oil Bowl Pictures

Bowie had six players play in the Maskat Shrine Oil Bowl football all-star game. For pictures from not just the football game, but the basketball and volleyball games as well that feature athletes from Bowie, Nocona and Saint Jo, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6875584&T=1
SPORTS
Langford coming back home

Nocona is welcoming back Coach Sandy Langford, former coach and alumnus for the Lady Indians, as its new volleyball head coach.
Langford comes back to Nocona after spending the past 11 years leading the Glen Rose volleyball program.
Her circumstances with her family allowed her to jump at the opportunity once she became aware the position at Nocona was available.
“My youngest graduated and is playing football at Midwestern (State University),” Langford said. “All of our family is here and I knew that Coach Kara (Lucherk) was leaving. We were eventually going to retire here. Our oldest son plays college football at West Texas A&M and we’ll be two hours closer to him as well.”
She again will lead the Lady Indians volleyball program, one that she led all the way to the state title game in 2011, which is the farthest the volleyball program has ever gone in its prestigious history.
Langford kept up that level of success during her 11 years at the bigger 4A Glen Rose. She won less than 20 games only twice during her time, winning her 500th career game back in 2023. Her teams were ranked among the top 10 in the state five times and Langford led Glen Rose to the state tournament in 2017, the best finish in program history.
With the Lady Indians also having its own string of success, appearing in back-to-back regional finals while finishing atop the district standings both years, Langford is excited to not just keep the success going, but shoot for the stars.
“We are not expecting anything less than a state championship,” Langford said.
She has stacked the non-district schedule with strong, state-ranked 3A and 4A teams as well as big tournaments that will test Nocona’s mettle early next season in the hopes it will prepare them for a long playoff run.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
Two teams compete at state tourney

The Red River High School Bass Club competed this past weekend, May 31 – June 1, at the State Tournament on Lake Conroe for the two-day tournament.
Two of the teams from Montague County traveled south to try their best at the culmination of the year for the state title. Teams were able to pre-fish on Friday before the Saturday and Sunday competition. On Friday, there was a flipping contest for the youth and Cooper Johnson won third overall and won a $500 scholarship and an Academy gift card.
The club’s two teams who competed were Lane Smith/Colt Henry with boat captain Jimmy Smith. The team placed 63rd with a total of 16.22 pounds. The second team of Cooper Johnson/Corbyn Patton and boat captain Jayson Toerck placed 169th with a total weight of 2.29 pounds.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News.
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