SPORTS
Bowie baseball falls in district opener
The Bowie Jackrabbits lost their two opening games of district play earlier this week.
The Jackrabbits lost 5-1 against Jacksboro at home on Monday and 7-3 at Iowa Park on Tuesday.
Bowie was coming into the game with a lot of winning momentum from its recent tournament play. It was put to the test as every district game against Jacksboro has been a battle in recent seasons.
The Jackrabbits started Edmond De Leon on the mound and the Tigers got to him early with their base running, small ball ways.
The leadoff hitter used his speed to outrun a big bouncing hit to the pitcher for a single. The base runner then stole second base. A dropped third strike for out one then allowed the runner to advance to third base.
The next Jacksboro batter then grounded out to the shortstop, but it was enough to get the runner on third base to come home and give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.
It looked like Jacksboro was going to add more a fielding error and a single got two more runners on base, but DeLeon induced a fly out to left field for out three.
Bowie bats struggled to get anything going early in the game and while the defense committed one error and later allowed one single, De Leon and team settled down to shut down the Tigers’ offense for the next four innings.
The Jackrabbit bats finally got on base in the fifth inning as Seth Mann drew a walk with two outs.
He would successfully steal second base and then Cy Egenbacher followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Unfortunately, the next batter flew out to centerfield for out three.
Jacksboro’s bats then woke up in the sixth inning. A single followed by a double drove in one run. A base hit then drove in another run to make it 3-0 for the Tigers.
In the seventh inning Jacksboro added to its lead. With Rayder Mann coming in to pitch in relief, a hit batter, a triple and a wild pitch allowed two more runs to score for the Tigers.
Bowie was down 5-0 with its last three outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With the backs against the wall, the Jackrabbits offense found some success.
De Leon blasted a ball to third base that induced an error to get a runner on base with one out. Andrew Sandhoff came in to run the bases and stole second base. Seth Mann then hit a ball to the shortstop and beat the throw as Bowie had runners at the corners.
Egenbacher then hit a groundball to the shortstop who committed an error and allowed a run to come in for Bowie. Rayder Mann then hit a single to load the bases up with one out.
Unfortunately, the next batter grounded out to the third basemen, who stepped on third base before throwing to first for a game ending double-play. Jacksboro won 5-1.
De Leon pitched six innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits while he struck out four batters. The defense committed two errors.
Bowie had only three hits and drew one walk while taking advantage of three fielding errors from Jacksboro.
Coach Jason McCoy thought his team played well in a game that is always a low scoring, defensive battle against the Tigers.
“Well pitched game by both starting pitchers, they had some incredibly tough at bats so credit to them,” McCoy said. “They started off with an infield hit with a ton of speed and manufactured a run and from there it was a battle. We just couldn’t find barrels all day, but the boys fought till the end.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend 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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