SPORTS
Jackrabbits lose close non-district game to Paradise
The Bowie Jackrabbits lost a close non-district game, playing at noon on Friday at home against Paradise.
The Wildcats won 4-3 in a game where they led the entire time with the Jackrabbits nipping at their heels.
Bowie came into the game following two tough losses to open district against Jacksboro and Iowa Park. The Jackrabbits were hoping they could play well, get a win and get back on track with mostly a district schedule ahead of them this season.
Paradise got on the board in the top of the first inning. A leadoff single against starting pitcher Troy Kesey was rescinded when he picked him off for an out during the next at-bat.
A single followed with the next batter. Trying to prevent him from stealing second base resulted in an error that allowed the runner to advance to third base. After a walk, a groundout allowed the runner to come in and score to put the Wildcats up 1-0.
It looked like Kesey was in trouble again in the second inning. The leadoff batter got on base after a dropped third strike. A walk and single loaded the bases up with no outs.
Kesey induced a fly ball into shallow left field that did not bring any runners home for out one. Catcher Tucker Jones then picked off the runner at third base for out two. Finally, a groundball to third base resulted in out three to get out of the jam.
Three fielding errors in the outfield allowed Paradise to score two runs in the third inning to go up 3-0.
Bowie’s bats had no success until the bottom of the fourth inning when Jones led off with a double.
A sacrifice bunt moved him to third base and Rayder Mann drove him as he grounded out to the shortstop. The Jackrabbits cut the lead to 3-1.
The Wildcats got the run back in the fifth inning. With one runner on base and two outs, a single got two runners on base.
They then executed a double-steal. A fielding error at catcher allowed the lead runner to come in and score to put Paradise up 4-1.
Bowie had its most successful offensive inning to follow in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Edmond De Leon led off with a double. Two batters later Seth Mann hit a single to put runners at the corners. Cy Egenbacher followed with a single to right field that drove in one run.
Cooper Hammer then loaded the base with a groundball single down the third base line. Jones then hit a single to right field that drove in one run to cut the lead down to one run.
Unfortunately for Bowie, the next batter then hit into an inning ending double-play. The Jackrabbits trailed 4-3.
Kesey and the defense shut down Paradise in the final two innings, allowing only one base runner to get on with a walk in the seventh inning. Bowie’s bats did not have much more success.
Kesey hit a one out double in the sixth inning to try and start something, but besides eventually reaching third base and being 90 feet away from tying the game, the Jackrabbits could not get him home.
The Wildcats held on to win 4-3.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
Two former Bowie boy’s golf members played in the PGA University Championship on Nov. 12-13. (L-R) Cy Egenbacher and Imanol Walker are both in the Sam Houston University PGA Golf Managerment program. The team finished 16th overall. Egenbacher shot 168 during the two rounds and finished tied for 67th. Walker shot 180 and finished 84th. The tournament is a fun one for univesities that have PGA Golf Management programs, which is for individuals who want to work in the golf industry after graduation.
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers came up short at the regional final for the third straight season, one game away from state, on Saturday at the regional tournament in Midlothian.
The Lady Panthers beat Evant in straight sets 3-0 on Friday to reach the final game against Harrold which they lost 3-0.
Saint Jo knew before the season even started it would likely come to this big challenge, but it still had to go through all the steps to get there.
The Panthers reached the regional finals the previous two seasons, losing both times to eventual state champion Blum.
With district realignment meant a new region so a rematch with a Blum program that had graduated several key players from those teams would have to wait until state possibly.
Instead, a showdown against last year’s state runner-up Harrold was forecast in the regional final.
With the team having six seniors, with five of them having been on varsity since they were freshman, it was this year or bust for Saint Jo.
First, the Lady Panthers had to beat Evant. The Lady Elks leaned heavily on a big front court player. When she rotated to the back row, Evant showed almost no net resistance which meant Saint Jo hitters had free reign during that time.
The Lady Panthers won each set pretty easily, with the scores being 25-17, 25-17 and 25-19.
This set up the match with Harrold the team had been anticipating. The Lady Hornets had been at or near the top of the state standings since the beginning of the season.
Harrold had so much respect it had even played bigger local schools this season, beating Bowie in straight sets and Nocona in five sets during its pre-district schedule.
The two teams had met earlier in the season when the Lady Hornets attended Saint Jo’s hosted tournament. The two teams met in the tournament championship where Harrold won 2-1.
Still, with the tournament format being a best of three instead of five and the match after playing an exhausting schedule of five matches the previous two days, that result was not gospel, especially two months later.
The challenge is Harrold had multiple big hitters at the net, which is a big deal since most 1A teams are lucky to have one or two, which meant constant pressure on Saint Jo’s defense.
This also meant the Lady Panthers constantly had to find ways to attack the Lady Hornet defense as well or it would face strong hit after strong hit which was unsustainable for any team.
The first set saw the Lady Hornets get out to a good start before the Lady Panthers rallied back and took a little lead 8-7. Unfortunately, it started turn from there.
Harrold had some good runs from the service line that Saint Jo struggled to make much offense out of and led to the Lady Hornets pulling away. Harrold won 4-1 to get the lead to 11-9 and then extended it to 14-11, 17-13. Another 4-1 run and the Lady Hornets could smell the end of the first set coming.
The Lady Hornets won 25-17 to take the lead 1-0.
Saint Jo needed to bounce back, but unfortunately never got anything going in set two.
Harrold led 4-1 and then 8-2. The Lady Panthers would have needed a huge run at some point from the service line to get back into the set, but it never came as the Lady Hornets lead grew more and more.
Harrold took set two 25-13 to go up 2-0 and had all of the momentum.
Saint Jo had its back against the wall, knowing the only option was to hope for a comeback that would lead to a fifth set, but to get there it needed to win set three.
The Lady Panthers initially started on the right foot. After falling being 4-1 to start the previous two sets, it was Saint Jo that started well up 4-1. Unfortunately, the Lady Hornets came roaring back, going on an 8-2 run as it led 9-6, then 12-8 and 15-10.
It looked like it was heading towards a similar place as set one with Harrold slowly running away with the set before the Lady Panthers made one last gasp.
Saint Jo eventually cut the lead down to one point, trailing 20-19 as the set entered the final stretch and the Lady Panthers had their best momentum of the match.
Unfortunately, it was Harrold that was able to close the set out with momentum, earning the final five points to win 25-19 and the match 3-0.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News. For pictures from Friday’s match, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6870620&T=1
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