Nocona
The Nocona Lady Indians went 1-1 in their first round of district play last week.
The Lady Indians won a competitive game at Era 5-2, but then fell to Muenster by run-rule 15-0 after four innings.
Nocona came in with a big winning streak, but most of the wins were against familiar teams and the Lady Indians knew they would have to play at their best in a district that is expected to be tough.
The Lady Indians played at Era on March 18. The Lady Hornets took the early lead 1-0 in the first inning. Nocona tied the game at 1-1 in the third inning when Kaitlyn Tiffner scored on the base paths thanks to an error.
Era got the lead back with one run in the fourth inning , but then the Lady Indians got their first lead in the fifth inning. Ma’leigha Franklin drove in two runs on a sacrifice fly ball to put Nocona up 3-2.
The Lady Indians got some insurance in the sixth inning when Tinley Cable hit a two-run inside the park home run.
Nocona held on to win 5-2. Kylea Wallace led the team two hits as the team only had six all game. The hits were extremely opportunistic for the Lady Indians to score as much as they did.
Reagan Phipps allowed only two runs on seven hits while striking out 12 batters and walking three. The defense committed only one fielding error behind her.
Nocona was happy to get the close win to start district, but then came a big dose of bummer that threw sand in the potato salad of last week.
It was the Lady Indians home district opener, but Muenster had a huge second inning scoring 11 runs and it was all over from there. Nocona only got one hit from Phipps on offense as the Lady Indians lost 15-0 after four innings.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers were able to pick up a win against 1A Bryson last week, but fell to Graford and Perrin-Whitt later.
The Lady Panthers beat the Cowgirls 19-4, but then fell to 2A Graford 18-6 and fellow 1A team Perrin-Whitt 23-13.
Saint Jo played Bryson at home on March 18 and dominated, getting the win in three innings by run-rule 19-4.
Symbri Evans led the team with three RBIs while Kamron Skidmore and Mercedes Diaz each drove in two runs each. The team drew 15 walks and were hit by seven pitches.
So all three hits were big deals, like Skidmore hitting a home run.
Maxey Johnson allowed four runs (three earned) on two hits while striking out four batters. The defense committed only two fielding errors.
The next two games saw Saint Jo walk too many batters to keep the games close. Against Graford the team walked 15 batters and against Perrin-Whitt it was 16 batters.

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

The Bowie golf teams competed last week in their final events before district play starts this week.
The Lady Rabbits played at the Jim Ned Invitational at Shady Oaks and got second place. The boy’s team played in the Waxahachie Spring Fling at the Golf Club of Dallas and got sixth place.
The girl’s team shot 391 and was led by Miley Thompson who scored 91 and got third place individually. Tess Egenbacher (95), Hanna Bell (101) and Kendall Fallis (104) rounded out the team’s score.
Lillie Maddox shot 108, but it did not add to the team’s total.
Reegen Ferguson competed individually and shot 97.
The boy’s team shot 351 and the player with the lowest score was Hunter Lea who got an 83. Zac Harris (85) Huntter Fluitt (90) and Rayder Mann (93) rounded out the team’s final score.
Caden Belcher’s score of 96 did not add to the team’s total.
Cason Airington competed individually and shot an 86.

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

Nocona
The Nocona Indians were able to get wins against the two local 1A teams last week fairly easily to tune up for the start of district play.
The Indians beat Bellevue 7-0 and run-ruled Saint Jo 12-1 to get some winning momentum heading into this week.
Nocona played the second year Eagle program at home on March 18. Despite playing a younger and inexperienced Bellevue team, the Eagles gave the Indians a game.
Both teams committed only one fielding error all game and Nocona never ran away with the game like it was probably expecting to. The Indians scored two runs in the second and third innings before scoring three in the fifth inning, but did not run-rule Bellevue.
Walker Murphey got the start on the mound and pitched all seven innings for a shutout allowing four hits and three walks while striking out seven batters.
Landon Fatheree and RJ Walker led the team with two RBIs each as the team finished with 10 hits.
Nocona then played Saint Jo two days later on March 20 and was able to get the job done after five innings due to run-rule.
Walker got the start on the mound and allowed one run (zero earned) on two hits while he struck out 12 batters. He also drove in four runs on three hits to lead the team.
The team got eight free bases on walks and hit batters to go with 10 hits. Miller Jentry and Miller Jhett each drove in two runs each as well.

Saint Jo
The Saint Jo Panthers had a tough start to district play this week with a close loss to Perrin-Whitt on Monday.
The Pirates won 7-6 in extra innings, walking off with an RBI single to win in heartbreaking fashion.
Saint Jo was hoping it could shrug off the bad game it played against 2A Nocona on March 20. The bigger Indians beat the Panthers 12-1 in five innings, with little going right for Saint Jo. Sam Martin drove in the only run for the Panthers on a single.
Playing a team its own size and a program where the two play each other in everything meant the game would mean more than just on the district standings.
The Panthers took the early lead in the first inning, with a fielding error and three walks leading to one run and a groundout from Trent Gaston driving in a run. Saint Jo led 2-0
Perrin-Whitt scored one run in the first and fourth innings to tie the game before taking the lead with two runs in the fifth inning to go up 4-2.
The Panther bats fired back in the sixth inning, with Charlie Evans coming through with a two RBI single with two outs to tie the game at 4-4.
Saint Jo then took the lead in the top of the seventh inning when Devin Stewart and Martin had back-to-back RBI singles. The Panthers led 6-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Unfortunately, the Pirates answered. Two doubles and a triple tied the game up at 6-6. Saint Jo’s defense responded well with the winning run sitting on third base by striking out the next batter and getting a ground out to the short stop.
The game went into an extra eighth inning. With two outs, Saint Jo got a break when its batter got hit by pitch. Mathew Sampson hit the ball to the shortstop, but the forced out at second base resulted in an error. The base runner went for third base, but was thrown out for out three.
Perrin-Whitt then got a leadoff triple before two batters later he was sent home on a single to end the game. The Pirates won 7-6.
Evans led the team with two RBIs while Stewart, Martin and Gaston each had one. The team drew 10 walks and were hit by five pitches to go along with eight hits.
On the mound, Gaston pitched 5.1 innings and allowed four runs on 10 hits while striking out four batters. The team committed three fielding errors.

Bellevue
The Bellevue Eagles played two 2A teams competively last week as they get ready to start district play this week.
The Eagles lost at Nocona 7-0 before tying Chico 7-7 after seven innings of play.
The young Bellevue team and program hoped it could compete well against an Indian team that is coming off a playoff berth and is hoping to get there again, but it didn’t go well last year at all against Nocona.
On March 18, the Eagles played quite well despite not putting enough hits together to score. Bellevue fielded well and avoided innings turning into nightmares on defense.
The Indians scored two runs in the second and third innings before scoring three more in the fifth inning as Nocona won 7-0.
Walker Strahan led the team with two hits as the team finished with five while drawing three walks.
With few chances to take extra bases due to stolen bases or inaccurate pitching, the scoring chances were limited and it just did not happen for the Eagles even though they more often than not put the ball in play, striking out seven times in 24 at-bats.
Bryce Ramsey pitched the whole game and gave up seven runs on 10 hits while he also struck out nine and walked only one batter, though he hit four of them.
Bellevue then played Chico on March 21 and the game was much more even. The Eagles scored five runs in the first inning to take the lead until the Dragons tied the scored in the fourth inning 5-5.
Chico then scored four runs in the fifth inning to take its first lead 9-5. Bellevue answered with two in the same inning to cut the lead to 9-7. In the Eagles final at-bats in the bottom of the seventh inning, Bellevue scored two runs to tie the score at 9-9.
The game was called instead of going into extra innings, ending in a tie.
Brycen Bancroft and Kobe Jones led the team with two RBIs each. The team finished with 10 hits and drew four walks.
With ace Ramsey not able to pitch, the rest of the Eagles pitching staff got about two innings each. Strahan did the best, allowing no runs or hits while striking out four batters and walking four. The defense was again solid as well.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekly edition of the Bowie News. For more pictures from Saint Jo’s game against Nocona, click here https://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?l=bnews1&AID=6873815&T=1