Baseball
The Saint Jo Panther baseball team lost their playoff series double-header against Electra on Thursday night.
The Tigers won 13-5 and 9-0 against the Panthers to end their season.
Saint Jo had a tough season up to that point. The Panthers last win came against Chico in early April. While the team usually struggles against their mostly 2A district schedule, the results were especially one-sided this season.
Still, Saint Jo was hopeful playing another 1A team like Electra would give the team a chance to win and continue its streak of winning its bi-district series that dates back to at least 2018.
Saint Jo started off the first game strong. Logan Hoover hit a sacrifice fly ball that drove in a run. Charlie Barclay followed with an RBI double. Trent Gaston then hit a two RBI single to put the Panthers up 4-0.
The Tigers answered with two runs in the same inning to make it 4-2.
Saint Jo failed to score in the second and third innings while Electra took the lead with three runs and then four runs to go up 9-4.
In the fourth inning, the Panthers scored one run when Jayden Curry successfully scored on the base paths from third base to make it 9-5.
That was the final run for Saint Jo in the game. Electra added three runs in the fifth inning and one more in the sixth inning.
It made the final score 13-5 for the Tigers.
Saint Jo was hoping it could play better in the second game.
In one sense the team did, allowing only eight hits and keeping the hot hitting Tigers from scoring in the double-digits.
Unfortunately, the Panther bats were kept tamed the entire game. Barclay got the teams only hit in the game and the team drew four walks. Unfortunately this was not enough to get any runs for Saint Jo.
The Tigers won 9-0.

Softball
The Saint Jo Lady Panthers softball team had their season come to an end in the area round of the playoffs against Jonesboro on Thursday night.
The Lady Eagles won the one-game playoff series 39-9 after five innings due to run-rule.
Saint Jo was coming into the game following a dominant 16-1 win against Perrin-Whitt in the bi-district playoff series. Unfortunately, the Lady Panthers were without their starting pitcher due to injury and their other pitchers struggled to throw strikes.
That was the case as Jonesboro piled on the runs in the first three innings. Trailing 26-0, Saint Jo’s batters put some good things together.
Taylor Patrick drove in one run with a triple. After drawing three straight walks, one runner scored thanks to a wild pitch. K Skidmore then drove in two runs with a double. Two more runs thanks to wild pitches following a single and two drawn walks.
The Lady Panthers had cut the lead to 26-6.
The Lady Eagles added seven runs in the fourth inning where Saint Jo found some more offensive success. With the bases loaded and two outs, one run scored on a passed ball.
Later an error when trying to throw a runner out at third base allowed the other two runners to score as the Lady Panthers scored three runs.
Jonesboro added six more runs in the fifth inning to make the final score 39-9.

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

The Nocona Indians’ season came to an end on Wednesday night with their playoff series against Windthorst at Bowie.
The Trojans won both games by the scores of 4-0 and 11-5 against the Indians.
Nocona came into the series fresh off of the high of securing the program’s first playoff berth since 2005.
The Indians were coming off a sweep of Chico and had won five of their last six games. Still, Nocona was expecting a tough series as the underdogs, playing a district champion in Windthorst.
The Trojans got on the board first with an RBI single in the first inning. They added to it in the third inning with another RBI single and then an fielding error that allowed two runs to score.
Windthorst led 4-0 after three innings.
Nocona pitcher RJ Walker and the defense did its job the rest of the game, allowing only three base runners for the rest of the game and shutting down the Trojan batters with his off-speed pitches.
In the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, the Indians were able to get two base runners on in each inning, but never could find a way to get a run across home plate.
In the seventh inning the team had no such luck getting runners on base. Two strikeouts and first pitch fly out to right field ended the first game.
Windthorst won 4-0.
Both teams had seven hits in the first game. The only difference was the timing of the hits and the one fielding error that allowed two unearned runs to score.
Still, Nocona had some momentum with how it had played in the second half of the game. With the Indians having some one-sided losses against the top teams in their district, there might have been some worry that could happen.
Instead they had shown they could hang with the Trojans and knew that heading into the start of game two 30 minutes later.
Nocona went with a senior, Wesley Murphey, on the mound to start game two. Windthorst got to him and the defense in the first inning. An RBI double and an error at third base that allowed two runs to score put the Trojans up 3-0.
This game, the Indians’ offense had more luck as they answered back in the same inning.
Nocona loaded the bases with a single and two drawn walks. Landon Fatheree then drew a walk to score one run. Konnor Harrington followed with a fly ball out to deep left field. It was deep enough to get one run to come in and score.
Caden Belcher then followed with a double that drove in the final runner to tie the score up at 3-3.
Murphey and the defense settled down and shut out Windthorst in the second inning while the Indians bats were not done.
A fielding error, a walk and a single loaded the bases up with one out. Brody Langford and Fatheree each drew walks to score two more runs to give Nocona its first lead of the series 5-3.
The Trojans got one run back in the third inning. With two runners in scoring position, a groundout allowed one to score as Windthorst cut the lead to 5-4.
The teams then exchanged scoreless fourth and fifth innings before Windthorst grabbed control back in a sixth inning from hell Nocona would like to forget.
With two runners on and two outs with a full count, a double drove both runners in to give the Trojans back the lead.
A hit batter and a walk followed to load the bases. A change in pitching did not help the Indians as the next batter scored three runs with a bases clearing triple. A passed ball then allowed the runner to go home.
Windthorst had scored six runs and now led 10-5.
The Trojans were not done. In the seventh inning, a sacrifice fly ball to center field was deep enough to score one more run to put Windthorst up 11-5.
Nocona had three outs to make it all up, but the bats could not deliver as no base runners got one.
The Trojans won game two 11-5 to win the series 2-0.

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

The Bowie Jackrabbits golf team finished with a bronze medal at the state tournament on Tuesday at the Grey Rock Golf Club in Austin.
The Jackrabbits got bronze for the second straight year at state and in the program’s third appearance in the last four years.
Bowie came into the tournament with confidence and experience. After last year’s team came back from several shots down to yank third place at state on the second day of competition, this year’s team was aiming for the number one spot since everyone from that team was returning.
The Jackrabbits knew it would be tough. Coming off a third place finish at regionals, with Brock beating them by 16 strokes and Lubbock-Cooper Liberty winning by 31 strokes, Bowie knew it needed to play better.
The team also knew its region was the best in the state and it showed as the state tournament played out.
The course was a new one not just for the Jackrabbits, but all of the teams at state. The plans were changed a few weeks before from last year’s course, Jimmy Clay Golf Course, to this year’s course the Grey Rock Golf Club.
The practice round for Bowie two days before was great, but it rained the day before the first round and when most of the other teams were playing on it. Thankfully, the two days of competition saw perfect conditions besides it being a bit wet early in the morning on day one.
That was when the Jackrabbits played their best. The previous two trips to state have seen Bowie teams play not its best the first day and before improving a lot on day two to jump up in the standings.
After day one, the Jackrabbits were sitting in second place. Their team score of 316 was eight shots behind first place Lubbock Liberty and four shots ahead of third place Brock. The team was even 16 shots ahead of fourth place, meaning at least a medal looked likely.
With the opportunity Bowie had, the team decided to push it and go for it, knowing both Brock and Lubbock Liberty were liable to shoot similar scores on day two after competing against both teams at regionals.
Day two was not as good as day one for the team. Three of the five players shot worse. The team shot 334, which was 18 shots worse than day one.
Brock and Lubbock Liberty only saw its scores increase by two and one, which allowed Brock to jump Bowie for second place.
The Jackrabbits still finished 18 shots ahead of fourth place Diboll to earn a medal definitively. Their two-day total of 650 was eight shots back of Brock and 33 shots from Lubbock Liberty.
Cy Egenbacher led Bowie with 80-79 for a 159 total that tied him for 10th place individually.
Andrew Sandhoff was right behind him, shooting 81-79 for 160 as he finished tied for 11th place individually.
Both are seniors and have been a part of all three state appearances dating back to their freshman season.
Rayder Mann shot 79-86 for a 165 total that tied him for 15th place. Zac Harris shot 76-90 for a 166 total as he finished in 16th place.
Hunter Lea shot 83-92 for a 175 total as he placed tied for 20th individually.

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