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.

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.