SPORTS
Panthers drop first game against Dodd City 8-3 in best of three
The Saint Jo baseball team knew games were going to be tough when they reached the regional semifinal, but learned it Thursday night in Ponder.
Dodd City controlled the game for the most part and withstood a three run rally in the fifth as they held on to win 8-3 in game one of a best of three series.
The Panthers led off the game. The only runner to get on base was Wyatt Geurin, who reached first with two outs due to an error at shortstop. Unfortunately, the next batter lined out to third base.
The Hornets stung first and fast in the bottom of the first. With one out, three singles, a walk, a hit batter, a steal and a fielding error all led to three runs before pitcher Connor Thompson was able to strike out the next two batters to get out of the inning. Saint Jo trailed 3-0 heading into the second inning.
Logan Morman was able to get on base by drawing a walk with one out. After the next batter struck out, Morman was able to advance to second on a passed ball to put himself in scoring position. Unfortunately, another strikeout ended the scoring chance.
Dodd City looked to pick up where they left off. A leadoff single and two steals put the runner on third base. Two drawn walks loaded the bases and with two outs, Thompson looked to try to work himself out of a jam.
The next batter hit a hard ball into the gap between the shortstop and third base. It drilled the field umpire in the leg. One run did score, but with the deflection off the umpire, it kept the ball in the infield and did not allow a second run to score. After checking the umpire was okay, Thompson was able to strike out the next batter to end the inning. Saint Jo trailed 4-0 heading into the third inning.
The third inning went fast. The Panthers could not get anything going with their bats as they hit balls right to infielders on a fly out and ground out.
Thompson was starting to get going as his breaking ball started to be thrown for strikes. A one out bunt got a runner on base for the Hornets and a stolen base put the runner on second. Fortunately, Thompson forced a fly out to left field and a ground out to the shortstop to end the third inning.
Jake Morris got the first hit of the game for Saint Jo with a one out single. He was able to steal second as he slid around the tag. Morris then stole third as the third basemen could not handle the throw as it bounced out of his glove. Unfortunately, the next two batters struck out to end the scoring chance.
Dodd City was able to leadoff with a double. Thompson looked like he might be able to work around this as he was able to strikeout the next batter and forced a pop up to first base for two outs.
Unfortunately, the Hornets were able to string off three singles, a drawn walk and force an error at first to score three runs before the Panthers were able to force a fly out to center field for the third out. Dodd City led 7-0 heading into fifth inning. Things were looking dire unless Saint Jo started to make things happen with their bats.
Brock Durham led off the fifth inning with a base hit that was fumbled by the third basemen for a second, allowing him to beat the throw. Jose “Pepe” Gams then hit a single that got out of the infield. With a hit and run call on, Durham was able to reach third. Next batter Eli Jones then hit a hard ground ball to right field that scored Durham. The outfielder mishandled the ball for a second, allowing both base runners to advance to second and third. With no outs, the Panthers were showing some life.
Harper Roberts was able to drive in another run as a hard ground ball to the shortstop was mishandled for an error that allowed another run to score and Roberts to be safe. With runners at the corners and no outs, things did not seem like they were going to slow down anytime soon.
Roberts was picked off at first during the next at bat, with Thompson hitting a ball to the pitcher. The first basemen could not handle the throw as another error allowed another base runner to get on base while the runner on third scored to cut the lead to 7-3.
During the next at bat, Thompson stole second. Right as the batter struck out, Thompson attempted to steal third base and was thrown out to end the half inning.
Still the momentum seemed to have shifted. The only question was if the Panthers could get any more magic going with their bats again and if they could play clean defense.
Morris came in to pitch in relief. The leadoff batter was hit to get on base. He was able to advance to second on a ground out. A strikeout made it two outs. The next batter hit a single that did not get out of the infield to prevent the runner from scoring, but put runners at the corners with two outs.
The runner on first stole second, but Morris was able to strike out the next batter looking to get out of the jam and with Saint Jo still trailing 7-3 heading into the sixth inning.
The Panthers were able to put balls in play in the top of the sixth, but the string of sloppy fielding that allowed Saint Jo to go on their run in the previous inning was cleaned up from Dodd City as they made three solid defensive plays to move the game into the bottom of the sixth.
The Hornets leadoff batter was hit again. A ground out advanced the runner to second. With two outs, a batter hit a ground ball to the pitcher. The throw to first was good, but the first basemen could not handle the throw for an error. This allowed the runner on second to score to put Dodd City up 8-3 heading into the final inning.
With two outs, Jones was able to draw a walk. Next batter Roberts hit a hard ground ball to the shortstop, who again bobbled the ball for an error that allowed both runners to reach base cleanly and give Saint Jo some life. A wild pitch allowed both runners to advance to second and third. Unfortunately, the next batter grounded out to second base to end the game.
To read more, pick up a copy of the mid-week 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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