SPORTS
Nocona softball loses shootout on road
The Nocona Lady Indians competed at Childress on Friday, but just could not keep up with the Lady Cats scoring.
Childress won 18-8 in five innings as the Lady Indians had their most successful game at the plate during district play.
Nocona was able to take the lead in the first inning as Kycelynn Contreras had a two RBI double to go up 2-0. The Lady Cats fired back with two runs of there own to tie the game 2-2 after one inning.
The Lady Indians failed to get anything going in the inning while Childress had a huge inning. After five hits, two errors and two walks, the Lady Cats had scored seven runs to go up 9-2.
Nocona would not give up. Taylor Richards scored on an error and Laci Stone drove in another run.
After loading the bases, Jenna McBride was able drive in a run with single to cut the lead to 9-5. Unfortunately, Childress was able to make up those runs by scoring three runs of its own with four walks and two hits, going up 12-5.
The Lady Indians were able to load the bases with two outs in the fourth inning, but could not come away with any runs. The Lady Cats continued to add to its lead, scoring four more runs thanks to three hits and one walked batter to up 16-5.
Nocona needed to score at least two runs to avoid being run ruled in the fifth inning. The Lady Indians were able to accomplish that as Gisel Hernandez drove in two runs with the bases loaded on a single up the middle. One more run was able to score thanks to an error in the outfield to make the score 16-8.
Nocona’s defense needed to hold if it wanted to avoid being run ruled, but it had failed to keep Childress from scoring at least two runs in every inning so far and that trend would continue. A fielding error led to one run scoring and another base hit drove in the winning run for the Lady Cats as they won 18-8.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
With the baseball and softball seasons over for the area 1A schools, district awards have been released.
Listed below are those earned honors on the field and in the classroom for Saint Jo and Bellevue.
Softball
Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Utility player: Taylor Patrick; Catcher: Jordyn O’Neal
Baseball
Superlatives
Offensive MVP: Devin Stewart, Saint Jo
Newcomer of the Year: Bryce Ramsey, Bellevue
Pitcher: Trent Gaston, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Jayden Curry, Saint Jo
Second team
Pitcher: Charlie Barclay, Saint Jo
Infielder: Brycen Bancroft, Bellevue; Sam Martin, Saint Jo
Outfielder: Rylan Forrester, Saint Jo
Catcher: Charlie Evans, Saint Jo
Utility: Logan Hoover, Saint Jo
DH: Amzy Barclay, Saint Jo
Honorable mention
Cody Gaston, Saint Jo; Xander Joyner, Saint Jo
To see academic awards from Saint Jo players, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
Eldon Van Hooser is leaving Forestburg better than he found it.
The head boy’s basketball coach is retiring after more than 30 years, spending the last five at Forestburg.
Van Hooser did not come to this decision because of a lack of fire or feeling tired after decades in the profession. He had to for family reasons.
“My wife has MS (multiple sclerosis) and it’s a disease where you have trouble standing and walking and she needs help,” Van Hooser said. “I am able to so I am going to step away from teaching and coaching to be there for her.”
Van Hooser was hired in 2019. Along with being the boy’s basketball coach, he also was the football team’s defensive coordinator.
There were some lean years for Forestburg on the boy’s athletic side, with numbers being low and the available athletes being mostly underclassmen.
For two years, the Longhorns’ boy’s basketball team won few games and one of those seasons saw the team field five players on the high school team.
“One of those years we had COVID-19 and the other we had five kids,” Van Hooser said. “It was very rough. After that we worked with the kids and we had a good freshman group coming up. Next year they are going to be seniors.”
That group has helped to turn the program around. Last year the young Longhorns team contested for a playoff spot and just barely missed it finishing fifth in the district.
This season, that same group took a leap and finished second in district with a record of 7-5.
Despite losing its last two regular season games in dramatic fashion heading into the playoffs, the team stepped up in the bi-district game.
Playing against an athletic Newcastle team, Forestburg led for most of the game.
Unfortunately, the previous game against Bellevue saw the Longhorn team blow the lead late in the fourth quarter against a hard pressing style team and they were suffering the same fate against the Bobcats down the stretch.
Fortunately, Forestburg held on just enough to win 53-46. It was the first boy’s basketball playoff win in nine years for Forestburg.
“It was huge for our program,” Van Hooser said. “This new year we will have new goals. The new coach will have some goals of his own, but I set some for the team and think that we have come a long way.”
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
The Bowie sports banquets was on Monday night. Olivia Gill and Tucker Jones were named Jackrabbit and Lady Rabbit of the year. Pick up the mid-week paper for all of the sports team awards and pictures.
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