The Nocona Indians came up just short of coming from behind to win as they lost at Henrietta on Friday night.
The Indians scored in the final three innings, but came up one run short as the Bearcats won 4-3.
Nocona had a chance in the first inning. Hunter Fenoglio drew a walk. After the next two batters were retired, Trenten Womack gut a ground ball that Henrietta had trouble fielding, committing an error that allowed Fenoglio to reach third base. Unfortunately, the next batter grounded out towards the pitcher to end the chance.
Besides a two out walk, pitcher Jason Sparkman had no issue retiring three batters with little fuss. The game was scoreless entering the second inning.
Sparkman drew a walk with one out. Anthony Veitenheimer hit a single, but Sparkman was out at second base. Veitenheimer stole second base to put himself in scoring position, but the next batter was sat down with a strike out to end the chance.
Henrietta took advantage of the mistakes the Indians made in the second. Three straight errors with one out loaded the bases. After striking out a batter for the second out, the Bearcats came through with a double into the gap that drove in two runs.
Henrietta wanted three runs, but the runner was thrown out at home to end the second inning, with the Bearcats leading 2-0.
Logan Barnes was able to reach first thanks to an error at second base. With one out, he stole second base to put himself in scoring position. For the third straight inning, Nocona could not get the runner home as the next two batters were retired.
Henrietta added to its lead with a walk, a steal and double to go up 3-0. A single and walk loaded the bases with only one out and the Bearcats looked poised to break open the game. Sparkman was able to strike out one batter and force a ground out at second base to get out of the jam before things got worse.
John Womack led off the fourth inning with a walk. Three batters later, Veitenheimer joined him with two outs. Unfortunately, no hits left both runners stranded. Henrietta had less luck as Sparkman retired all three batters with little drama.
The fifth inning saw the Indians get on the board. Fenoglio drew a walk to leadoff. Barnes reached base thanks to an error by the pitcher. Trenten hit a single to load the bases with one out.
This time Nocona came through as John hit a single that scored one run to cut the lead to 3-1. With only one out and the bases still loaded, it looked like the Indians might be able to score multiple runs. Unfortunately, that thought came to and end as the next batter hit into a double play.
The Bearcats were able to makeup the run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth inning to make the score 4-1 following a single and an error.
Veitenheimer was able to hit a one out single in the sixth inning. After stealing second base, Fenoglio was able to drive him in with a line drive to right field, cutting the lead to 4-2.
A fielding error and a base hit from Carlos Castro loaded the bases, but a fly ball to center field fell in an outfielder’s glove to end the scoring chance. A base hit and a hit batter put two Henrietta runners on base with one out. Fortunately, Sparkman was able to retire the next two batters to keep the lead at only two heading into the final inning.
John led off by getting hit by a pitch. Two batters later Sparkman hit a single. That was followed with Veitenheimer hitting a single, but the Bearcats were able to get the out at second base for the second out.
A balk allowed John to score from third base and Veitenheimer to advance to second base. With the tying run on second base, Joan Gomez made contact and hit a line drive into right field. Veitenheimer was waived home, but the rally home from Henrietta was in time as the Bearcats tagged him out for the final out. Nocona lost 4-3.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.