SPORTS
Bowie softball lights it up
In their final tournament of the season, the Bowie Lady Rabbits softball team had a winning record at Iowa Park last week.
The Lady Rabbits went 3-2 during three days of games, winning in dominating fashion while also being challenged.
The Bowie team did not start the tournament well. The Lady Rabbits played Archer City and lost in frustrating fashion. No Bowie pitcher could find the strike zone. The Lady Rabbits walked 12 Lady Cat batters and hit seven batters during four innings.
Despite only giving up three hits and committing only one fielding error, Archer City still scored 12 runs.
On offense, Bowie had trouble stringing hits together or finding its way on base in any other way. The Lady Cats would go on to win 12-0.
Highlights included extra base hits from Jasmine Jones and Season Eudey.
The Lady Rabbits had nowhere to go but up. Facing Rider next, Bowie bounced back to win in five innings 13-5, scoring at least one run in every inning on offense.
Kyle Fleming led the team with three RBIs while Jayci Logan and Kenzi Short each drove in two. The team had six extra base hits and stole 13 bases, led by Hannah Love swiping three bases.
The next day started bad again for Bowie. Petrolia hit all over the Lady Rabbits, scoring eight runs in the first inning and never looking back. Bowie did good to recover, giving up only one more run in the next three innings, but unfortunately its offense failed to get anything going.
The Lady Rabbits had four hits, with one being an extra base hit from Season Eudey, and failed to draw any walks. Bowie would lose 9-0 to the Lady Pirates.
The Lady Rabbits came into the final day on Saturday looking to finish the tournament strong. Playing a tough game against Tascosa, the teams exchanged runs the entire game.
The Lady Rebels had the lead for most of the game, up 8-3 heading into the bottom of the third inning. Bowie would tie the game the next two innings where the score would stay until Tascosa scored one run in the sixth inning to take a 9-8 lead.
The Lady Rabbits rallied in the final inning, drawing two walks with one out before an RBI single by Love tied the game. With runners in scoring position and only one put, the Lady Rebels allowed a pitch to get by the catcher, allowing Addie Farris to score the winning run on a passed ball. Bowie won 10-9.
Highlights included Jones hitting a three-run home run in the fourth inning to initially tie the game up. She finished with a team high four RBIs. Kenzi Short had two doubles in the game and Jayci Logan had a team high three steals to go with the team’s eight for the game.
The final game of the tournament against Seymour turned out to be a fun one. Both teams were scoring runs in bunches and the Lady Panthers actually led 7-6 after two innings.
Bowie would more than double its run total in the third inning and take over from there. The Lady Rabbits would score three runs or more in five of the six innings in the game while their defense shut Seymour out from the fourth inning on. Bowie would win big 21-9.
Highlights included Gracie Bently driving in a team high four RBIs, including a home run a two doubles.
Logan drove in four runs as well as hitting two doubles. Jones hit her second home run of the day as she drove in three runners.
Holzer only allowed one walk while striking out five batters in four innings of work while the defense had two fielding errors.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.
SPORTS
District awards for 1A released
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.
SPORTS
Forestburg coach retiring
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.
SPORTS
Bowie Sports Banquet
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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