SPORTS
The Indians pick up first district win
The Nocona Indians earned their first district win on Tuesday at home against City View in a game they came back from an early deficit.
The Indians won 8-6, but found themselves behind early in the game.
The Mustangs scored two runs in the first inning thanks to two fielding errors and a single. After Nocona failed to get a runner on base, City View added two more runs in the second inning thanks to a walk, a single and a passed ball.
The Indians found themselves behind 4-0 and needed something to change momentum. Wesley Murphey drew a walk to lead off for Nocona. An error at first base trying to pick him off allowed him to reach second base.
Carlos Castro laid down a bunt to move him to third base. An error from the Mustangs fielding the play not only allowed Castro to reach second base, but Murphey to score, cutting the lead to 4-1.
Nocona looked to score more as Johnny Stone was able to get on base due to another fielding error. Unfortunately, City View’s defense redeemed itself as the team pulled off an inning ending double play to get out of the jam.
The Indians defense cleaned up their play in the third inning. Only a two out single and a passed ball threatened Nocona as the defense made the routine plays for all three outs.
On the other side, the Indians kept taking advantage of City View’s defensive mistakes. Ty Presley drew a walk with one out. After a passed ball allowed him to reach second, Trey Pepper’s fly ball produced an error that allowed him to reach first and Presley third.
An error at catcher allowed Presley to score and Pepper to advance to third base. Kooper Hansard then grounded out to second base, but it was enough to drive Pepper home and cut the lead to 4-3.
Presley had a great inning on the mound as he struck out the side for Nocona. A dropped third strike was redeemed as the batter was thrown out before he got to first base.
On offense, good things continued to happen as the Indians kept benefiting from Mustang errors. Colton Russell led off with a single. A stolen base and a ground out allowed him to reach third base with two outs. An error trying to pick him off at third allowed him to score and tie up the game.
Charlie Fuller and Miguel Olivares then hit back-to-back singles. An error trying to field Olivares hit into the outfield allowed Fuller to score and give Nocona the lead 5-4.
Hansard came in to pitch starting the fifth inning. A one out single provided pressure as the base runner stole second and third base to put him in scoring position to tie the game. Fortunately, Hansard was able to strike out the final batter for the third out.
The Indians offense kept up its assault. Pepper and Hansard led off with back-to-back singles. Pepper stole second base, which put him on third base following Hansard’s hit.
Murphey hit a fly ball into right field for an out, but it was deep enough for Pepper to score.
Russell then came up to bat and hit a double into right field. Castro then came up to bat and grounded out to third base, but it drove in Hansard to up the lead to 7-4.
Hansard struck out the side in the sixth inning to keep City View from building any momentum as Nocona had a firm control of the game.
Olivares was able to draw a walk with one out for the Indians. A ground out and a steal moved him to third base with two outs. It looked like he might get stranded there as Pepper’s ground ball was fielded by the catcher. A bad throw for an error not only allowed Pepper to reach second, but Olivares to score and up the lead to 8-4. Pepper’s bid to steal third base was snuffed out for the third out to end the sixth inning.
It looked like the game was about to be wrapped up, but City View had one last gasp trying to come back in its final at-bats.
A dropped third strike allowed the leadoff runner to get on base. A passed ball and a stolen base allowed him to reach third before a shallow pop out led to the first out. A ground out to first base followed for the second out, but it allowed the runner on third base to score.
The next batter hit a fly ball, but the Indians defense committed an error that allowed the batter to reach second base. A passed ball put another runner on third base, before a single drove him home and cut the lead to 8-6.
A balk then allowed the base runner to reach second base. Hansard was then able to put an end to it all as he struck out the batter for the final out of the game.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.
A solid day was had by Montague county high school tracksters at the State Track and Field Meet May 16 in Austin.
Bellevue’s Mattie Broussard had a pair of second place finishes in both the 800-meter run with a time of 2:21.41 and the 3,200-meter run with a time of 11:31.33. Broussard also was 4th in the 1,600-meters with a time of 5:22.18.
Her teammate Brylie Hager was 9th in the 110-meter hurdles in 19.93.
Forestburg’s Brenna Briles was 4th in the triple jump with a 35’9 1’2” leap. Her teammate Jocelyn Rich was 4th in the pole vault with a 9’ leap.
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
Bowie had a pair of top four finishes at the State Track and Field Meet May 14.
Sophomore Brayden Willett made it onto the medal stand, finishing 3rd in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 4:17.89. Bowie junior Tyler Richey finished 4th in the pole vault after a 14’6” effort.
The top two finishers from Holliday, also in Bowie’s district, celebrated with him after he crossed the finish line.
“It was kind of surprising,” Willett said about Ryder and Noah Stroman embracing him in a celebratory hug. “They’re good guys, so it was kind of cool.”
For further details, pick up a copy of Thursday’s Bowie News.
This past week found your outdoor scribe doing some rather mundane things such as yard work, vegetable gardening and repairs around the old cabin. Oh, I also wrapped up a couple of magazine articles. I always enjoy sharing my adventures with all of you in this column but to be perfectly honest, not nearly as much as my ‘field work’ hunting and fishing which is an iatrical part of any good outdoor column. If you’re like me, you much prefer reading about an adventure that you can also partake.
I am far more comfortable telling you about an outdoor experience I had firsthand knowledge of rather than the reporting part of my job as an outdoor communicator. So, this week, I’d do a bit of ‘reporting’ and share some planned adventures I have scheduled for the next couple weeks. By the time you’re reading this, I will have already been in the woods in quest of a fat ‘eater’ hog and probably have some freshly caught blue catfish fillets in the freezer, details will follow in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll kick things off early in the week heading down to my friend Jeff Rice’s Buck and Bass Ranch located on the upper end of Lake Fork. Jeff produces our weekly TV show “A Sportsman’s Life” which airs on Carbon TV and YouTube. Our plan is to film a segment of our show on stalking wild hogs. It will be a challenge to capture the shot with all the thick grown spring vegetation. It could happen fast and require a fast shot. We will be breaking in my CVA Cascade scout rifle in 308 caliber. This short barrel little rifle is light and easy to handle in thick cover, ideal for this type of hunting. Our plan is to hit the woods during the last couple hours of daylight and ease along the trails, watching and especially listening for hogs. Wild porkers are vocal critters and it’s common to hear them before seeing them. We will play the wind and attempt to get downwind and then close the distance for a shot but you can never guess how a hog hunt will unfold. Wild pork or not, Jeff and I always have a great time together and I plan to bring a side of wild pork ribs already slow smoked and covered in brown sugar and BBQ sauce with a side of camp baked beans!
After a tasty dinner we plan to get a good night’s sleep and head out the next morning for a planned fishing trip with guide David Hanson at Lake Tawakoni. Both channel and blue catfish are on a very good bite right but it’s hard to pass up those snow white blue catfish fillets when the bite is good. David is, to my knowledge, the most veteran catfish guide on the lake and became friends close to a quarter-century ago when we first began fishing
together. The plan is to use freshy cut shad in shallow water and target eater size blues weighing between 2 and about 10 pounds but as every catfish angler knows, it’s always possible to connect with a big trophy size blue when fishing Tawakoni.
Next week, I plan to join my long-time friend J.C. McCollough on the Red River below the Texoma dam. I’ve been fishing and hunting with J.C. for many years and look forward to getting with him again. I would describe this to catching big catfish in a barrel but in this case the deep holes in the river are comprised of several acres. The water level in the river below Texoma are dictated by the water release at the dam by the Corp of Engineers. When there is a current in the river, fish move upstream to feed on baitfish coming through the dam. When the water recedes, they fish move into the deeper holes where baitfish also seek refuge from the falling water. Catching will be fast paced with the chance to connect with some big fish as well as limits of “eater” size fish. We’ll be rigging with big live gizzard shad fished weightless on a free line, using medium spinning gear. The bigger fish will often nail the frisky live shad and the fresh cut bait is a sure way to connect with lots of smaller fish. There is something very exciting about fishing big live baits on a slack line. One minute your bait will be darting around and you will occasionally feel it taking up slack and the next when a big blue catfish grabs the bait, the rod will bow and the fight will be on. There is usually no ‘setting the hook’, by the time you feel the fish, it will already be hooked and making a strong run to the nearest submerged brush. Your job will be to keep the drag set just enough to keep pressure on the fish but not so much as to cause the line to break.
J.C. uses his airboat to access these deeper holes because of the very shallow water. While it’s not impossible to portage a kayak or small boat in the river, it often requires a few miles travel to get to these deep holes, this is best accomplished by experienced kayakers with plenty of endurance. There was a time when I was game for this type fishing but I much prefer to do my river fishing these days from a boat designed to negotiate the shallow waters.
Squirrel season is underway in many of the east Texas counties and there’s some pretty good fox squirrel hunting here close to home in Kaufman county and I’ve been thinking about how tasty a big skillet of smothered squirrel with rice, gravy and biscuits would be. Bream are on the beds now and my friend Edgar Cotton invited me to come do some ‘perch jerking’ with him and his son David-it’s in the plans! Well, hopefully next week I will have a ‘sure nuff’ adventure of two to relate you you-I’m ready to get some relief from all this work around the homeplace! LC
You can contact Tawakoni/Fork catfish guide David Hanson at 902-268-7391. Contact J.C. McCollough at 580-372-0320.
Listen to Luke’s podcast, “Catfish Radio” just about everywhere podcast are found.
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