The Nocona Lady Indians won their second district game against 1A Saint Jo at home on a cold Monday night.
The Lady Indians beat the smaller Lady Panthers 12-2 by run rule after five innings.
Nocona had some tough losses in its last two games where the defense just was not as sound as it needed to be to stay in the game.
The young Lady Panthers were trying to keep their head above water and focusing on the positives besides the final score in their games the last two weeks.
Saint Jo led off and was able to get Taylor Patrick on base thanks to catcher interference with two outs, but could not capitalize.
Nocona jumped on the scoring early. After Reagan Phipps drew a walk with one out, the Lady Indians top hitter Tobie Cable came up and hit a home run that cleared the fences to put the Lady Indians up multiple runs.
Nocona added to it as next batter Avery Crutsinger hit a deep ball to right field. Thanks to trouble fielding the ball and getting it into the infield, Crutsinger was able to get all the way home for a solo inside the park home run to put the Lady Indians up 3-0.
Saint Jo pitcher Maxey Johnson was able to bounce back. After Skye Kirby hit a double to get in scoring position, Saint Jo had a groundout for out two. With Kirby on third base, Johnson struck out the next batter for out three.
The Lady Panthers answered in the second inning. Kayden Skidmore hit a single with one out. Following a fielder’s choice out at second base for out two, Presley Deweese hit a single to put two runners on base.
After both advanced to second and third base on a double steal, Nevaeh Spam then hit a ball into the center field that induced a fielding error that allowed both runners to score.
Saint Jo cut the lead to 3-2 before the next batter lined out to Nocona pitcher Phipps.
The Lady Indians came back firing on offense. Evelyn Marquez led off with a double. A sacrifice bunt moved her to third base where Abby Hill drove her home on a bunt that she was able to reach first base with.
After Hill stole second base, Phipps traded places with her with a double for another run. Cable then hit a triple to drive in Phipps before Crutsinger hit a double to drive in Cable to extend the Lady Indians lead to 7-2.
Nocona tried to score more with only one out, but a ground ball to Saint Jo’s second base went to first for an out before quickly being thrown to the catcher for an out at the plate to end the second inning on a double play.
Reagan Wilson led off for the Lady Panthers and got on base with a single. Unfortunately, for Saint Jo, the next three batters were retired by Nocona’s defense and Phipps on the mound.
The Lady Indians were looking to add to their lead, but besides a Denise DeLeon drawing a walk with one out they had no luck as Saint Jo’s Johnson struck out two batters and induced a ground out to advance the game to the fourth inning.
Bailie Nobile drew a walk with one out for the Lady Panthers, but Nocona’s Phipps struck out the next two batters to not let it grow into any scoring chances.
Hill led off for the Lady Indians with a single.
After a fielder’s choice out at second base, Cable came through with her second two-run home run, this one clearing the fences in left field.
Crutsinger then hit a single before being driven home by Kirby hitting a double to up Nocona’s score to 10-2.
Saint Jo was able to battle back and retire the next two batters on groundouts to the catcher and shortstop to end the fourth inning.
The Lady Panthers tried to get a two out rally going with Patrick drawing a walk and Johnson hitting a single that put runners at the corners. Nocona’s Phipps then was able to induce a shallow line drive right to third base for out three.
The Lady Indians only needed two more runs to end the game and Marquez and Katy Barrett both started the inning with singles.
Walker came in to run for Barrett. After Marquez stole second base, she later scored on a passed ball while Walker advanced to third base. Following a drawn walk from Hill, Phipps grounded out to the pitcher who got the out at first base, but this allowed Walker to come home for the game ending run.
Nocona won 12-2.

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