SPORTS
Nocona softball beats Seymour in a slugfest, baseball loses close game to City View
Softball
The Nocona Lady Indians won a high scoring slugfest at Seymour on Tuesday night.
The Lady Indians held on to win 15-14 against the Lady Panthers.
It was a game where the majority of Nocona’s runs came in two innings. The Lady Indians scored in the first inning when Shelby Sewell drove in the first run with a single.
Seymour answered five runs across the second and third inning to go up 5-1 entering the fourth inning. It was there where Nocona took control of the game.
The Lady Indians had five singles, one triple, a drawn walk and took advantage of a fielding error to combine for seven runs. Even with the Lady Panthers getting one run back offensively in the fourth inning, Nocona led 8-6 heading into the fifth inning.
The Lady Indians scored one run on a groundout to shortstop, but Seymour caught up and scored three runs to tie the game up at 9-9 heading into the sixth inning.
After Nocona’s offense came up blank, the Lady Panthers scored one run to take the lead 10-9 heading into the final inning.
It was a great time for the Lady Indians to explode for another big offensive inning.
The team combined for four singles, two doubles and a triple that produced six runs for Nocona, going up 15-10.
Seymour fought back in its final at-bats, with the bases loaded and two outs, the Lady Panthers hit a grand slam to cut the lead down to one run 15-14. A single followed to put the tying run on base.
Thankfully, the next batter popped out to second base for out three to end the game.
Baseball
The Nocona Indians at City View on Monday night in a competitive game against the Mustangs.
The Indians fell short 7-5 against the Mustangs.
The first runs to come across the plate happened in the bottom of the third inning. City View had one walk, two singles and took advantage of two errors to score two runs and go up 2-0.
Nocona answered back immediately in the top of the fourth inning. Miller Jentry drove in a run with a single and Konor Harrington stole home at a later at-bat to tie the game up at 2-2.
The Indians then took the lead in the top of the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, Wesley Murphey drew a walk that drove in a run. Harrington then followed and hit a double that drove in two more runs to put Nocona up 5-2.
Unfortunately, the lead did not last long. City View hit a two-run home run and then scored three more runs on two singles, two fielding errors and a walk to go up 7-5.
Nocona was in position in the sixth inning to score more runs with the bases loaded, but did not come through.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend 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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