SPORTS
Jackrabbits baseball beat Henrietta
The Bowie Jackrabbits wrapped up the first round of district play on Tuesday with a win against Henrietta.
The Jackrabbits won 10-4, playing well besides one inning and pulling ahead in the final two innings.
Bowie was coming off a shutout win against City View the previous week and had the previous Friday off. This allowed the Jackrabbits to start their ace on the mound, Edmond De Leon.
Bowie got the lead in the first inning. Tucker Jones led off with a single. A balk would later move him to second base where Troy Kesey drove him in with a double to put the Jackrabbits up 1-0.
After a scoreless second inning, Bowie added to its lead in the third inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, Hayden Rodriguez popped out to second base for an out. The throw home resulted in a fielding error which allowed a run to come in and score to put the Jackrabbits lead at 2-0.
The Bearcats fired back in the same inning. Two singles and an intentional walk loaded the bases up with two outs. The next Henrietta batter came through hitting a triple into the gap that scored three runs. A passed ball during the next at-bat allowed that same player to come in and score to put the Bearcats up 4-2 before Bowie retired the next batter.
The score stayed the same after a scoreless fourth inning before the Jackrabbit bats woke up to end the game.
Troy Kesey and Seth Mann led off the fifth inning with singles. An error trying to pick a base runner off allowed one run to score. Rodriguez then hit a fly ball to center field that resulted in an error that put two runners in scoring position.
Cy Egenbacher then hit a fly ball into right field that resulted an another error that allowed one run to score and tie the game up at 2-2.
Bowie then took in the lead in the sixth inning as Mann drove in one run on a single and later Egenbacher drove in two more on a single to make the score 5-2.
Then in the final inning, the Jackrabbits added more runs to their lead. Rayder Mann led off with a triple and Jones followed with another triple to drive him in. Seth Mann later hit a hard groundball to second base that resulted in an error that drove in another run. Later De Leon drove in a run on a single to put his team up 10-4.
De Leon then retired the side to close out the game on the mound and get the win.
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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