LAMESA — Trey Gomez had a complete game two-hitter on Friday afternoon to lead the Wylie baseball team to a 10-3 win over Plainview in the opening game of their best-of-three Region I-5A bi-district series.
Brooks Gay followed that up with five dominant innings on the mound in Game 2 to lead the Bulldogs to a sweep with an 11-7 win.
The Bulldogs offense helped the pitching staff with a combined 26 hits in the two games.
In baseball, there’s no substitute for quality pitching.
If you have it, you can win any game you play. If you don’t, your team’s ceiling drops precipitously.
The Early baseball team falls firmly into the first camp. And it’s for that reason, the Longhorns (18-4) are entering the playoffs with a sky-high confidence level and matching expectations.
COAHOMA — Tucked away in the far west end of the Big Country, the Coahoma softball team has quietly managed to cultivate one of the area’s best all-around players, completely under the area radar.
It wasn’t that difficult. Coahoma is isolated. It doesn’t get the media attention that other Big Country schools receive and above all else, CHS’ secret weapon, Hannah Wells, is a freshman without an established reputation.
Those days are over.
Not only does the opposition understand how good the ninth-grader is, but they’re beginning to give her the same strategic approach one may expect for an all-state-caliber senior.
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Stamford vs. Coleman (21 images)”
The Wall baseball team kicked off its playoff run with a pair of dominant efforts Thursday, run-ruling Stanton 15-2 and 16-0 at Abilene Christian University’s Crutcher Scott Field to sweep the Buffaloes in a Region I-3A bi-district series.
The Hawks, who were coming off a 10-3 win over Jim Ned to clinch the No. 1 seed out of District 6-3A on Monday, were dominant in all facets against Stanton, outhitting the Buffs 25-2 over the two games.
The victory improved WHS to 23-6 on the year and earned the Hawks an area-round date next week with the winner of this weekend’s bi-district series between Jacksboro and Comanche.
When you have the misfortune of being paired off with the defending state champion early in the playoffs, nerves are often a culprit.
That was certainly the case for the Coleman Bluekatts in a 10-0 loss to Stamford in a Class 2A area round game at Abilene Christian University on Thursday.
Hoping to get off to a good start and build some early confidence, the Bluekatts crippled themselves with three errors in a jittery six-run Stamford first inning and never recovered.
Stamford’s Citlaly Gutierrez tossed a five-inning no-hitter with 12 strikeouts and Laylonna Applin was 2 for 3 with two runs scored to lead Stamford (21-4), which advances to face either Haskell or McCamey in the regional quarterfinals.
When it comes to senior leadership, the 2022 Wylie softball team is measuring in quality, not quantity.
With just one fourth-year player on this year’s roster — center fielder Ryleigh Whitehead — the Lady Bulldogs aren’t as deep in seasoned voices as many of their past teams have been.
But Whitehead, who was been on varsity since earning a call-up for the playoffs as a freshman in 2019, has proven quite capable as a lead singer. And with eight talented juniors behind her providing near pitch-perfect backup vocals, Wylie’s lone senior is far from a solo act.
By Zach Duncan, special to Big Country Preps
Chloe Whitmire isn’t afraid to challenge opposing batters.
The Breckenridge sophomore has always had the heat to back up that aggressive mindset. Now Whitmire also has tweaked her off-speed repertoire, making her one of the Big County’s toughest pitchers to hit.
“With my catcher in front of me and a solid defense behind me, it gives me the opportunity to really try some of the big bats,” Whitmire said. “Sometimes it gets us in trouble, but that’s just how we play.”
By Mike Lee, special to Big Country Preps
Photos by Mark Martinez of the Double Mountain Chronicle
Back in February, Aspermont High School hadn’t fielded a softball team in 13 years. The Lady Hornets’ coach was going to be the ag teacher, and she was finishing up a maternity leave of absence.
But here we are in May, and the Lady Hornets are 9-2 with a playoff win to their credit as they face Van Horn in the Class 1A regional quarterfinals Thursday afternoon in Odessa. The Aspermont-Van Horn winner will advance to play the Eula-Marfa winner in the regional semifinals.
About 20-25 Aspermont girls signed a petition to restart softball in 2022, and it was approved by the superintendent and school board. Kelsey Myers, the school’s third-year agricultural teacher and FFA sponsor, agreed to coach the team.
Photos courtesy of Rita Boultinghouse
SAN SABA — As a senior playing in only his second year of high school baseball, San Saba’s Weston Oliver has had very little time to prove how good he actually is.
A first-year move-in from Class 6A Round Rock High School, Oliver is in his first and last season with the Armadillos, who have seen their win total jump from only four in 2021 to 11 this year with their new arrival in the lineup.
Here are the final Big Country baseball playoff results:
Continue reading “Big Country Baseball Playoff Results (Final)”
Merkel’s Alyssa O’Malley continues to endure pain, continues to amaze and continues to win.
For the second straight week, O’Malley has captured our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week award after capturing four Region I-3A championships, despite a stress fracture in her foot.
And in O’Malley’s case, we’re talking about individual events — not medals won in a relay event.
The Stephenville girls and Big Spring boys both finished third in their respective team competitions over the weekend at the Region I-4A track meet to headline a strong effort for area teams and athletes.
The Honeybees amassed 94 points to finish behind only team champion Canyon (122) and runner-up Argyle (106) while the Steers finished with 52 points — 10 behind second-place Decatur and 51 behind boys champion Argyle.
In all, Big Country relay teams and athletes accounted for 21 total medals — 10 on the boys side and 11 on the girls side.
Two Coleman track athletes put on a show over the weekend and the West Texas A&M Track and Field Complex in Canyon served as the stage.
This was no surprise.
As expected, Coleman’s Devinar Roberson took the Region I-2A title in the high jump, clearing 6-09 to claim gold — five inches higher than second-place Luke Braden of Stratford.
Wylie sophomore Indiah Maroney punched her ticket to the Class 5A state meet over the weekend in Lubbock, finishing second in the high jump at the Region I-5A meet to earn a trip to the Austin in two weeks.
Maroney, the only local athlete to earn a spot at state, cleared a personal-best of 5-foot-5 to match region champion Anaya Potter of Justin Northwest, but she took a silver medal on attempts.
The 6-foot-2 sophomore, who also starts for the Wylie girls basketball team, accounted for eight of the Lady Bulldogs’ nine team points and the bulk of the 14 points earned by Abilene high school athletes at the Region I-5A and I-6A meets.
It was a huge day for Cross Plains at LeGrand Stadium in San Angelo on Saturday as both the CPHS boys and girls track teams both claimed Region II-1A team championships.
The Cross Plains boys scored 70 combined points to top second-place Rankin (65) and third-place Irion County (58). The Lady Buffaloes, in the meantime, shared the team title with Irion County at 64 points apiece, followed by Sterling City with 44.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Digital photos, prints and keepsakes may be purchased by clicking the link below. The “BigCountryPreps.com” watermark will be removed from all purchased photos.
Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Region I-3A track meet Day 2 (104 images)”