It took the Wall bats a couple of innings to get going Friday in Game 2 of its Region I-3A bi-district series against Brady, but once the Hawks finally got airborne, they soared.
Down 1-0 after two innings, WHS exploded for eight runs in the third and six in the fourth and fifth to pull away for a 20-4 win and a series sweep of the Bulldogs.
The lopsided affair, which followed a tight 5-4 win over the Bulldogs in Game 1, improved coach Jason Schniers team to 27-5-1 on the year and earned the Hawks an area-round matchup next week with the winner between Bowie and Peaster.
Clyde’s Payton Phillips is no stranger to our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. She’s no stranger to gold medals either. 
It’s not often that a Big Country baseball team charts two no-hitters in the same week. But when two pitchers with the same last name are charting the no-nos it’s about as common as the planets aligning. 
Bangs southpaw Abby Wolf has thrown so many no-hitters this year, that the subject barely raises an eyebrow. But in consecutive district wins over Coleman and Christoval last week, the sophomore managed to create a stir. 
You know you’re on a roll when you throw a no-hitter and it’s your second-best performance of the week. 
WINTERS — On paper, everything was on Brady’s side heading into Monday’s 54-33 loss to Merkel in the Class 3A girls bi-district round.
With our recent bad weather pushing an extra game into last week for the Coleman Bluecats, it gave senior guard Braxton Smith three chances to pile up big numbers. 
He entered last week as the leading scorer in the entire Big Country, putting up more than 37 points per game. So few will be surprised to hear that Benamin’s Grayson Ridgon has put up yet another performance worthy of our Big Country Preps Player of the Week Award. 
With standout running back Sawyer Wilkerson getting much of the media attention in 2022, the Comanche Indians have been receiving efficient, under-publicized play from the quarterback spot through much of a 10-1 record. 
Jim Ned 41, Pilot Point 0 — Troy Doran rushed for 174 yards and two scores to lead Jim Ned to an easy first round win over Pilot Point. 
Wall 54, Brady 10 — The Hawks locked up the district title with a big win at Brady, rushing for 309 yard via committee. 
Wall 10, Early 7 — Gunnar Dillard rushed for 167 yards and on 32 carries and Nathan Pepper rushed for 88 yards and one TD to lead Wall to a difficult win over Early. 
With some people projecting Zephr as an underdog in last week’s game with Sidney, very few people were expecting ZHS to provide us with the Big Country Preps Player of the Week.
Early 69, Grape Creek 0 — Jaxyn Price threw for 244 yards and four scores as Early had an easy time with Grape Creek.
Snyder quarterback Easton Stewart barely makes a dent when he steps on the scale, standing in at 5-foot-8 and only 140 pounds. But the SHS junior was plenty big enough to lead the Tigers to a 35-21 upset over Graham last week at Tiger Stadium. 
Wall 36, Ballinger 0 — Wall rushed for 357 yards with Nathan Pepper collecting 144 of those in 18 carries. 
