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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Early-Jacksboro softball bi-district playoff (20 images)”
EARLY — It was six hours of insanity with a half hour bathroom break in the middle. But by the time the dust settled, the Early Lady Longhorns had posted back-to-back one-run victories to eliminate Jacksboro in a best-of-three bi-district series that may never be forgotten by those who played in it.
Having lost Game 1 on Thursday, Early rallied to take Game 2, 9-8 Saturday evening. But that was a mere warmup for the storm ahead: An 18-17 knockdown drag-out affair that didn’t end until after 1 a.m. Sunday morning. Fans arrived in short sleeves, enjoying a warm evening. They left wrapped in blankets as a late-night chill dominated Game 3 several hours later.
A no-hitter alone is often enough to secure the Big Country Preps Player of the Week award. But when it’s backed by a solid offensive performance, it’s very difficult to get knocked off of the perch.
Brock sophomore Jesse Rusinek takes this week’s accolade after holding Eastland hitless in a 15-0 mercy rule win that saw him miss a perfect game by one walk. He fanned 12 in the process.
“He was dealin’ out there,” Brock coach Kobe Page said of the stuff Rusinek had in the Eastland game. “When he’s on, he’s pretty tough … just showing up, battling and moving the ball around the strike zone. He was ‘on.'”
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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Early-Breckenridge baseball (70 images)”
BRECKENRIDGE —It took nearly 3.5 hours and 11 innings to settle the issue. But the Breckenridge Buckaroos finally got what they desperately needed on Tuesday to keep their hopes for a No. 2 playoff seed alive.
Facing second-place Early and needing a win to force a tie in the standings, Breckenridge rallied from two separate deficits — the last of which came in extras to lift the Buckaroos to a thrilling 6-5 win in a classic Big Country matchup at O.D. Woodward Stadium.
Caiden Marin provided a game-winning single, Bryson Herring was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs and Marco Jaramillo got the win in relief to lift Breckenridge (10-13-1, 8-3 District 8-3A) which is now locked in a second-place tie with Early with three games to play.
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.
And for the third time since last year, the CHS senior has captured our weekly accolade — this time with an armful of hardware.
In her latest performance, Phillips won four separate district championships and took silver in a fifth at the District 6-3A track meet.
It’s difficult to trump a no-hitter, though Snyder’s Ava Aviles came close last week.
Aviles, who threw back-to-back two-hitters for Snyder softball, is our first runner-up to her classmate, Player of the Week Ty Davis and his first career no-hitter.
Davis earned a 13-2 five-inning win over Levelland last week, holding LHS hitless in the mercy rule win, finishing with five strikeouts.
“Ty has continued to improve on the mound and has given us some excellent innings this season, none bigger than last Tuesday with his no-hit performance,” Snyder coach Shane Stewart said. ” I am proud of him and looking forward to watching him mature as a pitcher and a young man.”
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.
That was the case last week with the Albany Lions, who in sweeping Haskell (15-0) and Stamford (11-1) saw Cole and Tyler Chapman (non-siblings) post back-to-back no-hitters.
Cole, a senior, blanked Haskell in four innings of work in a mercy rule win, fanning six. Three days later, Tyler got into the act in a five-inning run-rule win with 12 Ks.
They now share our Big Country Preps Player of the Week award — another rarity.
“We were very proud of our pitchers last week,” Albany coach David Fairchild said. “Both pitchers were in control and in command of their pitches.”
EARLY — It took nine innings and more than two hours to come to a conclusion, but Tuesday’s District 8-3A softball showdown between Early and Brock lived up to its expectations.
With the score knotted at 2-2, Early’s Teagan Lopez drove a pitch from Melanie Middleton over the fence in dead center to drive home Jordan Simmons with a game-winning two-run walk-off homer in a 4-2 victory at EHS.
With the win, Early (13-2, 3-0) takes possession of first place in the district race while Brock (8-10-1, 2-1) slips off the pace by a game.
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.
And he did exactly that.
Our Big Country Preps Player of the Week opened with 19 points and nine steals in a win over Bangs last Monday. He followed that with 13 points, eight assists and 10 steals in a near-triple double in a win over Winters.
Eula’s Clayton Gray, our Big Country Preps Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 4, earned the accolade on two fronts. Not only did he post big numbers in consecutive wins over Moran and Rising Star, but he also reached an impressive milestone in the process.
To begin with, the junior guard chalked up 29 points, six boards and four blocks in a win over Moran. He also tallied 43 points, eight boards and four steals in a win over Rising Star.
If you haven’t heard of Cisco’s Gavin Landenberger yet, that’s understandable. He and his talented brother, Aiden, were move-ins from Mississippi late last year and weren’t eligible to play varsity ball at CHS.
Now freely able to play, the siblings are making up for lost time and Gavin is currently making enough noise to draw attention from the entire area.
Named as our Big Country Preps Player of the Week, the senior guard absolutely went off last week, beginning with a 28-point night in a win over Albany. He followed that three days later with 32 points in a come-from-behind win at Stamford. The latter saw him hit four straight-3-pointers in an 18-point third quarter.
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.
Last week was perhaps the best example of that, with junior signal caller Layden Welch torching Henrietta with an 11 of 16 passing performance for 248 yards and five TDs in a 69-27 win.
But that’s just the beginning.
Welch also rushed 11 times for 65 yards and two scores. He gathered five solo tackles, four assisted stops, forced a fumble and deflected a pass to help CHS advance to the area round.
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.
The Indians rolled up 479 yards in total offense en route to the win, overcoming a 3-1 turnover disparity in the process. Leading 14-0 at the break, Jim Ned blew the game open with 27 unanswered points in the second half.
After highlighting the Big Country’s top guards and forwards the past two nights, we now take a look at the area’s best big men.
For the final installment in our three-part boys basketball position rankings series, we rank the Big Country’s top 10 post players.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through our rankings, and make sure to check back for all our boys and girls basketball coverage this season.
After kicking off our boys basketball position rankings series on Tuesday with the guards, we now shift our attention to the forwards.
For the second installment in our three-part series, we rank the area’s top-10 players at that position for 2022-23.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With boys basketball season beginning this week, it’s time to shine a spotlight on some of the players you’ll be reading about throughout the 2022-23 season.
For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions on the area boys basketball scene, we’ll be taking a look at the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this winter.
We hope you enjoy reading through our list.
Wall 54, Brady 10 — The Hawks locked up the district title with a big win at Brady, rushing for 309 yard via committee.
Seven different Wall ball carriers saw action, with four of them reaching the end zone.
After focusing on the top guards and forwards the Big Country has to offer the past two nights, it’s time to shift our attention to the paint.
For the final installment in our three-part position rankings series, we list our top-10 post players for the 2022-23 season.
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading through these rankings, and make sure to come back next week when we’ll feature the top boys basketball players in the Big Country.
After kicking off our girls basketball position rankings series with the guards on Tuesday, we now turn our attention to the forwards.
For the second installment in our three-part series, we rank the area’s top 10 players at that position with some others to watch for in 2022-23.
We hope you enjoy our list.
With the girls basketball season upon us, it’s time to take a look at the local and area players who will be making the biggest impact for their teams during the 2022-23 season.
For the first installment in a three-part series that will cover all positions, we’ll be focusing on the Big Country’s top guards, ranking our top 10 with a list of others to watch this season.
As with any such list, these rankings are subjective. We hope you enjoy reading through our selections.
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.
The Hawks (8-1, 4-0) now has sole possession of first place with the win, but must defeat Brady (5-4, 3-1) next week to lock up the district title.
Early 69, Grape Creek 0 — Jaxyn Price threw for 244 yards and four scores as Early had an easy time with Grape Creek.
The Longhorns rushed for 194 yards collectively, with four different EHS players scoring rushing touchdowns.
