Here are the girls area track bests through March 27 (top 15 in each event): 

CAPITAL FARM CREDIT WEDNESDAY NIGHT PODCAST: Early softball coach Alfonso Chavez talks Lady ‘Horns softball with Evan and Dan 

COLEMAN — With area rival De Leon coming to town on Tuesday with designs on first place, the Coleman Bluecats got the one thing they wanted most in an effort to protect their district lead: a great pitching performance. 

Ryland Gentry threw a complete-game four-hitter with seven strikeouts and was 2 for 3 with an RBI to lead Coleman to a 7-2 win at CHS to keep the Bluecats (5-4, 4-0 District 7-2A) on top of the league standings. 

Here the boys area track bests through March 20 (top 15 in each event): 

Here are the girls area track bests through March 20 (top 15 in each event): 

EARLY — With district favorite Brock in town on Friday and Early playing the roll of underdog, the Lady Longhorns needed a triple dose of patience, confidence and luck to snap a losing streak to BHS that dated back at least nine seasons. 

As fate would have it, the Lady ‘Horns found all three in a stunning come-from-behind 7-6 win which saw them rally from a 6-2 deficit with five unanswered runs between the fifth and seventh innings. 

CAPITAL FARM CREDIT WEDNESDAY NIGHT PODCAST: Jim  Ned’s Erica Jones talks Lady Indian softball with Evan and Dan 

MERKEL — It’s all a matter of perspective. 

Following Brady’s 4-0 win at Merkel on Tuesday, the Bulldogs can easily view their victory as a clutch performance, marked by timely hitting and pitching that came through whenever they were needed.

Merkel, on the other hand, can view it as a day of missed opportunities, with  a dozen men left on base, including five who reached scoring position. 

Photo courtesy of Tommy Hays.

While much of the Big Country may be unfamiliar with Brock senior Tessa Cowan, Dublin and Peaster became well acquainted with our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week last week in their respective 18-3 and 13-1 losses. 

Finishing a combined 5 of 7 through the two wins, Cowan went yard three times to go with a double, a walk and 10 RBIs. 

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Continue reading “PHOTO GALLERY: Ballinger-Merkel softball (29 images)” →

CAPITAL FARM CREDIT WEDNESDAY NIGHT PODCAST: Evan and Dan talk state and regional basketball

MERKEL — It took a few innings for highly touted Merkel to get it bats going in Tuesday’s District 6-3A opener with Ballinger.

But once the Lady Badgers got started, the complexion of the game turned on a dime — flipping a would-be pitchers’ duel into a 12-2 win via the mercy rule in six innings for MHS.

Eve Rodriguez with 3 for 3 with three RBIs  and Jaycee Tumlinson was 3 for 4 with an RBI to lead Merkel (11-1, 1-0), which pounded out 17 hits en route to the win — 16 of which came in the final four innings. 

Somehow or another, Merkel continues to produce quality girls hurdlers – Carly Szabo and Kaydi Pursley, among others.

The latest example: senior Alyssa O’Malley, who is already picking up where she left off a year ago when she posted the second-fasted time in the area.

Last week she took silver in the 100-meter hurdles (15.59), gold in the 300 hurdles (47.75), gold in the high jump (5-4) and gold with the 1,600 relay team at the Ballinger track meet to take our Capital Farm Credit/BCP Player of the Week for the week ending March 5.

A fast-paced search for a new Athletic Director for the Abilene Independent School District has come to an end with the selection of Jim Garfield to the post.

Garfield, 58, comes to AISD after serving as the Assistant Athletics Director for Lubbock ISD and will replace Phil Blue who is retiring at the end of the school year. Blue announced his retirement at the end of January.

He had been with LISD since early 2017.

SAN ANTONIO — A quick glance at the stat sheet of Saturday’s Class 2A girls state championship game told the story. 

After falling to Gruver 50-38 in the Alamodome, the Stamford Lady Bulldogs could quickly pinpoint two keys that hurt them more than anything else. 

SAN ANTONIO — In the end, it all came down to Ackerly Sands’ trapping defense in its 60-33 win over Robert Lee in the girls Class 1A state title game Saturday at the Alamodome.

Despite shooting a lower percentage than Robert Lee (.417 to .386) and being outrebounded by a whopping 16 boards, the Lady Mustangs had all the compensation they needed with their relentless defensive pressure. 

CAPITAL FARM CREDIT WEDNESDAY NIGHT PODCAST: Evan and Dan take a look at the area’s top baseball players and teams.

HASKELL — There are much easier places in the Big Country to secure a road win than Haskell’s “TeePee”. So when Stamford girls coach Joe Crabb lost a coin flip which forced his Lady Bulldogs to face the Maidens there in a Region II-2A quarterfinal on Tuesday, he knew he had a difficult task at hand. 

Crabb got exactly what he expected: A fired-up Haskell team and a raucous crowd which forced Stamford to rally in the fourth quarter for a 57-46 win — the 700th victory in Crabb’s lengthy career. 

The Goldthwaite boys’ basketball team lists seven seniors on its roster, yet the Eagles’ leading scorer is freshman Luke Sanderson.

A 5-foot-10 guard, Sanderson leads Goldthwaite in scoring at 16.6 points per game, assists at 2.9 per game, steals at 2.1 per game, and free-throw shooting at 74 percent. He also ranks second on the team in rebounds at 6.1 per game and in field goal shooting at 48 percent.

This on a playoff-bound team that has seven seniors in guards Jackson Patrick, Seth Gardner and Saul Vaquera; forwards Cason Guthrie, Bryson Keel and Cole Hermesmeyer; and center Kody Roberts.

Photos by Mike Jones of MJ Photography and Shayla Kirby

Early High School’s Vic Cooper was a good basketball player last season, when he averaged 16.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game as a junior. But second-year Early coach Eric Davis said Cooper is even better this season as a senior.

“The biggest improvements are in his strength and toughness,” Davis said of the 6-foot-5, 195-pound Cooper. “He’s also improved his ball-handling skills, shooting touch and court vision to make himself a more versatile player. He’s not as raw as he was last year, and he was pretty good last year.”

Another big difference in Cooper this season is his handling of opposing defenses that collapse on him in the paint.

When the UIL boys basketball playoffs start this week, Jayton will enter as one of several highly ranked favorites to capture Region I-A.  

A third trip to state in four years would be quite an accomplishment for Ryan Bleiker’s program. However, that’s not on the mind of the longtime Jaybirds coach right now.  

“We really do just try to enjoy the process, enjoy each win,” Bleiker said. “What I never want to happen is that we take things for granted, that winning a bi-district game doesn’t mean as much. I really want us to try and enjoy each moment while also having goals, but those goals will come if we enjoy the process.”  

ABILENE — Locked in a half-court battle with heavily favored Peaster on Friday, the Wall Lady Hawks had the look of a team capable of pulling off a titanic upset at Abilene Christian’s Teague Center. 

That is, until Peaster turned the Region I-3A area round matchup into a full-court game, and literally pressured its way to a 70-41 win. 

Brooklyn Bosher and Payton Hull both scored 24 points with three 3-pointers apiece to lift Peaster (33-4) which advances to face Nocona in the regional quarterfinals next week. 

Leading 27-23 at the break, Peaster used the second of two lengthy runs to put Wall on the ropes, ripping through the third quarter with a 22-5 margin for a 49-28 lead heading into the final period.