Sports

This past week saw mixed results for a lot of Graham’s sports teams. Seasons are transitioning and spring sports hit full swing.

The Steers basketball team saw their season end in an overtime loss in their bi-district game while the Lady Blues softball team kept their perfect record intact. No matter the results, two players stood out for their respective teams as Reese Calhoun of the Lady Blues and Cash Bowen of the Steers earned selections as The Graham Leader’s Athletes of the Week.

Reese Calhoun, pitcher, Lady Blues softball

The Newcastle Bobcats did everything they could to pull out the win, but ultimately they took a loss to Forestburg 53-46 in their bi-district matchup Tuesday, Feb. 20.

The Steers baseball team officially opened their season Monday, Feb. 19 but it ended on a negative note as they took a loss to Springtown 6-2.

In a game where the hits were few and far between, Graham was bitten by errors which led to five of Springtown’s six runs coming as unearned. Other than the fielding mistakes, the Steers played a solid game despite the unwanted outcome.

In what was supposed to be one of the Ladycats’ toughest games to date, Newcastle came out and earned one of their biggest wins of their playoff run thus far.

The Ladycats came out on fire on both sides of the ball from the opening tipoff and ran away with a 62-29 victory Tuesday, Feb. 20 over the Saint Jo Lady Panthers. With their third consecutive playoff win, Newcastle has all the momentum in the world as they continue their way towards a championship.

The Graham Steers went into their bi-district matchup with Sweetwater expecting a battle, as the two teams had met once at the beginning of the regular season.

Tuesday night’s playoff game didn’t prove to be much different in terms of intensity, but this time Graham came out on the wrong side of things and saw their season officially end with a 64-60 overtime loss.

With one playoff victory already under their belts, the Newcastle Ladycats came out on fire in their area round game against Bloomburg and advanced yet again with a 48-34 victory Friday, Feb. 16.

In their first playoff game four days prior, the Ladycats dealt with a slow start to the game before rolling to the win. That wasn’t the case against the Wildcats as Newcastle got the scoring started right away and rode the offensive wave to a victory.

The Lady Blues softball team played two games Friday, Feb. 16, one of which was full of drama and featured a late-game comeback while the other went smoother. But Graham came out on top in both matchups and moved to 3-0 early in their season.

Due to impending weather, Graham, 3A school Iowa Park and 5A Denton met in Graham for games against each other. The Lady Blues defeated Denton 3-2 in extra innings and followed that up a few hours later with an 8-2 victory over Iowa Park.

The Graham Lady Blues powerlifters recently participated in a Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) and two girls advanced to the regional meet in their weight class.

Hannah Hollingsworth and Jasmine Denton competed Thursday, Feb. 15 in the LCQ in Weatherford along with the rest of the girls powerlifting team and the two of them will move on to the regional qualifier Thursday, Feb. 29 in Denton.

The LCQ was an opportunity for individual lifters of all schools to try to make it into the top 12 of their weight class in the region.

Seasons are changing, both with regards to the weather and sports. The basketball regular season has come to an end with the playoffs in sight, while soccer is fully immersed in district play.

Baseball and softball have begun or are about to begin their official seasons while sports like tennis, golf and powerlifting are well underway.

You couldn’t ask for much of a better start to the season than what the Lady Blues softball team got when they defeated the City View Mustangs 11-0 in a five-inning run rule game in their season opener Tuesday, Feb. 13.

The offense fired on all cylinders while starting pitcher Reese Calhoun pitched a gem of a game, throwing all five innings and striking out 12 of the 17 batters she faced. Nearly every player in the starting lineup recorded a hit and the Lady Blues scored in three of the four innings they came to the plate.