Calhoun, Bowen earn Athletes of the Week

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

It’s not often that a player has a start to the season like Calhoun has had for the Lady Blues team so far.

Within the last week, the four-year varsity starter threw 20 innings, gave up only five runs (three earned) and struck out 24 batters. The senior helped lead the team to wins over 5A schools Denton and Rider and 3A Iowa Park.

“Reese Calhoun is a great softball player, great student and one of our team leaders,” head coach Adam Arrington said. “This is her fourth year on varsity and (she) puts in work daily during practice and outside of practice. She is a girl you want in the circle because she will always give us a chance to win.”

In the extra-inning win over Denton, Calhoun reached a major milestone in her career when she struck out her 500th batter. She struck out 10 hitters in the game but the biggest one was when she hit that mark.

A few days after the wins in the double-header, Calhoun hit another milestone. In the third inning against Rider, the Lady Blues had loaded the bases for Calhoun, who launched a long fly ball to left field for her first career home run, a grand slam.

“500 career strikeouts is a huge milestone for any pitcher. She has grit and determination while representing the Lady Blues,” Arrington said. “She hit her first career home run versus Rider and it happened to be a grand slam. She was down 0-2 in the count and wasn’t phased by it. The pitcher made a mistake and she made her pay for it.”

Calhoun had a milestone week and will continue to be a major part of this Lady Blues team the rest of the season.

Cash Bowen, center, Steers basketball

Though the outcome wasn’t what any Steers fan wanted, Bowen had a huge impact in Graham’s bi-district game this past week as he played one of his best games of the entire season.

As the tallest player on the team, Bowen spends a lot of his time in and around the key, looking for rebounds and opportunities to score baskets at the rim. His work the entire season came to a head in Graham’s bi-district game against Sweetwater, as Bowen regularly made his presence felt down low.

The junior finished the game with a double-double, where he scored 14 points and hauled in a team-high 11 rebounds. He backed down smaller defenders with ease and created second-chance opportunities for himself and his teammates.

One of his biggest shots came near the end of regulation with the teams tied 54-54. Bowen received a pass, backed down, spun and banked in a beautiful shot off the glass to give his team the lead. While the game didn’t end in Graham’s favor, Bowen made big shots like that all night.

“I thought it was his best game all year,” head coach Kris Hise said. “He was dominant down low, rebounded the ball well, didn’t turn the ball over; just really had probably his best game all year.”

Bowen dealt with an up-and-down season due to injuries and illnesses, but he showed improvement all year and has set himself up to be a major contributor to the team as a senior next season.

“Every time he was about to get a starting spot, something happened and I wasn’t able to start him,” Hise said. “To just stay the course all year and trust it, then when that time came, the last three games he was unbelievable. It kind of sets the path moving forward to him being a senior…and probably being a captain and leader for us.”