It was a banner day for the Newcastle Ladycats at the regional tennis tournament. Mattie Dollar, the lone representative for Newcastle, posted a strong performance and qualified for the state championship tournament.
Dollar has had a series of impressive outings in order to get to this point in her varsity tennis season. The grind to the state tournament began back at the district tennis meet in Mineral Wells.
Another season for a Graham athletic club has come to a close, but the fans at home were sent out on a high note. Graham sophomore Jagger Nees had a strong performance at the state golf tournament to end his season.
Nees season up to this point had been nothing short of impressive with steps of steady development along the way. Head coach Michael Todd described Nees season as one of “steady growth and strong finishes.”
The community of Graham came out in droves Tuesday evening to honor all the Steers and Lady Blues athletes who participated in spring sports.
Awards and achievements were presented to the athletes at the annual spring sports banquet.
The teams in attendance that were honored at the banquet included the Steers and Lady Blues basketball teams, golf teams, powerlifting teams, soccer teams, tennis teams, track and field teams, Steers baseball and Lady Blues softball.
Graham sports is currently seeing itself shift into a transitional period of the year. The academic year is coming to an end soon and so are spring sports.
Several teams are still jockeying it out in the playoffs such as the Graham Steers varsity baseball team, but others are beginning to look forward to offseason play.
Spring and summer leagues are beginning this month and as long as there is sports going on in the town there will be athletic performances to be highlighted.
Several Ladycats athletes competed in the UIL 1A State Track and Field Meet and had outstanding performances.
Newcastle ISD released a statement congratulating the athletes who qualified and performed in the tournament.
“Three Ladycats competed at the UIL 1A State Track and Field Championship on May 3. They did outstanding and we are incredibly proud of their performances,” the post stated. “Congratulations on a successful season. Your coaches are extremely proud.”
The Lady Blues kicked off their spring league schedule last week. The team split their two opening games against the Breckenridge Lady Bucks and Huckabay Lady Indians.
“I think they all played very hard,” Head coach Brian Nail said. “They were very aggressive. They stayed in the game (two) even though they were down. I'm very proud of them.”
The Lady Blues started their night strong with a win over the Lady Bucks. There were several standouts in the game, including Katie McGehee.
The motto of the day for the Steers was survive and advance. That's exactly what they did defeating the Lubbock Cooper Liberty Patriots in games two and three.
The conditions of play were much better today with temperatures in the low 70s and clear sunny skies.
Things looked brighter for the Steers as a team as well jumping out to an early commanding lead.
Bruin Wright led the charge on the pitcher's mound and met the moment. Wright pitched six and third shutout innings for the team in game 2.
After one game of the postseason, the Graham Steers find their backs against the wall. The team lost to the Lubbock Cooper Liberty Patriots 3-1 in their playoff opener.
Despite early rain showers and thunderstorms, the weather held up for the game one matchup with an overcast sky and 62-degree temperatures.
“We've got to flush this one,” Head coach Allen McGee said. “That's baseball, that's why we play series in the playoffs.”
The past week of Graham High School sports was all about one word, playoffs. Many athletes shined in games that either had major playoff implications, or in actual playoff games.
The Lady Blues softball team punched their ticket to the postseason with a win over Mineral Wells and faced off against the Snyder Lady Tigers.
The Steers baseball team picked up a huge sweep over the Glen Rose Tigers to punch their ticket to the postseason. They will be taking on the Lubbock Cooper Liberty Patriots on May 2-3.
The Newcastle Ladycats competed in their district tournament matchups Monday, April 21 in Mineral Wells. When the day had concluded one of their own advanced to the regional tournament after an exceptional performance.
Mattie Dollar won the girls singles tournament at the event to qualify for the regional championships. According to head coach Ryan Dollar, much of this had to do with getting off to a hot start in the tournament.
