Sports

Four errors over a two-inning span led to the Lady Blues squandering a three-run lead over the middle innings Tuesday night to Archer City. The Lady Cats scored nine runs over the third and fourth innings en route to an 11-4 win over the Lady Blues Tuesday night at the Graham High School softball field.

Reece Calhoun started in the pitcher’s circle for the Lady Blues and threw a strikeout to Mallory Maxwell to open the game. Emma Gray hit a one-out double and was left stranded following a fly out to Jaysea Rickels and a pop out in foul territory to Meagan Brooks.

Hitting was an issue again Tuesday night for the Steers against Iowa Park. After falling behind three runs during the bottom of the first inning, the Steers were held to one hit until the fifth inning. A late-inning rally fell short and the Steers fell to the Hawks, 5-2, at the Graham High School baseball field.

Several Steers and Lady Blues of the Graham High School track team advanced to the 4A Region 1 Track Meet taking place this weekend in Lubbock. These athletes earned their regional spots last week at the area track meet at Gordon Wood Stadium in Brownwood.

Graham High School will be represented by Steers and Lady Blues in 23 events during this weekend’s regional meet. Eight Steers advanced from the boys meet and nine Lady Blues from the girls meet. Advancing athletes are noted below in bold.

The Graham Steers hosted Breckenridge Saturday afternoon for a non-district game before closing out the district schedule yesterday. The team entered the game looking to build momentum following last week’s shutout loss at Iowa Park. After falling behind two runs during the top of the second inning, the Steers responded to draw even during the bottom half of the inning and score two late runs to defeat the Buckaroos 4-2.

Graham High School has found its new girls basketball coach following coach Ky Graham’s retirement at the end of the school year. The hiring of Jacksboro High School’s Kyle Wood was approved during a closed session at last week’s Graham ISD School Board meeting.

Wood joins the Lady Blues after coaching the Tigerettes for three seasons. He previously coached at Petersburg for two stints and Hale Center.

The Lady Blues entered Monday’s road trip to Vernon with one goal in mind, locking up third place in District 5-4A. Their 13-0, six-inning win Monday night locked in the team’s finish and sets up their spot in the playoff bracket.

History was made Thursday morning with Graham High School soccer. For the first time in school history members of the Steers and Lady Blues soccer teams signed commitments to continue their soccer careers in college. Steers senior Jaron Noble signed to play at Murray State College (Tishomingo, Okla.) as a goalkeeper. Aliayah Saldivar will play at North Lake College in Irving.

GHS Athletic Director Kenny Davidson opened the signing ceremony by congratulating both players and noted the close bond that both the Steers and Lady Blues soccer teams hold.

Four Steers with multi-hit games backed up a dominant pitching performance by Landen Harless as the Steers defeated Mineral Wells on the road Thursday night, 9-2. Noah Jilek, Harless, Parker Johnson and Ben Williams each had two hits, while Harless gave up one hit over five innings to secure the win.

Both the boys’ and girls’ track teams of Graham High School swept the District 5-4A track meet Monday and Wednesday at Vernon High School.

Wednesday marked the fifth consecutive district championship for the girls, while the boys’ team won their fourth consecutive district championship.

Up next for the advancing athletes from GHS will be the area meet. Brownwood High School is hosting the area meet Friday, April 22.

For the full list of results, see the Saturday, April 16 edition of The Graham Leader.

The Lady Blues clinched the playoffs and have nearly locked up third place in the district standings after a 10-0, five-inning home win over Mineral Wells Tuesday night. The win marked Reese Calhoun’s third shutout of the season.