Sports

By Sandy Anderberg

The Lady Broncos squeezed by Sunray 8-7 in a district game last week that saw 18 hits from both teams.

Pitcher Kennadie Cummins threw all seven innings allowing 10 hits and seven runs. Cummins had four strike-outs in the game to get the win. Each team’s pitchers did a good job on the mound as they each gave their all facing batter after batter.

Sunray struck first in the opening inning with two runs scored. Neither team scored in the second inning going three and out on both sides. Cummins went three and out again in the top of the third to hold the Lady Cats away from home plate. That solid pitching led to the ladies to get on the board after Bayleigh Bruce drives one to right with three strikes against her. K. Cummins was the next batter and sent out a pop fly that scored Bruce. Cummins would score a run to tie the game.

After scoring five runs in the fourth, things looked grim for the Lady Broncos, but a huge double from Shelby Christopher and a single from Gracie Smith allowed Christopher to get home before the inning ended on the next at bat.

K. Cummins recorded a triple in the bottom of the fifth to add another run and the ladies got offensively aggressive in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good. Smith was able to hit a sacrifice fly that scored Elliot Frausto to things moving before K. Cummins slams another triple to score one run that allowed Elyza Rodriguez to bring her home.

Bruce had the only stolen base for the Lady Broncos and Smith and Tandie Cummins posted two RBIs each. As a team, the ladies collected eight runs and eight hits with zero errors.

The Lady Broncos will travel West Texas at home Friday.

By Sandy Anderberg

Clarendon junior Madi Benson had a good day on the track as she claimed the District Championship in both the 400m and 1600m races.

Benson’s time in the 400m was 1:01.83, and she ran the 1600 meters in a time of 6:02.32. Benson will participate in the Area round on April 10 in Wellington.

Also joining Benson will be Elliot Frausto who finished second in the 1600m with a time of 6:09.30. Both Lady Broncos have been running well all season.

Kate Shaw finished second in the shot put with a distance of 33’1” to advance to the Area round, and Jayla Woodard will advance with her fourth-place finish in the long jump at 14’ ½”. Elliott Frausto earned her spot in the 1600m finishing right behind Benson for second place with a time of 6:09.30.

Bronco Kaleb Bolin, who is also having a good season, took first place in the 400m run to claim the District championship. Bolin’s time of 52.71 was two seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Bolin is also a member of the mile relay that finished second at the district level with a time of 3:36.41. Others on the relay are Kaleb Mays, Shane Hagood, and Brice Wagner.

Jaxan McAnear placed third in the 800m run with a time of 2:15.41 and will advance and Lyric Smith’s fourth-place finish in the 100m allows him to compete at the next level. Mays was second in the 100m with a time of 11.00 to advance. Bryce Williams will compete in the 800m run, the 1600m, and the 3200m run. Williams’ time of 2:11.47 put him in second at district and he finished fourth in both the 1600m and 3200m with times of 5:14.00 and 11:18.

Wagner took fourth in the 200m at 23.91 and his jump of 19’9” was good enough to advance in fourth place. Mason Sims cleared 6’ in the high jump and finished third to advance and Smith jumped 5’11 to advance as well. Sims also qualified in the 110m hurdles at fourth place with a time of 17.75.

Congratulations to all the qualifiers and good luck at the Area meet.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Lady Broncos once again completely dominated the Booker Lady Kiowas with a 16-1 win last week with Tandie Cummins getting the win in four innings. Cummins only allowed Booker one hit, one run, with 10 strike outs.

Booker committed 10 errors in the game that the Lady Broncos were able to take advantage of. The team ran the bases well and finished with six stolen bases and 13 RBIs. Kennadie Cummins slammed a line drive to center field for a two-run homer in the bottom of the third.

Several ladies had their bats going. Bayleigh Bruce and Shelby Christopher had a double apiece, and Christopher finished with two RBIs from two hits. Graci Wilkins was on fire as she had a run and a hit with four RBIs. K. Cummins turned three hits into three RBIs and four runs while T. Cummins posted four runs and two RBIs. Graci Smith earned a hit and an RBI and Elyza Rodriguez had an RBI and four runs. K. Cummins had four stolen bases, Rodriguez had two, and Elliot Frausto posted one.

The game with Fritch on Tuesday was close until the Lady Broncos opened it up in the fifth inning scoring five runs. K. Cummins was on the mound and held them scoreless for the first five innings.

Kennadie Cummins earning the win and was strong on the mound throwing 73 strikes in her 101 pitches to 27 batters. She allowed only five hits, two runs, and struck out 12.

After a pitching battle in the first three innings, Rodriguez led off the Lady Broncos’ fourth time at the plate with a fly ball to center field that was good enough for a home run. Cummins also had her bat working at the plate. She blasted one to the outfield in the seventh inning with no one on base for a one-run homer to help in the win.

The Lady Broncos will travel to Claude on Friday, April 5.

By Sandy Anderberg

Lady Bronco basketball coach Korey Conkin reports several players have received recognition for their solid play on the basketball court this past season

Kenidee Hayes and Courtlyn Conkin who were standouts on the Lady Bronco team were both named to the All-District and All-Region teams.

They also excelled in the classroom as well and were named to the Academic All-District team.

Graci Smith was named to the All-District Team, and Tandie and Kennadie Cummins received All-District honorable mentions awards and chosen to the All-Academic team. Berkley Moore was named the 6th man Award for District 2-2A and in addition was named to the Academic All-District Team.

Kashlyn Conkin was named as the New Comer of the Year at the district level and was All-Academic at the district level. Presley Smith and Lexi Phillips were named to the All-Academic team, and Kate Shaw was an All-District Honorable Mention and named as an Academic All-District player. Shelby Christopher was named to the Academic All-District team along with Hayden Elam.

Congratulations to all of those recognized for these achievements.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Bronco baseball team is currently 7-1-2 on the year as they continue their district season. Last week the Broncos had big wins over two district opponents.

On March 19, the Broncos scorched the Shamrock Irish in five innings winning 10-0. All the Bronco runs came in their first at bat. Senior Jared Musick was on the mound. He had 12 strikeouts and threw 49 strikes out of his 75 pitches.

The team had nine RBIs and nine stolen bases in the game. Fellow senior Harrison Howard connected for a fly ball to left field that scored Easton Frausto and Musick for a three-run homer late in the opening inning. It was a long inning as the Broncos went through their batting rotation one and a half times before Shamrock could tally three outs.

Frausto had two runs, one RBI and one stolen base, and Musick had two runs, one double, two RBIs, and one stolen base. Levi Gates was strong at the plate and had one hit, run, RBI, and stolen base while Bryce Williams had a stolen base.

Mason Allred had a big day with one hit, a run, one RBI, and two stolen bases. Hagood had a run and RBI, Grant Haynes had a hit and run, and stole two, and Mason Sims added a stolen base and a run.

The Broncos defeated Kress 12-0 there Saturday. Howard pitched four innings and posted one hit, three base on balls, and 10 strike outs. Howard threw 41 strikes out of his 63 pitches against 16 batters. Frausto came in for two-thirds of an inning and struck out two batters.

The Broncos scored two runs in the first and two in the third, before bringing the win home with four runs in the fourth and fifth innings. The team had 10 hits, eight RBIs, eight walks, and seven stolen bases in the win. Gates singled a line drive to right field to score Howard to open up the scoring in the first. Musick then scores on a wild pitch, and Allred singled to score Gates.

The Broncos were able to keep their bats going to score all 10 runs in the first inning of play.

Frausto finished with one hit, two runs, one stolen base, and Musick had two hits, three runs, and one RBI. Howard posted three runs and one stolen base, while Gates earned one run on three hits and had five RBIs and one stolen base. Bryce Williams walked four times and had one run, and Allred had one hit, one RBI, and one stolen base. Hagood had one hit, one RBI, and one stolen base, Haynes had one hit, one run, and two stolen bases, and Sims added one hit and one run.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Clarendon Lady Broncos beat Gruver before their opponents knew what was happening.

After Clarendon’s Elyza Rodriguez makes a great bunt that allowed Kennadie Cummins to get the first score of the game and then able to cross the plate on a wild pitch, Gracie Wilkins slammed a line drive to right field for an in the park homerun that also scored Tandie Cummins to go four up in the opening inning. Wilkins also recorded one sing, four RIBs, and three runs in the win.

The Lady Broncos went on to shut out the Lady Hounds at 18-0 in just two innings.

K. Cummins was on the mound for the win and allowed no hits or runs and struck out seven at the plate. Cummins went the distance and struck out the first three at bat in the opening inning and went three up three down in the second with help from Smith at first to continue her no-hitter.

The ladies took every opportunity to make good contact with the ball at the plate and posted 11 hits on the day.

Elliot Frausto had a good day hitting as she posted three doubles, two RBIs, and two runs.

Shelby Christopher was red hot as well and knocked down one double, one triple, two RBIs, and two runs, while Shelbi Coles had a single, two RBIs, one run, and one stolen base.

T. Cummins slammed a double and a triple with two RBIs and three runs. Cummins’ had a big hit in the second when she doubled on a line drive to left field scoring Rodriguez, Bruce, and K. Cummins. Rodriguez had one single, two RBIs, one run, and one stolen base in the win.

Bayleigh Bruce and Smith added one run and one RBI, and K. Cummins posted three runs.

The Lady Broncos will take on Booker at home on Friday, March 22, at 4:00 p.m. and travel to Fritch on March 26.

By Sandy Anderberg

The Lady Bronco softball team had a busy two weeks as they played several games in the Childress and Randall tournaments.

On March 1, the ladies defeated Caprock JV 13-3, clobbered Hereford JV 20-1, and put away Palo Duro JV 20-0. On the second, they won 15-0 over River Road JV and breezed by Amarillo JV at 13-1. They suffered a close loss to Sunray on the fifth at 4-5 and defeated Amarillo JV 9-3 on March 7. Also on the seventh, the ladies shut out Bowie JV 23-0.

Kennadie Cummins went the distance on the mound and allowed only four hits, three runs, and had 10 strikeouts to get the win. The team had 17 hits in the game with Bayleigh Bruce, Elliot Frausto, and K. Cummins adding three hits apiece. Frausto slammed a homerun and nabbed six stolen bases.

The Lady Broncos annihilated Hereford JV in their next game with a huge third inning where they put 12 runs on the board to end the game in three. Tandie Cummins went start to finish on the mound throwing 29 strikes out of 41 pitches. She only allowed three hits and one run in the game and connected with the ball for a grand-slam homerun to center field in the top of the third scoring Laney Rummel, K. Cummins, and Gracie Wilkins. The Lady Broncos made good use of their bats at the plate and finished with 13 RBIs.

Four innings is all it took for the ladies to shut out the Palo Duro JV on Friday. They had 13 hits and zero errors in the win. Shelbi Coles took over the duties on the mound and earned the win. Coles was on her game and threw 36 strikes in her 45 pitches and made good on seven strikeouts.

Offensively, their bats were hot with T. Cummins hitting a single and two doubles and Maloree Wann with two singles. Shelby Christopher had a single and a double and Cambree Smith had singles in the game. Wann and Riley Jantz had one stolen base each.
The River Road game was almost identical to the Palo Duro game with the ladies scoring five runs in each of the three innings. T. Cummins and Coles shared the duties on the mound with nine total strikeouts. T. Cummins earned another homerun along with a triple and three RBIs and Elyza Rodriguez and Coles added a triple and two RBIs each in the win.

Graci Smith went three for three from the plate in the win over Amarillo JV, posting two doubles, one homerun, and five RBIs. T. Cummins and K. Cummins had a homerun apiece and accounted for three more RBIs and five runs.

The Lady Broncos held a one-run lead over the Sunray Lady Cats going into the fourth but struggled to connect with the ball until the seventh inning. Errors also plagued the team as they finished with seven mistakes in the game. K. Cummins took the loss on the mound, allowing five runs on six hits, while striking out 13 batters.

Offensively, the ladies had two singles, two doubles, and three triples in the game, but left too many runners on the bases.
The ladies were able to rebound nicely in the win over Amarillo High JV with T. Cummins on the mound for six innings. Cummins allowed six hits and three runs and had 11 strikeouts in the win.

The Cummins duo posted a homerun each and accounted for five hits, four RBIs, and five runs. Fausto had two hits, and two RBIs and Wilkins had two hits, one run, and two RBIs. Rodriguez had two hits, one RBI, and two runs. Overall, the Lady Broncos posted four stolen bases.
Solid hitting was the name of the game in the shut out over Bowie JV with 12 total hits, 18 RBIs, and 23 runs in the game. Wilkins had a single, double, and triple, accounting for two RBIs and three runs. Bruce’s bat was strong with a double and triple and five RBIs with five runs. Rodriguez had four RBIs and three runs and Wann finished with two runs and a base on balls. K. Cummins and Coles split time on the mound and together three 26 strikes in 31 pitches with six strikeouts.

The Lady Broncos will play Gruver at home on Friday, March 15 at 1:00 and travel to Randall on the 16th also beginning at 1:00. On Tuesday, March 19, the ladies will play at Stinnett against West Texas with the first pitch at 4:00.

By Sandy Anderberg

Bronco baseball is midway through their 2024 season with some great wins under their belt. They went up against good teams in the West Texas tournament in Borger last week.

The Broncos opened up against a tough Friona team and finished the game in a seven-seven tie. Senior Jared Musick was on the mound allowing eight hits, seven runs and posting six strikeouts.

The Broncos started out slowly but were only down one run after the first two innings. Down by three after three innings, the Broncos crawled back in the top of the fourth to close the gap to one when Harrison Howard singled and scored Easton Frausto and Levi Gates popped out allowing Musick to cross the plate for a run.

The Bronco defense came alive in Friona’s next at bat to go three up, three down and then the offense took over to end the fifth at 7-6 when Mason Sims finds home plate and Easton Frausto takes it home on a Gates ground ball. A couple of errors in the final inning allowed the Chieftains to gain one more run to tie the game at seven all.

Howard had two hits, one run, stole two bases and Gates collected one hit, two RBIs and one stolen base. Grant Haynes posted one double and a stolen base and Musick, Sims, and Hagood all recorded one extra base.

The Broncos played another game on Thursday against Borger and stomped the Bulldogs 12-2. Sims got the call on the mound and allowed one run and two strike-outs. Braylon Rice came is as relief and allowed one run and two strike-outs as well.

The Broncos scored once in the first inning when Musick singled to allow Frausto to score the Broncos’ first run. The Bronco defense held Borger scoreless in their first time at the plate.

A huge second inning ensued for the Broncos as they scored four runs in the inning. After Sims scored one, Howard doubled up on a fly ball to center that score Haynes and Frausto. Musick then stole home and Howard came in to score during Gates’ turn at the plate.

Defensively, the highlight of the game was a double play in the bottom of the third. Musick grabbed the ball at third base and threw to Gates at first to get the first out. Gates then threw it right back to Musick to nab the runner to turn the double play.

Overall, the Broncos had nine hits in the game. Howard slammed two doubles, added one run, and four RBIs, while Frausto posted two hits, a run, two stolen bases, and one RBI. Haynes added one run and hit, and one RBI, while Frausto posted three runs, two hits and an RBI. Musick, Gates, and Hagood all had one run and one hit with Musick and Hagood adding an RBI. Mason Allred, Sims, Parker Haynes, and Heston Seay all added one hit in the game.

The third matchup for the Broncos was Fritch on Friday. The Broncos fought hard and won 3-0. Frausto earned the win in the two-inning game allowing one hit and posting four strikeouts. The Broncos were able to get their bats moving and scored all three runs in the first inning of play. They were able to end the game in the second inning only seeing four batters to end the game with the win.

The Broncos will play Tues., March at Shamrock at 4:30 and then travel to Kress on Sat. March 23, to play at noon. Thurs. March 26, the Broncos will travel to Wellington.