Bearkats Aiming For Encore In 2013 Season
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
When the Sam Houston State Bearkats began the season at 1-13 last year, many believed that they were on their way to having another dreadful year.
But the Bearkats won their final 26 out of 29 games to finish in second place in the Southland Conference behind regular season champion Texas State Bobcats and made the SLC Tournament.
After opening the tournament with a loss, the Bearkats won their next three games to reach the finals, where they eventually lost to the Bobcats.
Now with the Bobcats gone due to joining the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), the Bearkats has been picked to win the 2013 Southland Conference softball title in the annual preseason poll of the league’s head coaches.
The Bearkats received seven first-place votes from the coaches and 78 total points.
Key returners for the Bearkats feature include first baseman Kim Damian, a senior from Angleton, Texas; third baseman Shelbi Tucker, a senior from Montgomery, Texas; catcher Hillary Adams, a sophomore from Elgin, Texas; and outfielder Tori Benavidez, a senior from Midlothian, Texas.
McNeese State, the team that Sam Houston defeated in last year’s Southland tournament semifinals, has been tabbed second by the coaches.
The Cowgirls return 11 letterwinners, including seven starters and two pitchers.
Central Arkansas stands third in the coaches’ poll, followed by A&M-Corpus Christi, Stephen F. Austin, Northwestern State and Nicholls State.
Houston Baptist, which is an affiliate member for softball this season before becoming a member of the Southland in all sports next year, was picked to finish tied for eighth along with Southeastern Louisiana in the coaches’ poll.
Lamar, which is reviving its softball program this season after playing from 1983-87, was picked to finish 10th in both polls.
Southland teams open the season Feb. 7 with conference play beginning March 9.
The conference tournament will be hosted by Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La., May 9-11 at the Lady Demon Diamond Complex.
The championship game will be streamed live exclusively on ESPN3.
Sam Houston State’s first softball action will come Feb. 7-9 at the Baylor Bear Classic in Waco
Time Out Is Not Good Enough
By Cheval John
Classes resumed at the North Harris campus of Lone Star College System today after a shooting took place yesterday that left three people injured.
According to a report from CBSNews.com, investigators said that it all started from a fight before it escalated to gun fire.
Harris County police, North Harris campus police, etc. arrived at the scene within minutes and evacuated everyone from campus.
Carlton Berry, who were involved in the shooting, suffered gun shot wounds and is in stable condition.
He was later charged with aggreviated assault and is still in stable condition.
With the heated debate of gun control, the shooting received national attention from major media outlets from NBC to CBS.
Many would use this as an example to say that if teachers were armed with a guns, they would not be this wide spread shooting.
Some legislators in Texas and Arkansas are even trying to get a bill passed in their respective states that would allow those who have a license to carry a concealed weapon on universities.
They believe that it will solve everything and keep the campus safe.
Personally, I believe that the reason why we have all of these shootings at schools across the nation is
because these same people that are causing these massacres having received discipline at their home while they were children.
It seems like if a child does something wrong, the parents put them in “time out” to think about what they had done wrong instead of spanking them.
What they don’t realize is that they are allowing their child to get away with stuff that by the time they grow up, they believe that they can get away with anything and continue to be a menace to society.
On the other hand, the police are doing their best to control the crime and in a way are doing the job that the parents should have been doing in the first place.
I really think that this nation needs to get back to the good ole days of spanking their child while they are young because if they don’t, the schools will continue to be a war zone.
If you agree or disagree with this commentary, please leave a comment below.
Deja Vu For The Falcons
by Cheval John
The Atlanta Falcons were looking to erase a reputation of coming up short in big time games.
Everything was going their way after scoring two quick touchdowns and a field goal to take a 17-0 lead against the San Franscisco 49ers.
But the 49ers made plays when it was needed down the stretch and eventually defeated the Falcons 28-24 that punch a ticket to the Super Bowl that will be held in New Orleans on February 3.
The Falcons on the other hand, choked like they have always done before and are now back to the drawing board.
Matt Ryan, who went 30 of 42 for 390 yards and three touchdowns, came apart at exactly the wrong time in the game.
Ryan has been know for engineering comebacks late in the game that he was given the nickname, “Matty Ice.”
He proved why he earned that nickname after he completed two crucial throws in the final seconds of the game that put kicker Matt Bryant in position to kick the game-winning field goal in a 30-28 win against the Seattle Seahawks to advance to the NFC Championship game and helped people to forget that they blew a 20-point lead and almost lost.
He had an excellent first half, where he schredded the secondary and made clutch throws that allowed the Falcons to have a 17-0 lead.
Even though the 49ers were chipping away and had pulled with a 17-14 score with less than a minute left in the second quarter, Ryan connected with tight Tony Gonzalez for a 10-yard score to extend the lead to 24-14 by halftime.
It seemed as if the Falcons had learned their lesson and was going to finally erase their reputation of coming up short in big games and advance to the Super Bowl for only the second time in their history.
But the 49ers had other ideas.
After a Frank Gore 5-yard score that pulled them within a 24-21 score, the 49ers defense made the adjustments when it was needed and went after Ryan like he stole something from them.
Ryan was overwhelmed by the pressure and made some costly errors down the stretch.
In two crucial drives where they were inside 49er territory, he threw an interception to Chris Culliver at the 49er’s 38 yard line and fumbled the ball inside the red zone that gave San Franscisco another chance to take the lead.
“Against a good team, you can’t have those types of mistakes,” Ryan said in a press conference after the heartbreaking loss.
The 49ers capitalized thanks to a Gore 9-yard go-ahead, game winning touchdown run that gave them a 28-24 lead with 11:46 remaining in the game.
Though the Falcons had plenty of chances to regain the lead, the 49ers defense, led by Patrick Willis stood tall when it counted to preserve the lead and defeat the Falcons on the road to make it back to the Super Bowl for the first time in 18 years.
“I told (them) throughout the game, this is going to come down to us,” Dashon Goldson said to the San Franscisco Chronicle. “We started this. We started slow.”
Now with their hope and dreams dashed away, all the Falcons can do is evaluate this season and figure out how to win in big games because until they do, it will always be deja vu for them.
Sequeena Thomas Earns “SLC” Player of The Week
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Sam Houston State senior forward Sequeena Thomas has been named Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week, the league office announced Monday.
Thomas helped the Bearkats moved into a three-way tie for first place with a 5-1 conference mark after two wins one the week against Central Arkansas and Oral Roberts.
In the two games, the senior from Allentown, Pa. (Parkland H.S.), averaged 17.0 rebounds and 13.0 points.
She became Sam Houston’s all-time rebounding leader (990) during the week and set another school record with her 44th career double-double when she pulled down 20 rebounds and scored 18 points against Oral Roberts.
Her 20 boards against the Golden Eagles was only the 12th time a Bearkat woman has accounted for 20 or more rebounds in a game.
Thomas’ three blocks on the week also upped her school record to 190.
Next action for the Sam Houston State women will be a Southland Conference road trip Thursday and Saturday to Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls State.
The NFL Is Who We Thought They Are
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