Happy Easter from Temple College Athletics!
Baseball and softball had Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference series this past week against Grayson College.
The eight games combined featured plenty of offense with 101 total runs scored and 155 hits.
Here is a look back at last week's action, and a look forward to this week's action in the Leopards Athletic Report:
Leopards Baseball salvages final game in Grayson College series
Temple Baseball began its series with the Grayson College Vikings in Denison on Wednesday.
Temple received offense early in games, but Grayson responded with rallies that lifted the Vikings past the Leopards.
Scores of the doubleheader were 12-2 (six innings) and 9-7 (11 innings).
Lance Cantrell's two-run homer in the top of the fourth put the Leopards on the board, having cut their margin to two runs, 4-2.
The Vikings answered with one run in the bottom of the inning and posted seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to clinch the run-rule win.
Patrick Collopy pitched four innings, allowed five runs (one earned) on five hits, struck out six and walked one. Gavin Oliver pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief, having allowed seven runs on four hits and walked three. Gabe Gutierrez allowed a hit and walk to the two batters he faced.
In game two, Temple grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first, which was answered by a Vikings run in the bottom of the inning.
The Leopards scored two runs in the third inning and four runs in the fourth to build a 7-1 advantage.
Grayson scored once in the fifth and sixth innings, three times in the seventh, and a run in the ninth to force extra innings. The Vikings' two-run homer in the 11th clinched the doubleheader win for Grayson.
Brayden Simmons, Kadyn Martinez, and Kash Millar each had two hits to lead Temple. Simmons, Millar, and Sage Sanders each scored two runs.
Eric Tenery started on the hill for the Leopards, as he allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits, struck out four, walked two, and hit a batter. Bralen Veazey pitched 2/3 inning of relief, allowed three runs on two hits, and walked one. Micah Melott took the loss in relief having pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowed three runs on five hits, struck out five and walked four.
On Saturday, the scene shifted to the Danny Scott Sports Complex.
A pitcher's duel gave way to a slugfest, as the Leopards and Vikings split the twin bill.
Grayson won the seven-inning game one, 2-0, with Temple winning the nine-inning game two, 9-5.
Davis and Grayson's Brayden Risley each pitched well in the opener. The Vikings cracked into the run column in the top of the sixth when an error scored Boston Lee to give Grayson a 1-0 lead. After a single and an error opened the top of the sixth inning, Austin Godwin's single scored JT Cienega to increase the Vikings' advantage to 2-0.
That would be all the support Risley needed as he allowed four hits, hit two batters, and struck out six.
Davis, Cantrell, Hunter Baros and Andrew Ermis collected the four Temple hits.
Davis was the hard-luck loser on the hill, allowed two unearned runs on three hits, struck out three and walked two.
Grayson jumped out to a 3-0 lead in game two, having scored once in the first and twice in the second.
Davis singled home Simmons home in the third to put Temple on the board.
With bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Millar singled home Cantrell, Ryder Rutledge's single scored Martinez, Simmons' bases-loaded walk scored Baros, and Temple scored two runs on an error to take a 6-3 lead.
Simmons' single scored Millar in the bottom of the sixth, which was answered by Cienega's RBI single in the top of the seventh.
Temple had two walks and a single to load the bases in the bottom of the seventh. Trae Allen singled home Davis and Cantrell to put the Leopards up by five runs, 9-4.
Brandon Creek's RBI single scored Brooks Dwinell to cap the scoring.
Temple had 15 hits in the game, led by Simmons with three, and Davis, Cantrell, Martinez, and Millar each having logged two hits apiece.
Veazey started for Temple, allowed three runs on six hits, and struck out one. Gabe Gutierrez picked up the win in relief, having allowed two runs on six hits, struck out six and walked one. Caleb Berry-Smith closed out the game with 1 2/3 innings of one-hit ball, having walked one and struck out one.
Creek, Cienega, and Sloan Barrett each had three hits in Grayson's 13-hit attack.
Grady Moore took the loss for Temple, as he pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits, walked three and struck out two. Jack Surdey tossed 2 2/3 innings, allowed a run on two hits, struck three and walked one. Blaze Milan pitched 1/3 inning, allowed two runs on four hits, and walked one. Chase Davis pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed a hit.
Where they stand
Temple is 8-16 in NTJCAC play and 17-26 overall. The Leopards are six games out of the fourth and final playoff spot with eight games to go in the conference.
Weatherford College (21-7) is in first, followed by Grayson College (20-8), McLennan Community College (16-8), Cisco College (14-10), Vernon College (13-11, Hill College (8-16), Temple, Ranger College (6-18), and North Central Texas College (6-18).
What's on deck this week
Temple will have a five-game week. On Monday, Leopard will host Alvin Community College in a nine-inning game at 2 pm. On Wednesday, they start their four-game NTJCAC series with Ranger College with a doubleheader at the Danny Scott Sports Complex beginning noon. The series will conclude in Ranger on Saturday.
After this week, Temple has four games remaining, which is a series against Hill College.
Leopards softball battles Grayson College, Vikings takes three of four
The Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference series between No. 5 Grayson College and No. 11 Temple College was a battle of two teams looking to solidify playoff seedings in the upcoming Region V Playoffs.
Temple fought from three runs down in the bottom of the seventh with four one-out runs, capped by a double by Marleigh Manns to take game one, 6-5.
The Leopards fought through four deficits in game two but could not overcome the fifth as Sophia Jenkins' sacrifice in the top of the ninth scored Aniyah Pequeno to lift the Vikings to a 6-5 win.
KK King's single scored Pequeno for Grayson's first run of the game in the top of the first.
Temple scored the equalizer in the bottom of the inning when Lily Garcia's double scored Lexi Dudeczka. Angie DeLeon's sacrifice fly plated Garcia to give the Leopards a 2-1 advantage.
Daeya Moses accounted for the next two runs, as her single in the third inning scored Monica Franklin and double in the sixth gave Grayson a 3-2 lead. The Vikings picked up two more runs in the inning, as Jacklyn Draeger grounded out to score Moses and Anna Wood reached on an error that scored Layla Sons to increase Grayson's lead to 5-2.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Emily Delgado singled home DeLeon and Garcia. Reese Cottrell doubled home Maycee Griffin to tie the game, and Manns' doubled home Abby Drabek for the game-winning run.
Temple collected 13 hits, led by Garcia's 3-of-4 game and Cottrell and DeLeon chipped in two hits each.
Haley Crawford picked up the win in the circle. She pitched seven innings, allowed five runs (four earned) on eight hits, three strikeouts, three hit by pitches, and one walk.
Moses had two runs and two RBI to lead Grayson.
Jenkins homered off Cottrell to start the second game, which gave the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Dudeczka scored on a passed ball and Delgado's fly ball to centerfield scored Manns to give Temple a 2-1 lead.
Halle Giaudrone hit a two-run homer in the top of the fourth to put Grayson back on top, 3-2.
Cottrell reached base in the bottom of the inning on an error. With one out, Anissa Hill grounded out and Jenkins fired a throw to third base to attempt to tag out courtesy runner Paige Findley. The throw went past Moses at the bag, ended up in left field, and Findley scored to tie the game at 3-3.
Giaudrone hit her second homer of the game with one out in the sixth to edge Grayson in front, 4-3.
With two outs in the sixth, Cottrell drove a 2-0 pitch over the centerfield fence to tie the game at 4-4.
In the top of the eighth, Sons' single to right field scored Jenkins to give the Vikings a 5-4 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, DeLeon belted an 0-1 pitch over the centerfield fence to re-tie the game at 5-5.
With one out, Pequeno and Layne Reh reached on errors. Jenkins' sacrifice fly scored Pequeno to lift the Vikings to a 6-5 lead.
The Leopards were unable to get in the hit in the ninth, as Grayson held on for the win.
Grayson had six hits, led by Giaudrone and Jenkins with two hits each.
Jones picked up the win, as she pitched eight innings, allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits, yielded a walk, hit a batter, and struck out two.
Dudeczka led the Leopards with three hits and Cottrell picked up a pair of hits to lead Temple's eight-hit output.
Cottrell pitched eight innings, allowed five runs on six hits, walked five and struck out two. Crawford took the loss in the circle in relief, having allowed the unearned run in the ninth.
On Saturday, the series continued in Denison.
No. 11 Temple College traveled to Denison on Friday to take on No. 5 Grayson College in the completion of their Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference four-game series.
The Vikings used 23 hits over the two games to sweep the Leopards, who hit well but could not keep pace.
The scores of the doubleheader were 11-3 (six innings) and 10-7.
Grayson scored three in the second inning and four in the third to take a 7-0 lead into the fourth.
Temple scored in the fourth on Cottrell's RBI single that brought home DeLeon.
The Leopards scored twice in the sixth when Jasmine Benavidez drilled a two-run homer.
However, the Vikings scored four times in the bottom of the sixth to end the game in run-rule fashion.
Layla Sons had three of Grayson's 13 hits, with King and Moses each driving in two runs.
Delila Robles picked up the win, as she dealt 5 2/3 innings, allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits, struck out five and walked one. Riley Mays pitched 1/3 inning, struck out one and walked one.
DeLeon and Benavidez each had two hits and Temple's seven-hit attack.
Crawford picked up the loss in the circle, as she pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowed six runs on six hits, struck out two, walked one, and hit a batter. Delgado pitched three innings in relief, allowed three runs on five hits and struck out four. Hannah Calhoun faced three batters and allowed two runs on two hits.
Temple took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of game two when Benavidez's single scored Delgado and Garcia.
Grayson picked up a run in the bottom of the first and another in the third to tie the game 2-2.
DeLeon homered over the left field fence with two outs in the fourth to give Temple the lead, only to have a pair of homers hit by Grayson give the Vikings a 5-3 lead.
Temple answered in the top of the fifth when Camryn Dunkley singled home Findley and Manns' sacrifice fly scored Benevidez to tie the game at 5-5.
Grayson answered with a solo homer in the bottom of the fifth, which was answered by Delgado's RBI that scored Dudeczka and Cottrell's sacrifice fly that scored DeLeon to put Temple on top 7-6.
The Vikings scored four times in the bottom of the sixth, with Moses hitting the eventual game-winning three-run homer for the final three-run margin.
Pequeno led Grayson with four hits, Reh and Giaudrone each had two hits in the Vikings' 11-hit game.
Delgado had four hits, and DeLeon, Benavidez, and Dunkley each had two hits.
Cottrell pitched four innings, allowed five runs on five hits, struck out three and walked two. Delgado picked up the loss, having pitched two innings, allowed five runs on six hits and two walks.
Where they stand
With four games left to play, Temple is 18-10 in conference play and 35-14 overall. McLennan (26-2) leads the conference, followed by Grayson (23-5), Weatherford (21-11), Temple, Vernon (15-13), NCTC (12-16), Ranger (7-21), Cisco (4-24), and Hill (2-26).
The Leopards trail Weatherford by two games with four games in hand and leads Vernon by three games.
What's on deck
A critical final series is up next for the Leopards as they take on Ranger College. Games one and two will be played in Ranger on Wednesday, and the final two games of the regular season will be played Saturday at the Danny Scott Sports Complex.