Leopards Athletic Report (week of Oct. 6-12)
The Temple College Athletic program continues its fall schedule this week with a pair of conference games, and cluster of basketball jamboree contests, and fall baseball and softball scrimmages.
Here is the recap from another busy week, and a look ahead to this week's activities in the Leopards Athletic Report:
TC Volleyball continues to improve despite heartbreaking losses
The Temple College Volleyball continued North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference action on Wednesday, as they hosted Cisco College at Kirby Johnson Court.
The Leopards shook off a rough start to play three very competitive games and battled the Wranglers deep into a four-set match. Cisco outlasted the Leopards, 3-1.
Scores of the contest were 25-11, 23-25, 25-22, and 25-23.
Cisco gained a hold of the opening game after nudging out to a 6-3 advantage with 19-8 stretch to comfortably win the first set by 14.
The Leopards rebounded in game two after Cisco started the set with a 10-5 run. Two Lana Wright kills, a Kenedee Pennington kill, and an Abbie Soileau ace fueled a 6-1 streak to tie the game at 11-11.
The teams were tied ten times in the set and they traded one-point leads through the latter stages of the set before Pennington registered two kills inside the final three points to help Temple tie the match.
The Wranglers took a 13-7 lead in game three before Temple mounts a 12-5 run of their own to take a 19-18 lead. Wright, Kharma Brown, and Yasmine Traore logged big kills during the run. Cisco outscored the Leopards 7-3 over the last ten points to take a 2-1 lead in the set.
Cisco jetted out to an 8-4 lead in game four before Temple responded with 8-1 streak to take a 12-9 advantage into the middle stages of the set. The Wranglers were leading 17-14 when the Leopards mounted a 7-5 stretch to take a 21-19 lead. However, Temple's bid to come out on top in game four was short-circuited by circumstances that changed the momentum of game, which Cisco parlayed into a match-ending 6-2 run.
Traore and Karlee Williamson each logged double-doubles, with Traore picking up 11 digs and ten kills and Williamson having contributed 31 kills and 12 digs. Brown and Pennington added seven kills in Temple's 45-kill performance. Hanna Ward added 15 digs, Pennington had 14, and Soileau contributed 11 of Temple's 80 digs.
On Saturday, the Leopards took on McLennan Community College at The Highlands Gymnasium in Waco.
In a match that was far more competitive than the teams' first match up on Sept. 10 at Kirby Johnson Court, the Leopards and Highlanders scrapped through four thrilling games. In conclusion, MCC came out on top, 3-1.
The scores of the match were 25-18, 25-21, 25-27, and 25-21.
Temple had leads in all four games, with good communication, ball movement, and timely hitting.
The Highlanders were able to convert on a few Temple hitting and receiving errors to edge the Leopards in the three sets they captured.
Where they sit
The Leopards are 7-18 overall and 1-11 in NTJCAC play.
The trail ahead for the Leopards
Temple will host North Central Texas College at Kirby Johnson Court on Wednesday at 6 pm. When the teams met in Gainesville on Sept. 13, the teams played a five-game thriller. NCTC won the match, 3-2, with scores of 18-25, 25-23, 25-17, 23-25, and 15-8.
On Saturday, the Leopards will travel to Ranger College to take on the Rangers. When the teams met in Temple on Sept. 17, the Rangers gained momentum off a late first-set rally and swept the Leopards, by scores of 26-24, 25-7, and 25-21.
TC Men's Hoops play at Mullins Jamboree
The Temple College Leopards Men's Basketball team played its second jamboree of October, as they took on a field at 2025 Mullens Jamboree in Fort Worth.
The trail ahead for the Leopards
Temple College will take part in the 2025 Great American Shoot Out Fall Tour stop in Duncanville on Friday.
The Leopards will play Trinity Valley Community College in Duncanville Field House on Blue 2 court on Friday at 1:15 pm and Odessa College on Green 1 court at 5 pm.
TC Women's Hoops battle at the Shalin Hoops Scrimmage
The Temple College Women's Basketball team continued through its fall scrimmage schedule last week as they took on Kilgore College at Fieldhouse USA in Midlothian. They faced three opponents, which included Eastern Oklahoma and Kilgore College.
The trail ahead for the Leopards
The Leopards will host Trinity Valley Community College in scrimmage action at Kirby Johnson Court on Friday at 1:30 pm.
TC Baseball take on Blinn, TLU
The Temple College Leopards took on Blinn College and Texas Lutheran University in a pair of challenging road scrimmages last week.
In Brenham on Wednesday, the Leopards and Buccaneers got solid work in over the 12-inning contest.
Temple scored 14 runs and picked up 12 hits over the course of the game. Sage Sanders and Kade Davis each picked up three hits, with Davis driving home two runs and Sanders driving home one. The disciplined Leopards drew 10 walks over 12 innings, with Kash Millar and Elias Leon-Padilla drawing two walks each.
Davis, Landon Miller, Tobin Eschief, and Jack Perotti each pitched three innings combined to allow ten runs on eight hits, walked 12 and struck out 12.
On Saturday in Seguin, the Leopards collected 16 hits over 18 innings of play. Trajan Godbee had three hits. Peanut Brazzle had two hits and two RBI, Kanyon Millar had a hit with two walks and two RBI, and Hunter Baros had two hits.
The Leopards' bullpen got plenty of work in, with ten pitchers getting n work. The staff combined to allow three runs on 11 hits, walked three, and struck out 24 batters over 18 innings.
The trail ahead for the Leopards
Temple will have a handful of intrasquad scrimmages before concluding their schedule on Oct. 23 against McLennan Community College at Bosque River Ballpark.
TC Softball battled Cy-Fair Intruders
The Temple College Softball team played a three-game schedule this week.
On Thursday, the Leopards held an intersquad scrimmage that ended with a 9-7 score after five innings.
Marli Kennedy had two hits, two runs scored, and three runs driven in. Jasmine Benavidez clubbed two hits and drove in two runs, and Kat Kram added a two-run single.
Angie DeLeon and Amyah Starks each drove in a pair of runs.
On Saturday in Salado, the Leopards hosted the 18U Intruders, based out of Cypress.
The patient Leopards hitters drew ten walks and had just two hits in the opener. Temple took what they could get and parlayed it into nine runs.
Dalanee Ekster and Izzy Garcia combined to allow six runs (three earned) on ten hits, walked two, and struck out 11.
Game two was a pitchers' duel in where an unearned run was the difference. Garcia doubled to start the bottom of the fifth. Kennedy, who came into the game as a courtesy runner for Garcia, scored on an error for the game's lone tally.
Seven different Leopards collected hits, and two more collected walks.
Kram pitched a seven-inning shutout, having allowed four hits and struck out 11.
The trail ahead for the Leopards
The Leopards continue to proceed through their 2025 fall schedule. On Thursday, the Leopards will travel to Abilene to take on Abilene Christian University. On Saturday, Temple will travel to play Houston Christian University.
Following this week, the Leopards will have four games remaining in their schedule: Oct. 22 at Texas A&M, Oct. 25 at Concordia University, Oct. 26 at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, and Oct. 30 at Texas State University.