Second Time Around
BIG SPRING'S RISING STAR NIOMI WINES EARNS ALL-STATE TRACK HONORS
More accolades for Big Spring track star Niomi Wines. Wines was selected to the Texas Girls Coaches Association All-state track team. Wines, who will be a sophomore next season, qualified to the Texas State track and field meet in both the the high jump and 200 meters. Wines high jumped 5-5 at the state meet and ran a personal best of 25.08 in the 200. Wines also competed in the long jump this past track season, posting a season best of a 17-1 jump and was also a part of Big Spring's regional qualifying 1600-meter relay squad. I see a rising star in Big Spring.
GOOD DECISION HC
Howard College officially named Ashley "AC" Lopez as the new head softball coach. Lopez was the interim head coach for the Hawks softball team when Kelly Raines resigned to become the new head coach and athletic director at Galveston College back in December. Lopez, the assistant coach at the time, stepped in and guided the Lady Hawks to a 39-11 overall record, a No. 22 national ranking, and just missing a berth to play in the World Series. Lopez, a California native, played for Raines in 2015-2016 season. Lopez played her last two years of softball at Eastern New Mexico University, where she earned her bachelors degree in university studies there. I'm proud to have an ENMU alumni in the fold.
SASHA GOES INTERNATIONAL
Former Howard softball catcher Sasha Willems, who was recently named as a NJCAA third team All-american, will be testing international waters this week. Willems, who is now a member of the Australian National softball team Aussie Spirits, will play in the Canada Cup Softball Tournament June 17-26 in Surrey British Columbia, Canada. The tournament will consist of a total of 12-teams in pool play action. Willems, who is from Sydney, Australia, and her teammates are in the bracket with Czech Republic, USA, Chinese Taipei, TC Colorado and Korea.
DRIVER OH SO CLOSE
Howard College freshman barrel racer Jordan Driver had three runs at the College Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo. Jordan's first two runs were fast but she knocked over a barrel each time in her first two runs, causing a five second penalty. On her third go, Driver raced to a 14.37, the fifth fastest time of the round. Without the five second penalty on the first two runs, Driver would have had times of 14.23 and 14.60, which would've put her in the short-go for the money. Like the old saying goes, "so close, but yet so far."
CARRILLO MOVING AGAIN
Former Big Spring Steers baseball coach Daniel Carrillo will be coaching his third team in as many years. Carrillo, coached at Big Spring from 20172021. This year he coached at Class 6A Copperas Cove and next year he will be at Class 5A Bastrop, where he recently accepted the job. Last year Copperas Cove finished fourth in its district. In 2019 Carrillo led the Steers to their first outright district title in 27 years.
HARMAN, TUTLE ON THE MOVE
Coaches Brad Harman and Chad Tuttle are hopefully heading to greener pastures next season as they accept new coaching jobs. Harman, who was the head baseball coach at Big Spring for one year, helped lead the Steers to a share of the District 3-4A title and to a 22-12-1 record. Harman will take over the head coaching job for a struggling Abilene High baseball program. Abilene High went 6-22-1 last season in District 6-2A play, as the Eagles will be moving down to Class 5A this season. Harman is a veteran coach that has won more than 300 games in his career. Chad Tuttle, who recently served as Coahoma's offensive coordinator this past year, will soon become the new head football coach and athletic director for the Eldorado Eagles. Tuttle will inherit a team that went 10-2 last season, with one of those wins by way of 56-29 over Coahoma. Tuttle will bring over 16 years of coaching experience to Eldorado.
COACHING TURNSTILE IN WJCAC
Tides are turning within in the men's Western Junior College Athletic Conference basketball coaching circles. Five schools will have new basketball coaches next year including Howard College, where Kyle Cooper will take over the head coaching position from Scott Raines. Former Big Spring High School graduate, Luke Adams will leave his head coaching role at New Mexico Junior College to join his dad Mark at Texas Tech. Odessa College's Tra Arnold bolted to Midland College to replace Paul Rafferty and former Howard College coach Steve Green left South Plains to be an assistant at Texas Tech.
BULLDOGETTES STILL GETTING HONORS
When you win big everybody notices, which is why the Coahoma softball team continues to earn more accolades. The Texas Girls Coaches Association All-star game will take place on July 12 in Arlington. Coahoma's head softball coach Alex Orosco along with outfielder Shae Lang and second baseman Christian Everett were selected to play in the all-star game. However, Lang and Everett will not be playing for their coach. Instead both Lang and Everett will be playing on the Blue Team, while Orosco will be the head coach for the Red Team. That should make the game a little more exciting. Meanwhile, the TGCA recently released its all-state softball teams and four Bulldogettes were named to the squad. The sister duo and Madison and Brynn Rodgers made the TGCA All-state team along with Christian Everett and Hannah Wells earning the honors as well. In Class 2A, Forsan senior Aubrie Smith and sophomore K'leigh Williams also made the TGCA Class 2A All-state team. In my opinion, there were a couple of area players that got left out, like Colorado City's pitcher Kaci Rivera and Big Spring second baseman Brinly Watkins. Whatever the case might be, Crossroads area softball rocked in 2022.