Sports

At the 75th FFA State Convention in Fort Worth on July 5-6, Alpine High School’s Gavin Wash and Iowa Park High School’s Levi DeLuna won the FFA State Championship team roping event. They each received a $1,000 scholarship, and qualified for the Junior Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association finals. Courtesy photo

Rookie outfielder Joel Barraza says the most difficult part of the season so far has been traveling and playing the same day. Said Barraza, “It’s a challenge to get used to all this.

Doyle Stout, Sr., played for Herbert Lee Kokernot, Jr., in the 1950s, and threw out the first pitch at the o6 Cowboys July 6 game against the Salina Stockade at Kokernot Field in Alpine. Here he visits with players before the game. Courtesy photo

A decisive win over the Trinidad Triggers on June 29 inched the Cowboys closer to the top of the Mountain South standings. Right now they’re trailing both the Tucson Saguaros and the Sante Fe Fuego by half a dozen games. This places the Cowboys in the bottom half of the division, so there is still a lot of work to do.

Hunters looking for a new opportunity or a change of scenery this fall should check out the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department drawn hunt permits program. Applications are being accepted now for a shot at almost 10,000 permits in 61 hunt categories.

Cowboy of the week is right handed pitcher Austin Requena. He’s from Lufkin in East Texas, and said fans would be surprised to hear that he’s the Cowboy’s shortest pitcher at 5’6”.

Last week and into a busy weekend, the Alpine Cowboys faced the Santa Fe Fuego in a six game series. The long series ended with a doubleheader at Kokernot Field on June 26.

Alpine’s 7on7 team again qualified for the Texas State 7on7 tournament for the eighth time in 16 years. Although the team is not directly associated with Alpine High School, its freshmen through seniors make up the 7on7, and manager and coach Phil Fierro said the activity promotes camaraderie and physical fitness over the summer.

Third baseman James Prockish believes the season is going well so far. While the team was off to a slow start, Prockish said that’s normal when the players don’t yet know each other.

After a week of winning the Cowboys are now in second place in the Mountain South Division at 10-8. Just last week the team found itself in a hole near the bottom of the standings, but after a four game win streak against the Roswell Invaders, they are inching closer to where they are expected to be.