Sports

With second place in District 4-3A secured and the bi-district battle with Dimmitt set, the Alpine boys basketball team hit the road to Sanderson last Friday for a warmup game before this past Tuesday’s bi-district match in Denver City. The Bucks did a few things differently and played what coach Aaron Hardwick said was one of his team’s best defensive games in a 76-44 win over the Class 1A Eagles.

Heading into Tuesday’s regular-season finale at Odessa Compass Academy, the Alpine Bucks had won seven of their last eight games and secured second place in District 4-3A behind Tornillo who, at 29-1 overall, rolled to the district championship and is poised to make a deep playoff run. But the Bucks are a very different team than they were at the beginning of district play – the team is at full strength with key players recovering from early injuries – giving the Bucks just the boost they need at just the right time.

The 2023 edition of the Alpine Lady Bucks have a lot of questions to answer. Since the Lady Bucks finished the 2022 season with a 14-2 loss to Littlefield last April 28, Alpine has a welcomed a new coach to school – Chris Virdell – and Virdell has not only led a month’s worth of practices while coaching the Lady Bucks basketball team to the playoffs this week but has only seen his softball team play in a full game situation against an opponent other than themselves.

The Alpine Fightin’ Bucks baseball team kicked off their 2023 season with a scrimmage at Kokernot Field against Fort Stockton this past Monday. Heading into this season, Head Baseball Coach Adam Llanez has a total of five returning seniors, yet two of these are currently out with knee injuries.

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After Friday night’s 54-46 win over Kermit, one thing became clear for the Alpine Bucks: “Win and you’re in.” More specifically, if the Bucks win their final two games – Friday at home against Presidio and next Tuesday at Odessa Compass Academy – second place in District 4-3A will be secured and the Bucks will face the third-place team from District 5 in the bidistrict playoffs. As it stands now, Alpine and Stanton are tied for second place in the district standings, but the Bucks hold the tie-breaker courtesy of their two wins over the Buffaloes.

The Sul Ross Lobos baseball team, under the direction of new head coach and Sul Ross alum Ely Gallego faced off against the University of Dallas Crusaders this past weekend at Kokernot Field. In their season opener, the Lobos took game one against the Crusaders with a score of 7-1 in Saturday’s double header.

The Alpine Lady Bucks took on the Lady Coyotes last Tuesday in Tornillo. The Lady Bucks started out slow but progressively picked up the energy throughout the game. The girls would play a close first quarter leading the Lady Coyotes 12-9.

As the 2023 season winds down, the action is just heating up. And the Alpine Bucks are beginning to hit their stride.