Sports Archive

You have to be a catcher, or maybe an old defensive lineman or rugby player, to understand why Javin Shoemake loves being behind the plate for the Crestview baseball team.

“Honestly, the pain,” said Shoemake, Crestview’s senior catcher. “Pain feels nice. There’s nothing like blocking the ball and it hurts.”

After spotting host Walton two runs in the first inning, the Baker Lady Gators softball team found itself playing catchup all night.

Unfortunately for the Lady Gators, they never could catch up in a 7-3 loss.

Athletic tradition and excellence is a way of life at Baker School.

From 20 consecutive district championships in volleyball to an Okaloosa County best five state championships in football, winning is the norm at Baker.

Ask any track and field coach and they will tell you the season is a work in progress.

Since most high school coaches often coach both girls and boys, it might be said it’s a double work in progress.

There was nothing unexpected about what happened on Tuesday night when the Crestview softball team temporarily took a break from spring break and traveled to Pensacola to play Washington. In their game played at Crestview on March 1, the Lady Bulldogs beat Washington 19-0.

As the old saying goes, “When it rains it pours.” And while the skies were clear at the Crestview High School softball complex on Tuesday, the Lady Bulldogs were probably hoping the skies had opened up on them as the hosted Fort Walton Beach. The visiting Lady Vikings had poured it on Crestview as they beat the Lady Bulldogs 13-1.

The Crestview Bass Association held its monthly fishing tournament March 4 at Gantt Lake in Alabama.

“The storm passed, the skies cleared, and Crestview Bass Association had a fine tournament,” said club president Colin Martin.

Crestview’s Elesi Simmons was on a roll early in the second quarter of the Pensacola Sports Association All-Star Game Friday night. She was hyped up. Motivated. Unstoppable on the court.

You don’t have to be a baseball expert to know that if a team strikes out four times the number of hits it has, it probably won’t win. That’s exactly what happened to the Crestview baseball team on Thursday night its game with rival Niceville. Bulldog batters produced just three hits while striking 12 times, five of which were watching a called third strike.

Things were kind of rough when Ciera Ezell started out in weightlifting. She could barely bench 95 pounds. Her clean and jerk never got higher than 115 pounds.

Last month at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, it was obvious Ezell has come a long way from those days.