Last season was a great one for the Orangefield Bobcats in baseball as they won their second straight district championship and advanced to the fourth round of the state playoffs for the second year in a row. One of the leading Bobcats was Kolbie Sowell who be swinging his bat next season as a Dolphin at Alvin Junior College.

Sowell was first team All-District his senior year at Orangefield. He was a key defensive player at third base for the Bobcats and a clutch hitter in the middle of the lineup for the team.

A big thrill for Sowell was Orangefield winning back-to-back district titles his last two years there. "Competing the way we did in 4A while also being one of the smallest schools in the classification against those bigger schools and really showing them it don't matter how big you are, it's how big your heart is," Kolbie reminded.

During his last year with the Bobcats Sowell hit six homeruns to lead all the players in District 22-4A. Kolbie's six homers tied him for ninth place in the state of Texas for the 4A Classification.

A couple of the homeruns he hit last year stand out for Sowell. One of them came during a district game against Little Cypress-Mauriceville which is where Kolbie grew up and had gone to school from kindergarten through eighth grade before moving his freshman year to Orangefield. Sowell responded, "It felt really good to do that against them."

The most memorable homer Kolbie insists was very dramatic in the playoffs against the Navasota Rattlers. The Bobcats trailed in the bottom half of the last inning during the second game of their series with the Rattlers when Sowell hit a two-out, three-run, walk-off homerun to give Orangefield an exciting 8-6 win and to sweep the series.

Growing up Kolbie was a giant fan of another power hitting third baseman Chipper Jones. "I just loved the way he switch hit for power and the way he played third. He was real fun to watch," Sowell recalled.

This summer Sowell had hoped to play summer ball before classes started at Alvin Junior College. Working summer jobs to earn some extra money while attending college conflicted with the schedule for the summer league he wanted to participate in so Kolbie has concentrated on keeping in shape and going to the batting cage to keep his hitting strong.

It will be about another month before Sowell reports to Alvin Junior College to play for the Dolphins. Two of his teammates at Orangefield pitcher Trent Eaves and catcher Macoy Marze also signed scholarships like Kolbie did to play at Alvin. The trio of former Bobcats will be joined by other local ball players from southeast Texas including Reagan Weiblinger and Bryce Munoz from Vidor, Kaden Copes of Lumberton, and Hardin-Jefferson's Hunter Hill.

Sowell does have aspirations to play baseball after graduation from college. Kolbie admitted, "I'd really like to play baseball as far as I can to see where it takes me. I'd love that to happen, it would be a dream come true."

Kolbie Sowell, second from left, signed to play college baseball with Alvin Junior College next season

College and learning a trade is the top priority now for Kolbie. "But, if I can't make anything out of baseball I'm going to try to be a process technician which is what I plan to major in and go to work long term," Sowell concluded.

Kolbie Sowell is a hard worker and will be a success at whatever or on whatever field he applies his efforts. Good luck to him.