On December 3rd in the Gertrude R. Jones Auditorium the 2021 Coastal Bend College Baseball team's NJCAA World Series Appearance rings were honored in a ceremony, along with the 2020-2021 Coastal Bend College men's soccer team.
Coastal Bend ended their historical run with a 28-30 record. There is an old adage that you must learn how to win with each step you take in competition. The Cougars won the Region XIV Championship in 2019 and hosted the South District West Divisional in which they were upset. 2021 brought their first opportunity to defend that title and though they didn't, they learned how to capture the Divisional Championship and followed that up with the South District Championship that punched their ticket to this World Series. Perhaps, 2022 will see the Cougars put all the pieces together and claim a hunk of hardware at the College World Series.
The 2021 CBC Baseball season ended as the "best ever" season in program history, though it did not conclude the way anyone would have preferred. The Cougars bumped up from the Division III ranks to Division I earlier this Fall.
Looking ahead, the Cougars will begin the 2022 season on February 4th against Galveston College at 10:00 AM in Galveston, Tx as part of the Whitecap Classic.CBC Soccer won the regular season, Region XIV title and were selected on an at-large bid to advance to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Wichita, KS. First up for Coastal Bend, #2 Salt Lake Community College.
The Bruins an undefeated squad with a 13-0 record would fall to the Cougars of Coastal Bend College, 1-0. Freshman Owen Thomas netted the matches only goal to give Coastal Bend College - the 11th seed - a huge victory over the second seeded Bruins of Salt Lake Community College in the opening round of the 2021 NJCAA Division I National Soccer Championships.
SLCC was every bit worth of the #2 National Ranking and the Championship's second seed as they placed four shots on goal in the early half of the game. The Cougar goalkeeper Harry Scott and his defensive mates were up the challenge as they kept the Bruins off the board, throughout the first half. Lightning struck out of the clear blue sky at the 19:17 mark when a Bruin defenseman made a lazy pass back to his own goal keeper. Thomas, the speedster, broke from his position intercepted the ball with his left and then took two steps to punch it home with his right to give the Cougars the 1-0 lead.
Next up the Cougars would face Barton County Community College for pool play. Coastal Bend found themselves in another battle, just as would expect at this time of the season. The Cougars that would strike first when a corner kick by Thomas Williams was headed into goal just inside the left post by Charlie Ward with only five minutes expired on the clock.
That would be the only goal the navy blue wearing Cougars would garner as the royal blue Cougars of Barton County would use a swarming defense and force CBC to play the length and width of the field on tired legs. Barton County found pay dirt at 21:05 mark when the CBC defense lost control of the ball and allowed a BCCC goal to be curved inside the left goal post for the tie.
Barton would score again with 5:33 left on the clock with a ripped shot from the top of the box that found its way past Harry Scott in the top right hand corner. That would wrap the scoring for the half, and end up being the final goal of the game as neither team found the net in the second half, ultimately beating CBC, 2-1.
Most recently, the 2021 Fall season for Coastal Bend College soccer came to an end with a record of 9-8-1 on the season. Coastal Bend beat Jacksonville College in the Region XIV Quarter-Finals, 2-0. The Cougars then advanced it to the Region XIV Semi-Finals but were defeated by #7 Tyler Junior College.
In addition to their rings, both teams were inducted into the Beeville Sports Hall of Fame by Hall of Fame, cementing their place in history once more.