pioneer newsWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE COLLEGE

news@wosc.eduWednesday, February 19, 2014 Volume 15, Issue 23

WESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE COLLEGE Music Department PRESENTS:

It’s time for the Great Plains Literacy Council’s fun and entertaining event – the “GRATE” Altus Spelling Bee, on Saturday, March 29th, at 1:00 p.m. in the Band Hall at Western Oklahoma State College.

The spelling bee is a light-hearted contest where teams work together in spelling the word at the contest. Not only will the competition recognize the best spellers as a team, but the best costumes and team names will win awards. A special award will also go to the top military team.

Information about the spelling rules and a suggested word study website are available at the Altus Public Library upon payment of the $100 entry fee. Teams also have an opportunity to purchase three mulligans for $25, payable with the team registration. At the event, three mulligans will cost $35.

There is no admission fee for the public to attend the event. Door prizes and refreshments will be available throughout the contest.

“The ‘Grate’ word was used to draw attention to the spelling of words and to describe the friendly, fun com-petition associated at the fund raiser of needed funds to continue the fight against illiteracy in the community,” ex-plained the literacy board president Jacquelyn Parrish. “It really is a ‘great’ event.”

“Consider sponsoring a team from a business, organi-zation, church or making a contribution to the non-profit organization,” stated Spelling Bee chair Ryan Howard. “The fundraiser is about seven weeks away, so we encour-age team spellers to make preparations now.

Who will prevail this year and take home the top priz-es? Find out on March 29th as teams compete for bragging rights and win at the 2014 “GRATE” Altus Spelling Bee.

Great Plains Spelling Bee at Western

March 29! by Ida Fay Winters

The Pioneer baseball team got off to a great start this season by winning their first five games of the season. In their home opening series of the season they took on Luna Community College on a 3 day, 3 game series in which-Western scored 23 runs while allowing just 8. The Pioneers played 8 different pitchers over the course of the series, each one doing their job of shutting down the Rough Rid-ers’ offense.

The first game featured Kevin Torres starting on the mound with Aneuris Rodriguez coming in the second in-ning in relief. The Pioneers came back from a five-run def-icit which started off in the fifth with a two- run homerun off the bat of Marlor Villafana. The seventh inning, how-ever, is when the Pioneers did the most damage scoring four runs including a one -pitch, two RBI double -hit by William Morra who was pinch hitting. They then scored one more in the eighth to bring the score to 7-5 to which Ruddy Estrella then shut the door by getting six straight outs to end the game.

The second game was all Pioneers the entire way. They racked up 13 runs off of 10 hits while allowing just 1 run off of 4 hits. This game featured four Western pitchers with Joshua James getting the start. James, who pitched six in-nings, allowed just one run with five strikeouts and one walk. Ricardo Parra was the second Western pitcher of the day and allowed no runs on two strikeouts and no walks in two innings work. Anthony Alicky and Quinton Willems each had one inning a piece in which they shut down any attempt from Luna to make a comeback. The bats of West-ern were working all day, but they were led by Jose Fortuna who reached base all five times he was up. Tony Nuñez also contributed with 3 runs off 3 hits, as well as Ceaser Figuerro who scored twice while batting in two more.

The final game of the series was the closest of all three, with Western winning just 3-2. The Pioneers scored once

in the second when Jose Fortuna managed to make his way around the bases by stealing second, getting bunted over to third by Marlor Villafana and scor-ing off of a groundout by Alnardo Rodriguez. They struck again in the fifth off of a Tony Nuñez solo homerun, and once more in the sixth off a Ceaser Figuerro leadoff double, another sacrifice bunt by Foster Ford and a RBI single by Jose Fortuna. Western fea-tured three more pitchers with Jordan Scott getting the ball to start. Scott pitched well for four innings allowing just two runs. Ricardo Parra came in the fifth inning and also threw well allowing no runs with Ruddy Estrella coming in once again to seal the game for Western in the ninth.

The Pioneers next home game is this Thursday, Febru-ary 21 at 2 p.m. when they take on Coffeyville in another 3 day home series.

Western Oklahoma State College and Great Plains Regional Medical Center invite you to a cake and punch reception at

Western’s Elk City Nursing School site, located at the Pat Wall Professional Building, #180 West 1st Street, Thursday, Febru-ary 20, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the reception area of the facility. Come and meet the faculty and staff who welcome you to

tour the new home of the Western Elk City nursing site. The college and hospital have been partners for many years

and are celebrating the new move and the hospital’s 2014 selection as an Oklahoma State Regents Business Partner-

ship Excellence Award Recipient. Those interested in attend-ing Western’s nursing program are reminded that the 2014 general student applications for the Elk City, Lawton and

Altus sites are due March 3, 2014. Application materials and information can be found at wosc.edu/nursing.

Start here! Start now!

Western Hosts Administrators’ Day

Western Pitcher, Aneuris Rodriguez and Catcher Robert De La Hoz throw over Luna Community College.

Foster Ford hits in game 3 versus Luna.

Justin Ellis hitting in game 2 of Western’s home opening series for the season versus Luna Community College.

Ceasar Figuerro hit two of the 13 runs during game two of Western’s weekend series versus Luna.

Melissa Smith, Coordinator of Online Education, wel-comed administrators and highlighted enhancements to Western’s online course curriculum and services.

Kristin Shelby spoke to area high school administrators in her joint presentation with Emily Smith, “What’s Poppin”, a tutorial for educators looking for ways to engage online students with interactive virtual classroom technology.

The 2014 WOSC Alumni Association Membership Drive is underway! Take advantage of this opportunity to join our growing alumni

association and continue to make a difference at Western.

Pioneers Sweep Luna in Home Opening Series by Ryan Whitehead