Canyon Lake Was One Run Short in Loss to Navarro, 1-0

Cody Powell has hard luck loss after striking out 13 Panthers on Tuesday night

Canyon Lake lost a pitching duel on Tuesday night as Navarro scored their one run in the top of the first and made it stand as Senior Cody Powell finished with 13 strikeouts in this affair, 1-0.

The Hawks have now gone three games without a run and will need to dig deep to get out of their funk before the Friday game in Cuero.

“If we don’t score runs then we will not win,” Head Coach Trent Dunavant said staring into the infield. “We have to find some way to get them (runners) in and do something…a strikeout is the worst outcome in those situations and we just could not make it happen.”

Navarro’s Ripke matched Powell’s 13 strikeouts and threw 16 first pitch strikes being ahead in the count for most of the night.

“We struck out way too many times tonight,” Dunavant said.

CL has gone 21 innings without scratching a score as getting runs have become as bad as finding water in a desert. The Hawks had the bases loaded in those last two innings without any success in scoring and changing the outcome of this game.

First District 26-4A game with a familiar opponent, but this district will be a much tougher road and one run losses will need to be reversed in order to finish out this year with a chance for playing more games.

Corey Shedrock led CL with two hits but that would not be enough to get any momentum and get runs in this tight game.

Being the hot batter, The ReSporter asked if they were talking on how to reach the Navarro’s pitcher, “Yes, I was talking, but he (Ripke) was changing up his looks on his pitches for different batters.”

On what it will take to break the dam, “We need to focus on hitting and make them (opponent’s defense) make plays,” Shedrock said with resolve.

Powell only had one inning that was not dominant, but that was all it took for Navarro to end this game with a one run victory.

“I wasn’t really in it (the game) when it started, I was just out of it,” Powell recalled. “I started hitting my strike zone and got into a rhythm with my pitches.”

On what made the difference, “I started getting my pitches from the catcher instead of coach because it helped me speed the game up because I wanted to work faster on the mound.”

Canyon Lake will need to take a quick inventory on how they will respond to their next opponent as there does not seem to be a team in this district that will be a pushover.

“We need to build from it and start hitting the ball,” Powell surmised on what to do before the next game. “We have good connections and we need to start hitting and getting in our offensive games.”

Canyon Lake will play Wimberley at home next Tuesday after their Friday game in Cuero.

Go Hawks!!