CL Hawks Softball Team Look to Step Up to Start District Next Week
Freshman Marley Carrizales and the Hawks look to bring the season Home this year. (photo by Karen Holmes)
Last year, Canyon Lake’s Softball team finished up their pre-district with an impressive resume.
The rest of that story did not end as well as the team or fans wanted however.
The ReSporter wanted to delve into how this present group of players might fare given, so far, the same pre-district outcomes and what might be different between these two teams.
“The start of both seasons mirror each other as far as wins but I think the difference this year is we are more talented in key positions and better prepared during practices,” Head Coach John Gallagher started. “Last year we relied on our first five in the order to set the tone. This year we are much deeper and have more power as well as better team speed which gives us more options.”
Head Coach John Gallagher
“The other is strength of our schedule,” Coach Gallagher continued. “We have played and been tested in our non-district games and we expect this upcoming tournament to provide some great competition.”
First off, the 2016 Hawk team finished with a .268 batting average during district competition and in that same mantra, the CL defense committed 56 errors in those district contests.
Those two aspects when matched up can cause a dismal season for any softball group of ladies. Last year certainly played that out as Canyon Lake had a 10 game losing streak to start those important set of games.
Having 6 teams to play in district can give you another reason for how the floor fell out below the Hawk’s nest.
There were several teams on the top of their game and that helped those dominoes to continue to fall as each week the Hawks had more losses and could not find a way to win.
Patriot-Metal-Arts say Run CL Run!
There were only 3 Hawks that were able to get their batting average above .300 and to make those variables worse in this equation was having no power in the bats.
CL had just 11 extra base hits for those 12 games and struck out an average of 8 times per battle.
Before district, last year’s crew was the exact opposite and ruled the roost for much of those pre-district affairs.
How bout 21 extra base hits before district games started and last year’s edition had a .412 team batting average.
This year, CL’s batting average is .412 and that gives you an idea of the similarities statistically speaking. This year’s Hawk batters have accumulated 33 extra base hits and still have 6 more games before the district slate begins next week.
The Hawks finished their pre-district contests at the Blanco/Johnson City Tournament and that has changed for this go around with a date at San Marcos starting on Thursday.
There were some teams who were not up to par as that Blanco/JC tourney had some JV teams entered which might have contributed to the false sense of invincibility going into their district.
Industamp wants Hawks to stamp out the Texans and Go CL!!
San Marcos is in the Hawks pool play along with Midland Greenwood/Fredericksburg which should give a better idea of playing against tougher schools.
There is one Hawk that has an average of below .300 and that average is a decent .286 and this seems to be a better top to bottom team with the bats. Thus far…..
That is the question is the ‘Thus Far’ idea as last year’s crew seemed to have their game a good mind set as district started.
The games this week will go a long way in seeing what might happen this year versus last season.
With less teams, the bar is much lower in having to finish better than one team and that will be a big plus for having the local T-Shirt company ready for sizing up this team and fans with the outer wear for more games after district games have been settled.
Less errors is paramount as that was the achilles heal that started last seasons downfall as those district schools did not let the Hawks sloppy play in the field off the hook.
Go Canyon Lake
Canyon Lake has upgraded their schedule and the Tuesday night game with Wimberley along with those contests on the schedule in San Marcos will sharpen the edge for having the opportunity in having a better ending than last year’s edition.
“This team is hungry to make a statement when district starts,” Gallagher made his final appeal. “I see a lot of quality athletes competing to take that next step.”
Taking steps will start tonight and then seeing if the Hawks will make the step up will be assessed in the next few weeks.
Go Hawks!!
