Canyon Lake Prepares for Last Week of Softball
Canyon Lake’s Softball team will be the 6th program to make the playoffs this season.
Having 5 district teams has been a big contributor but there was only one of those teams that made the dance as a 4th seed.
The Softball team will either enter the playoffs as a 2nd or 3rd seed. The Hawks will be paired with District 27-4A schools in those first round affairs, which comprise Wimberley, La Vernia, Navarro, Gonzales, and Eastside Memorial.
At this writing the district standings for that group of opponents is below and if the Hawks are the 2nd seed then they will draw the 3rd seed and vice versa with the 3rd seeded team having a 3rd place finish.
District 27-4A Standings
W L
Wimberley 6 1 .857 The Texans would draw Hondo
La Vernia 5 2 .714 Hawks would play LV by finishing 3rd
Navarro 4 3 .571 Hawks would play Panthers if they finish 2nd.
Gonzales 3 5 .375 Boerne would be paired with the Apaches
Eastside Memorial 0 7 .000
Games This Week
Tuesday Wimberley 11 Gonzales 3
La Vernia 18 Eastside 0
Navarro Off
Friday Eastside @ Wimberley
Navarro @ La Vernia (would decide playoff game)
Gonzales Off
The prognosticators would have Wimberley winning there final two games and finish 1st. The La Vernia and Navarro game on Friday will be the key game for CL’s playoff opponent with a Panther win having a tie for 2nd place in that district.
MaryBeth Gallagher as the 1st Base Coach
If La Vernia wins then CL would be paired up with Navarro for the first round and with a LV loss a Navarro tie breaker has the Panthers since they won both games with the Bears.
Of course, the Hawks would still need to win on Tuesday and Friday for that scenario to play out.
Canyon Lake has played Navarro a couple of times this season and were 1-0-1 in those two contests.
Both games were tight ones and there should not be a school coming into that game with a we are better banner. The tied game was a tournament game and did not go 7 innings but Navarro was on a roll when that game was called.
Your Hawks did not have a hit when the game was called and did not look good at the plate during the contest.
La Vernia has blown a lot of schools out this year but if we are playing the Bears in that first round contest then that would mean the Bears were beaten by Navarro twice.
CL should take notice however as the Bears did beat Wimberley, 4-1 in their first round of district games and that will let you know this LV team will be no pushover.
Hawks takes no Bull from the Billies!! Go Hawks
The Hawks have had problems with 3 schools as their 5 losses have CL on the short end of the score twice against Boerne and Wimberley.
Cuero was the other loss when the Gobblers shut CL out in their first tournament this season in Navarro. That game had Cuero with strong bats and CL without a hit when the run rule was imposed.
Wimberley has had the Hawks number in both battles while the Greyhounds have won nail biters twice playing Canyon Lake.
The Texans, Boerne, and Navarro have good pitchers that have quieted CL’s bats and they seem live or die by that girl in the circle. Wimberley would be the exception as those two games with the Texans had some good at bats up and down their line-up.
Canyon Lake can throw 3 athletes in the circle and not have a big drop off as they each have different styles.
Maggie Banks needs to depend on fielding a tad more since she induces ground balls which has the defense on their toes for executing those outs.
Lauren Mentzer will have more strike-outs but she will give up more long balls as witnessed this week in CL’s loss to Boerne.
Maddy Puente is the other Hawk pitcher and she is more in the same vein as Mentzer.
Patriot Propane says go Hawks!
Coach Gallagher will need to be in tune with how these girls in that circle are doing in getting through all 7 innings.
The no-hitter on Thursday by Banks was not a 7 inning affair as the Hawks run ruled Hondo and that question mark still remains in knowing how strong these three ladies will be in those latter stages of a contest.
If Canyon Lake can up their game defensively, then the odds for this club going further than one round, will increase.
The bats can be shut down and there has been two opposing pitchers that have finished the game without giving up a hit, but those games, were not 7 innings, since they were played in tournaments.
Those two pitchers are from Cuero and Navarro that Canyon Lake’s bats had to be X-Rayed after the game to see how many holes were in their bats.
Freshman will usually have a tougher time at this time of the season as the games start to add up and usually those district games have a way of bringing batting averages down.
Hawks take Great Pictures!!
That has not been the case this year, as this district has not been as daunting as the past two seasons and CL has several freshman and sophomores that are having good at bats.
Sophomore Bailey Bryan went into a district slump last year as she was hitting .455 before those games started, and then had a .222 average during those games that mattered more.
This year, Bryan has been shining throughout the season with power/hitting/and bunting and is she executing at a higher rate.
Bryan presently has a .421 batting average and in those district games, she has upped her game with a lofty .478 average.
At this writing the top 4 Hawks, in average during district play, are 3 freshman and Bryan the sophomore.
ab r h bi ave obp slg pct.
3 Freshman 58 17 31 18 .534 .557 .638
Marley Carrizales
Maddy Puente
Adriana Peaslee
1 Sophomore 23 9 11 6 .478 .520 .522
Bailey Bryan
Combined 81 26 42 24 .519 .547 .605
As a team, last year’s Hawk’s finished district with a .268 batting average. With 2 games remaining this year, CL is at a much healthier .342 average.
Brookshire wants a win over the Billies.
There is not a team in this region that would be hands down a cinch to win in a contest against your Hawks.
But those games would need those 3 elements (fielding, batting, pitching) clicking for CL to be put in a position for advancing. Fielding has to be the biggest of those three mentioned as those kryptonite moments could spell doom.
Canyon Lake is young and the older players will be a slam dunk for advancing as Carley Dubois and Kat Weber will look to finish their careers in the Hawk Green and the first playoff in 5 years.
Go Hawks and Beat the Billies!!
