Softball: Hawks Pound SAC and get Humbled by Akins
Bailey Bryan cannot be seen after while stepping on home plate after 2 run home-run against Navarro. (photo by Karen Holmes)
Canyon Lake went into their first Saturday game in the Blanco/JC Tournament without 3 of their starters while resting another every day player in Maggie Banks. The results were outstanding as the Hawks achieved a lot of firsts in their, 15-3 win over San Antonio Christian.
“Offensively, I am very happy,” Head Coach John Gallagher said. “Our stroke looked a lot better and we improved on our selection and we are beginning to jell as a team to get back on track.”
Bailey Bryan and Angie Rodriguez are all smiles after combining for 3 homers.
Bailey Bryan’s first two at bats went ‘Yard’ and she became the first Hawk player to have to homers in one game. Both dingers came with a Hawk on base. Bryan now has had 3 home runs in her past two contests.
“It felt nice to get hits that we need and get runners batted in,” Bryan said eloquently. On how she was pitched on her 3rd at bat when she drew a walk. “Yeah, there were not many pitches that were close.”
The proverbial unintentional intentional walk for a power hitter that is seen quite often.
Another first came in the 4th inning when Angie Rodriguez sent her hit over the fence which had CL with 3 homers in one game, which had not happened in their first 9 years of existence. Rodriguez had a double in a previous at bat giving her 4 rbi’s the same as Bryan in the game.
On if this was her first home-run, “I only had one playing for the JV,” Rodriquez remembered. On what she thought rounding the bases, “I did not see it go out…and then I saw my teammates coming out of the dugout and that put a big smile on my face.”
Go Canyon Lake Hawks!!
Canyon Lake was down by one run when they came to bat in the bottom of their first inning. Bryan cashed in with her 2 run shot and then Jessie Melendez screamed a ball to the fence for a double.
Melendez would score off a hit from Adriana Zunker for a Hawk, 3-1 lead that would not be threatened for the remainder of this timed affair.
Another good sign was watching how well the bottom half of the batting order was taking care of business as KT Cox started the next stanza with a one out walk. Rachel Tucker would drive Cox home and then score off the 2nd dinger of the day from Bryan.
Canyon Lake’s defense gave up 2 runs in the top of the 3rd with both runs scoring after 2 outs and the inning being extended off of an error at 2nd base.
The Hawks would erase any doubt on this game when they scored 7 runs in the 4th that was highlighted with a Rodriguez homer and K Puente accumulating 2 hits in that same inning, the last hit drove in the final 2 runs.
Maddy Puente continues to give some quality time in the circle with just one walk and striking out 5 SAC players. Throwing strikes at a 68% rate can be a good sign for most games and this was certainly a testament how well Canyon Lake is playing after starting the season looking up at 8 losses without any wins.
Six of CL’s runs were scored with two outs which continued a trend from their win against Navarro on Friday night.
In that second game, the Hawks met a 6A team that had great pitching and a top to bottom batting order that had no weaknesses.
The result was quick and simple. One hit on an infield hit from Maddy Puente and 4 walks. The offense was rendered useless with the Eagles pitcher and the 7 game winning streak ended the same way that those first of the year losses started… playing 6A schools.
Lucky for Canyon Lake that their district is populated with similar 4A Schools and now the Lady Hawks will be back in action this Tuesday when they travel to Wimberley to do battle with an opponent that beat CL in their season debut.
Italian Garden Says Go Lady Hawks!!
This will be a good yard stick to see if this group of ladies have improved and can hang tough against this State Ranked team.
Canyon Lake has been a different team the past couple of weeks and Rodriguez gave a glimpse on how this team has risen back up. “We had to get used to playing with each other….and we are more together as a team and we need to be confident and be a Team!”
Go Hawks!!
1 2 3 4 5 R H E
SA Christian 1 0 2 0 0 3 5 0
CL Hawks 3 3 1 7 x 14 15 2
ab r h bi d hr bb so misc
K Puente 4 1 2 2 0 0 0 0
Rachel Tucker 4 2 2 1 0 0 0 1
Bailey Bryan 2 3 2 4 0 2 1 0
Maddy Puente 3 1 1 2 1 0 0 0
Jessie Melendez 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 0
Adriana Zunker 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 sac
Angie Rodriguez 3 1 2 4 1 1 0 1
Patrice Martinez 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ph Maggie Banks 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
KT Cox 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 1
totals 27 14 15 15 3 3 2 3
pitching ip h r er bb so W L
Maddy Puente 4.2 5 3 0 1 5 2 3
pitches-strikes: Puente 68-46
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1 2 3 4 5 R H E
Austin Akins 1 0 1 0 5 7 11 0
CL Hawks 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
ab r h bi bb so misc
Kensie Sayles 1 0 0 0 1 1 cs
K Puente 2 0 0 0 0 1
Bailey Bryan 1 0 0 0 1 0
Maddy Puente 2 0 0 0 0 1
Adrians Peaslee 1 0 0 0 1 1
Maggie Banks 2 0 0 0 0 0
Jessie Melendez 1 0 0 0 1 1
Adriana Zunker 2 0 0 0 0 2
Angie Rodriguez 1 0 0 0 0 1
totals 13 0 1 0 4 9
pitching ip h r er bb so W L
Maggie Banks 4.1 10 7 7 1 1 4 5
Maddy Puente 0.2 1 0 0 0 2 0 0
pitches-strikes: Banks 73-50
Puente 12-7
