‘The Catch’ Helps Hawk with Win and 3rd Place Finish
Pitcher Griffen Willams (r) reacts when sees First Baseman Tanner Schultz and The Catch.
The ‘Catch’ was one of the best defensive plays in Hawk history as the Veteran Memorial team was down two runs with a runner on base for a chance to wreak more damage with one out.
Let’s Go Hawks and Hit’em Hard
Then on a full-count a rocket off the bat and down the first base line was snagged when First-Baseman Tanner Schultz acted like he was on the swim team diving through the air for this out. The ‘Catch’ saved a run with the ball easily being a double or triple if not caught.
The ReSporter has seen a lot of Hawk Baseball and that play is in the top 2 when adding the Softball team into this equation. It was 6 years ago when Carly Dubois was playing Centerfield and made a diving catch at the wall for an out and that would be the only other play that could match, the snag, by Schultz.
On what Schultz was thinking on the play? “I did not have time to think,” Schultz said with out hesitation.
On what this catch meant for Pitcher Griffen Williams? “I was surprised he caught it…that was a crazy catch,” Williams said with awe, “A catch like that gives pitchers a lot of confidence and a piece of mind that the defense has your your back.”
And this Catch was certainly a confidence builder.
Canyon Lake was a busy team this week with 6 games in 6 days and winning 5 of those battles.
That was the most games and wins in a week in Hawk history.
Let’s Go Hawks!!
“The wins are good but we had two bad innings that we couldn’t recover from,” Head Baseball Coach Victor Escamilla said after being asked for a grade on this, five win, week. “We had double their hits and no errors. You should win all those games. That looks like a coaching blunder to me. We will fix that and not let it happen again. My grade is a 90 for the week. The competition will improve this next week. We could possibly play better but not have as many wins. We will be working on improving on Monday.”
Wow, Coach Escamilla might need to grade on a curve this coming week for an improved score.
Williams was the man on the mound in that final game in a game for 3rd place in this 16 team tournament and with some help in the field was able to secure his first win as a Hawk after transferring from Lubbock Cooper over the Summer.
“A catch like that gets the team pumped up,” Williams said. On what he has noticed to begin this season, “Team chemistry is very good on this team and it has been good just getting to know each other.”
Griffen Williams gets first win while helping with 4 rbi’s in Veterans Win, 7-4.
Williams helped his cause with a two hit game that drove in 4 runs for the Hawks, “I have been struggling at the plate and then Coach called for a flash hit and that got me started.” (Flash Hit: Where a batter will show a bunt before recoiling the bat for a full swing.) That hit just put me in a good mood and gave me confidence.”
That might pay dividends for Canyon Lake as Williams finished his two games with 4 hits and raised his batting average from .000 to .400 for his body of work.
“The Coaching has really helped out a lot,” Williams closed.
Canyon Lake has raised their team batting average to a respectable .325 going into another full week of games and with Williams getting his bat going will hopefully have a way of spreading this hitting virus to other players.
Schultz is in his third full year of playing for The Lake and was not hitting his weight coming into this year with his bat. Now with a .400 season batting average will have this player looking for a diet as he has reached a .230 career average.
“I quit growing,” Schultz said when asked bout his first two years playing on the varsity. “I grew 7 inches during my freshman year.”
That might have had Schultz swinging over those pitched balls on many occasions with a growth spurt of that magnitude.
“I have always come to the plate with a confident attitude,” Schultz said with resolve. “Everybody has slumps but I did not let my slump get me down as I was hitting the ball well but it was always straight to the second baseman or the centerfielder….but batting gives me confidence when I am pitching and it can help me get a win.”
That was certainly the case for Williams in this game and Schultz is now carrying two wins in his pocket when his pitching rotation comes calling again this week.
This Year W L ERA Tanner Schultz Career W L ERA
8 Innings 2 0 1.75 85 Innings 13 3 2.07
The Hawks will have a home game with Copperas Cove on Tuesday and then another tournament in the Hondo area in hopes of continuing a winning tradition and move that 3rd Place Trophy over for a First Place Trophy this week.
Way to Go Hawks!!
1st Game 1 2 3 4 5 6 R H E Canyon Lake Hawks 0 1 2 0 0 0 3 9 0 South San Antonio 2 0 0 0 2 x 4 4 2 name ab r h bi 2b bb so misc Tyler Pauly 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 roe fc James LaLonde 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 Tanner Schultz 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 Matthew McLain 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 Hunter Anderson 2 0 1 2 1 1 0 Griffen Williams 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 pr Peyton McMullen 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Gunnar Walker 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 cs Ty Sellers 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 fc Jeremy Greene 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 roe ph Dalton Stanley 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 pr Thomas Dorman 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 totals 29 3 9 2 1 1 4 pitching ip h r er bb so W L S Hunter Anderson 4.0 3 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 Peyton McMullen 1.2 1 2 2 1 3 0 1 0 Tyler Pauly 0.1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 totals 6.0 4 4 4 5 3 0 1 0 2nd Game 1 2 3 4 5 R H E Veterans Memorial 2 0 0 2 0 4 6 3 Canyon Lake Hawks 4 0 2 1 0* 7 8 1 *2 outs when game was called due to time limit. name ab r h bi 2b bb so sb misc Tyler Pauly 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 James LaLonde 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 Tanner Schultz 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 Matthew McLain 3 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 roe Hunter Anderson 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 fc Griffen Williams 2 0 2 4 0 1 0 0 ph Brayden Welch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dalton Stanley 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 sac roe fc Hayden Baker 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 ph Peyton McMullen 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Ty Sellers 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 totals 22 7 8 6 0 3 2 3 pitching ip h r er bb so W L S Griffen Williams 4.0 6 4 4 2 5 1 0 0 Peyton McMullen 1.0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 totals 5.0 6 4 4 4 6 1 0 1
