Softball: “We Love You Hawks!!!” CLHS wins, 8-4

The Canyon Lake Hawks finished the regular season in second place after beating Navarro, 8-4 last Thursday at the Hawk Diamond.

The Wimberley Texan loss to Bandera gave the Hawks sole position of the highest finish for any team sport in the short history for CLHS. The spot in district will pit the Hawks against Lampasas, the third place finisher in District 25-3A.

The Prom King, Garrett Hawkins, sat in the stands the entire game telling every Hawk batter that he and the fans loved them. It became a saying that most of the student section made a habit of yelling when a Hawk batter, any batter, came to the plate.

Canyon Lake had the game under control when they scored with two walks, error, and an infield single off the bat of Senior Hannah St. John in the first inning, scoring Missy Romero.

The Hawks kept the pressure on, scoring two more runs the next inning. Vicki Henderson reached base on a pass ball after swinging for a strike. Senior Tiffany Arredondo then roped the ball over the leftfielders head for a double, scoring Henderson.

Later, that same inning, a Missy Romero hit scored Arredondo from third and ballooned the lead to 3-0.

The Hawks infield defense showed off a nifty play when the Panther’s Trevino hit a ball off the glove of third baseman McKenna Beseda into the glove of short stop Vicki Henderson and the throw to first.

Third baseman Beseda had a couple of other firsts in the game.

McKenna got hit by a pitch for the first time in her two year career and if you frequent the games, then watching the batting ritual for Beseda has had the press box counting the number of times her toes tap the ground before she gets into the batter’s box.

Beseda obliterated the record with 19 taps on just one pitch. The shoes will not last if the team goes too long in the playoffs.

“I played kick ball for 10 years,” Beseda explained about her toe tapping. “Just looks like a bull fixing to hit you with his horns.”

The Hawks were resting with a three run lead in the fifth inning, when Lilimae Daily knocked in Romero. The Hawks had the bases loaded in the inning and got just one run but waited till the sixth to put the game away.

Arredondo opened that frame with a line drive hit up the middle and then did one of the rarest feats in softball by stealing all three bases to score the first run of the inning.

“Just get home,” Senior Arredondo sighed on what she was thinking on the steal of home.

Stay five nights and get the sixth night free!

The other three runs were a result of scoring on a wild pitch and pass ball.

Daily got her second hit of the game, a double down the right field line. She also scored on a pass ball for the final run of the inning and 8-1 lead going into the top of the seventh.

“I was a little frustrated,” first baseman Daily said. In response to most of the base runners scoring on mistakes at the plate and not allowing her to knock them in with a hit.

That should tell you how far this team has progressed since the start of the season. The players are wanting to ‘knock’ in the runs instead of just scoring.

Canyon Lake is bound for the playoffs, but that does not mean the learning curve has stopped, as the Hawks allowed the Panthers to score three runs on errors in the seventh inning.

The wind was wreaking havoc on the outfield as the defense ran into each other allowing the ball to fall to the ground much more than the Coaches or fans wanted.

“We have to teach the girls to yell louder and louder,” Head Coach John Gallagher said. “We lost focus a couple of times, we haven’t played that way in a long time.”

“This was a good win and I’m happy for the seniors.” Gallagher finished.

On the season not being over, Daily responded. “Oh my gosh….this is amazing. I have wanted it (playoffs) since I started high school. This is the biggest accomplishment!”

“We are really excited,” Arredondo emphasized. “We want to show people what we have…..we are ready!”

Here’s to having donations for the new shoes for Beseda and a long playoff run! Stay tuned to the ReSporter for updates on the playoffs and other news for Canyon Lake.

“We love you Hawks,” Prom King Hawkins reiterates with a very loud voice. We love you too and congratulations on a well deserved season.

              1   2   3   4   5   6   7   R   H   E
Navarro       0   0   0   0   0   1   3   4   5   3
Canyon Lake   1   2   0   0   1   4   x   8   7   5

LOB-Nav 6; CL 6. 2b-Arredondo (1), Daily (1).
SAC-L Daily (1). HBP-Beseda (!). SB-Arredondo (4),
Browning (1), Jordan (1).

               IP  H   R   ER  BB  SO  NP   W   L
Herzog         6   7   8   8   4   3   112  4   10
M Romero       7   5   4   0   0   4   88   17  8

WP-Herzog (3); Romero (1). PB-Pollok (3); Payne (1).
HBP-by Herzog (Beseda).
Pitches/Strikes: Herzog 112/63; Romero 88/65.