Last year Canyon Lake had a tough time against Marble Falls with some resounding defeats from our friends from the north.

Gordon the Plumber Supports Hawk’s Baseball

On this frigid night Canyon Lake was able to scrape up a 3 run rally and after holding the home team scoreless in the bottom half of the sixth both teams said enough so they could go home in a warm bus.

Garrett Winters started the 6th inning with a single to right field.

Winters stole second base and Nick Cahill responded with an infield hit to the 3rd baseman leaving runners on first and second and no outs.

Cody Powell loaded the bases after taking one for the team as he was hit by the pitcher.

First ball hitting Gordon McCleary had the main hit when he doubled in two runs scoring Winters and Cahill.

Corey Shedrock hit a fly ball to left field scoring Powell with a sacrifice fly that tied the score.

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Not that long ago, Canyon Lake did not need to field a Junior Varsity team since they did not have enough players to warrant such an act.

Y4 Custom Homes Supports Hawk JV Softball

Last year, the Hawks fielded their first full season JV team and did not find much success.

Yes, there was a good reason for that showing…CL had four freshman playing on the varsity.

Those players would have made all the difference in last seasons final record if the Varsity did not need those freshman playing.

This game with Fredericksburg shows how far this sport has progressed as Canyon Lake came back from an early deficit to win going away, 10-6 in a timed affair.

Addison Ray pitched a gem while giving up just one earned run as she only threw strikes in her last two innings.

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Canyon Lake run ruled Fredericksburg with an 11 run fifth inning turning the tide for an impressive win over nemesis Billies, 16-6 on Wednesday night at the Hawk diamond.

Junior Kirsten Jones thinking about her slap hitting

“We committed way too many mental mistakes early but our presence of mind to start hitting the ball and scoring in those late innings shows that this team is not out of it (any game),” Head Coach John Gallagher stated. “Their confidence grew when the Billies put a new pitcher in the game.”

All but one Hawk got a hit, all but two Hawks got a run batted in and all but two Hawks scored a run as CL spread the wealth up and down their line-up in that last inning.

Kirsten Jones had several slap happy hits and her first was placed beautifully right over third base. Jones did the trick again on a slap bunt right to the left side of the pitcher for another single giving CL a ton of confidence and kept the inning alive.

“I wanted to pull through for the team,” Jones said with a smile that would not quit. “It had been hard putting those balls down and I am glad I did it in this game.”

“We were letting each other know that we had the talent and time to come back,” Jones said when responding on the mood of the team when Fredericksburg took the lead on the 3-Run Home Run.

Canyon Lake was one run down (6-5) when they came to bat in what turned out to be the last inning.

Eleven runs later the Umpire raised his hand signaling, ballgame, after a wall scraper triple off the bat of Kelsey Ahrens.

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Canyon Lake started their season freezing the Yellowjackets with mid 30 degree weather and a solid, 6-1 victory.

Senior Pitcher Cody Powell after swatting the Yellowjackets

“Outstanding early season game,” Head Coach Trent Dunavant said. “The key to this game was our pitchers being able to throw the curve ball for strikes.”

“We had productive at bats that gave us chances to win on a cold night,” Weatherman Dunavant forecast.

Cody Powell had control of his pitches while striking out 6 batters and putting zero’s on the score board for Llano, as the Yellowjackets could not warm up their game scoring 1 run in their last inning.

“Felt great,” Powell started after responding on what it felt like for his opening game. “I got more confident as the game progressed and on my ball movement.”

“I threw my curve ball for strikes for the team,” Powell finished. “Good game, but it was a little chilly.”

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Canyon Lake started track season at the Hawk Relays in beautiful weather last Saturday and that same forecast looks to be in store for this season as many Hawk athletes were in heated action.

Triple Jumper Bailey Drum started her first Meet with a win

You would not see many Hawks on the podium since this meet was occupied by larger schools that can throw more students into events limiting the end result.

However, there was enough to see that this could be a good season and there were some that started where they left off at the Region Meet last season.

Brandon Courtney had two good hurdle races and scored in both events. On Courtney’s 110 Hurdle run he broke his previous best by 0.03 seconds.

Heath McDonough cleared 6’2 for his High Jump event that beat his previous best last year at 6 feet even.

Bailey Drum had a Triple Jump of 34-3.75 and a first place finish. Drum will challenge Marisa Ellis who topped 37-04.5 back in 2012 season. Drum’s best last season was over 36 feet.

Lester Boehme won his 400 Meter Run on the JV squad with the 5th best time for the Hawks and Alysha Perez also won her JV 100 Meter Dash breaking the tape with a 12.75 time.

Perez’s time was a Hawk record as she surpassed Trena Lorett who ran the 100 Meter Dash at 13.23 back in 2013.

Great start to her career as Perez topped that by almost a half second.

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After losing their first game of the season, the Hawks found themselves down by 5 runs in the second game of the day and last game in the Navarro tournament.

Canyon Lake then proceeded to rally on their next at bat and forged to the lead and game, 11-7 against Pearsall.

Lauren Mentzer is all smiles after hit that ties game for eventual win over Pearsall

The win gave CL five out of six games as they finished fourth overall for the weekend.

CL had several good happenings for their first tournament of the season.

“I would have been happy with a split,” Head Coach John Gallagher said when responding if he was happy with the five wins for the weekend. “We finally started hitting today and we have some very good chemistry with this team.”

Canyon Lake relied on Alexis Robinson for pitching as she started four of the six contests.

In that final game with Pearsall, the Hawks went with Freshman Lauren Mentzer in the circle as she works through some arm trouble and Mentzer found it hard to get through the second inning.

Enter Robinson once again to help stop the bleeding for an inning that had several errors and costly runs for Pearsall.

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Canyon Lake continued their streak to four wins at the Navarro tournament on Friday as the Hawks beat Amarillo High and John Paul II.

Kelsey Ahrens continues to shine with several other Hawk players in Navarro

“We are playing together a lot more and our chemistry is very good,” Head Coach John Gallagher said. “Amarillo had good pitching and we got our runs early and just moved people with our hits and bunts.”

The Hawks are hitting .370 as a team as this season is beginning much like last year’s club did with hits and finding ways to win those tight games.

Canyon Lake also had a first when Alexis Robinson relieved Freshman pitcher Lauren Mentzer for two innings for the win and first save by a pitcher for CL since Softball started in 2008 season.

“That is always good to get a first,” Coach Gallagher chimed. “Mentzer looked good and sharp and we hope to get her some more work.”

Robinson not only pitched well but her bat came alive as she finished with a double and home run in her two games.

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Canyon Lake started their season with two wins as Harper and St. Anthony were victims at the Navarro Tournament.

Gordon the Plumber Supports Hawk’s Softball

Kelsey Ahrens got the year going strong with 3 rbi’s in her game with Harper, while Kirsten Jones and Kat Weber each had two hits.

The Hawks held on in this timed game as Harper struck for two runs to close the gap but it was still not enough as Canyon Lake held on for their first win.

Robinson pitched 8 strike outs allowing just two hits in the win.

In the Hawks second game, the power game was evident as Canyon Lake scored 7 runs in the top of the fourth inning to wrestle the lead and coast to their win over St. Anthony.

Kelsey Ahrens had a double while Robinson and Dubois both reached base with triples.

The Hawks totaled 11 hits and finished the day with those two wins.
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Canyon Lake’s Freshman squad started a sweep on Tuesday night as they ran away from Yoakum in grand fashion, 55-13.

Michael Harwell, Matthewl Coyne, and Chris Cole pose after a blowout win beating Yoakum, 55-13

In fact, the Hawk’s 14 points in the first quarter would have won this game as Yoakum did not have an answer to every Hawk but two scoring in this game.

“The last couple of weeks we have been working on our mental toughness in practice,” Head Freshman Coach Javier Almanza started. “This group has tons of potential and they bust their butts in games and practices….we are night and day better than where we were when we started.”

Joseph and McDonough led the scoring with 12 and 10 points respectfully as Joseph also chipped in with 10 rebounds for a double-double.

Canyon Lake also stole the show with 23 thefts as Yoakum found it tough to advance the ball to get a shot off.

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Canyon Lake’s JV team finished their District 26-4A season with a 9-3 record after taking care of Yoakum Bulldogs, 37-28.

Gerrit Wilkins was key in win over Navarro JV

“This game wasn’t pretty,” Head JV Coach Brian Hooper stated. “This team has gotten better as this season has progressed and as the competition started getting tougher this team has been getting after it.”

The Hawk’s largest lead was 10 points with less than 3 minutes in the game as their persistence was consistent as their defense kept Yoakum with just 28 points.

Heath McDonough finished this game with a double-double scoring 14 points with 12 rebounds.

Canyon Lake had a suffocating defense which allowed just enough time for working the offense in getting points and this win.

With just enough from the rest of the team allowed Canyon Lake to increase their lead in the second half and their eventual win.

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