Canyon Lake’s Baseball and Softball teams celebrated their completed season last week when they held a banquet to honor their District and Team awards.

The Hawks will be ready for action next season as both these teams had youth and many players that will be returning for a better finish to their season.

Softball is classic in that regard as this team will only graduate two Seniors and basically played Varsity ball with a Junior Varsity (in grade) team.

With a total of 4 upper echelon players, this Hawk team was loaded with Freshman and Sophomores in key areas all over the diamond.

Alexis Robinson       Sophomore     District 27-3A     1st Team Pitcher
Carly Dubois          Freshman      District 27-3A     1st Team Infield
Kelsey Ahrens         Junior        District 27-3A     2nd Team Infield
Brianna Young         Senior        District 27-3A     2nd Team Catcher

That is a pretty good list for a team that finished tied for last place in district competition.

An indicator of how much respect this team had amongst other district coaches that found themselves in a battle when taking the field this past year.

The players were also honored by their peers by casting their vote for three categories.

Best Offensive Player: Brianna Young

Young was a clutch hitter this year and for her career as she now holds the all time rbi numbers as well as standing in second place with a .367 career batting average.

Young finished this past season batting .461 with an on base percentage of .554 and a well deserved honor.

Frank Phillips College will be home for the next two years for Young and this young lady will do well in the Panhandle as she proved playing for the Hawks by getting on base via a hit or walk.

Those walks might come in handy based on how far she will be from home.

Best Defensive Player: Carly Dubois

Dubois made her mark in Hawk lore when she made a circus catch in one of her first games of this past season. The game was in Navarro and CL was in a hotly contested battle when this Freshman took off from her centerfield position and laid out for a snow cone catch in the alley.

There would be more of the same as this player would make doubles into outs and by using her speed to catch up to countless balls hit past the infield.

Dubois also had a hand in helping Catcher Young get her nickname as The Wall by throwing strikes from the outfield to home plate helping to cut down a potential run by the opposition.

Ultimate Team Player: Kelsey Ahrens

Wow! What can you say about a player that has brought her ‘A’ game in the batter’s box and third base position.

Ahrens was so good at third base that this year’s first baseman might have been better served playing with a catcher’s mitt instead of a regular glove.

In other words, she could bring it, and those laser throws almost broke the sound barrier several times.

Ultimate player also translates to the offensive side of the ball where Ahrens continues to improve each season at the plate.

Who can forget her walk-off 3run home run to beat Bandera this year. The ball she hit might still be climbing over the hills of Canyon Lake or who knows….the ball might have even made the lake.

A well deserving honor for Ahrens as this honor also tells the casual fan that she commands the respect of her teammates.

Congrats to all of these players as Canyon Lake will say good-bye to Young and Emma Broussard while welcoming a good group of players from Mountain Valley and bringing back every position but catcher and outfield spot.

The ReSporter will find it hard waiting to see how this team will respond to their new district as this team will be a fun team to follow.

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HAWK BASEBALL also had their ceremony and honored many players that performed this past season.

Yes, it was a disappointing end, but Canyon Lake will also have a good chance of raising the bar when they throw out the ball next year.

This past season this team saw a two out 7 run rally for a win while having their defense complete a triple play.

Those are two accomplishments that will be hard to duplicate.

Canyon Lake had seven players that were named for a spot for District 27-3A squad.

First Team All-District Players:
 Cody Powell        Junior            Pitcher
 Nick Cahill        Junior            Outfield
 TJ Jones           Senior            Utility

Second Team All-District Players:
 Garrett Winters    Junior            Third Base
 Nick Kissell       Junior            Pitcher
 Peyton Sipila      Senior            Shortstop
 JJ Nance           Senior            Outfield

 Canyon Lake also honored players voted on by their teammates:

110% Award: Tie
 Kyle Krohn         Senior            Catcher
 TJ Jones           Senior            Infield

Offensive MVP:
 Nick Cahill        Junior            Outfield

Defensive MVP:
 Garrett Winters    Junior            Infield

Team MVP:
 Nick Cahill        Junior            Outfield

Academic All-District:
 JJ Nance           Senior            Outfield
 TJ Jones           Senior            Infield
 Peyton Sipila      Senior            Infield

Nick Cahill certainly put himself with several other Hawk best players this season as this young man came on strong as the season progressed.

Anytime a player starts the season near the bottom of the batting order and then ends the year in the top four batters, then is a high compliment as Coach Trent Dunavant saw the value of having Cahill’s bat further up in the order.

Garrett Winters also found out he can hit with power when he has a finger in a splint and keeping this player healthy for a full season has to be on the need to happen category for Coach Dunavant next season.

Winters is an automatic out when a ball is hit in his vicinity of third base and it is a joy watching how effortless he can turn a well placed ball into an out.

Both these players will be returning next year to build on their goals with one of those hopes being translated to a post-season slot.

Nick Kissell and Cody Powell will be instrumental in realizing that goal as both players will return for another year on the mound.

Congratulations to all the players and The ReSporter will be waiting with ‘bated’ breath as next season comes calling.

The ReSporter has a hard time catching up with previous Hawk students that had played a sport for Canyon Lake.

Each year there is 2-4 students that have decided to take there trade to College and continue their passion of sports.

Last season CL had a student that did not get offers for continuing her college days in competition for sports but as it turned out has found herself throwing a lot of baggage in the form of a Discus and Shot Put.

This past Track and Field season Kaelin Simmons had a Shot Put heave for 42′ 0.75″ and Discus throw that traveled 129′ 10″.

“I made my mind up the first week of summer,” Simmons said in response of when she had decided to go for trying out for track with Corpus Christi A&M. “I had to wait three months to hear if they (Corpus Christi) would have enough spots and if they might cut some girls.”

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The ReSporter will finish with a Trifecta on the most exciting games tour for this year’s Hawk Sports.

Canyon Lake finished with only four wins but three of those contests were defining games in excitement and also in turning some recent bad games and years into it was all worth it status.

Pleasanton would be CL’s first round playoff after finishing third in District 27-3A ahead of fourth place Wimberley.

The draw would pit your Hawks against a team that had suffered just one loss for the season. Pleasanton finished second in their district with their only loss to La Vernia which was also a common opponent for Canyon Lake.

That loss had La Vernia scoring all of their points in the first half and then holding on for a win after  Pleasanton’s 20 unanswered points.

Now The ReSporter wants to take you back a year earlier when Pleasanton faced a Navarro team in their first round of playoff games and also having just one loss on their resume in the last game of their season to Somerset.

Navarro ran all over this Eagle team, 76-49. The Panthers owned a 42-21 score at half time and for the game amassed 694 yards of offense, 622 of that yardage via the ground game.

Navarro averaged over 10 yards per rushing attempt and while scoring 34 points in that second stanza.

What type of offense does Navarro run? Yes, that is a trick question as any Hawk fan can attest to seeing that same Panther team run roughshod over CL for these past four years of district play.

That was the one item that would give a glimmer of hope for a 3-7 team facing a 9-1 team in a playoff game.

Pleasanton had an off week and had coaches out the wazoo watching the blood bath agains Navarro in the Hawks last game of the season.

Those coaches certainly did not get a good idea by seeing CL as the Hawks were manhandled offensively and defensively in that contest losing 62-0 and possibly losing any sort of momentum gained in the last half of this season.

In this game Canyon Lake struck for two touchdowns in the first quarter and then relied on a defense that kept the Eagles to their lowest point total of the year and holding this team under 300 yards of offense was a good indicator of how this Hawk team performed.

Special teams was also in good form as Connor Ricker uncorked a 45 yard punt on his only attempt and Mike Thorpe kept the Eagles deep on their end of the field.

Both of those parts of this game resulted in giving Pleasanton more real estate to cover and a chance for making mistakes.

Christian Dittman also played a great first half from his Defensive End position while Isaac Mendez came up with a pivotal interception after a Hawk fumble to end the first half and a Hawk lead over a surprised Pleasanton team.

That same Slot-T offense that hounded this Eagle team a year before also played out again, but this time the jersey was Hawk Green and that was what the Peasanton players were looking like as they left the field after a Thorpe field goal to end the game and season for the Eagles.

Canyon Lake has been to the playoffs for three years now and hold a 2-1 record in their first round of games.

This contest helped erase a season of bad memories and give hope for a team that proved a record is not a true indicator as this win would cause a kerfuffle in the Pleasanton camp.

The fourth quarter started after an Eagle touchdown to end the third stanza and CL still with their 7 point lead, 21-14.

The Hawks could not muster enough yardage to answer this score and Pleasanton would score quickly to tie the score at 21 all.

A 5 play 60 yard drive where Pleasanton mixed up their pass/run offense was taking up huge chunks of yardage and Canyon Lake now looking like the tired team.

That Eagle extra point was converted from 37 yards out after an unsportsmanlike penalty on the Pleasanton score.

Drama was dripping as that extra point would have kept CL in the lead by the slimmest of margins.

There was still 9:04 left in the game and Canyon Lake would need to wake from there slumber after a no-show on their last possession.

The Hawks had some long and time consuming drives sprinkled though out this year’s work and this certainly would be a good time to rehash another ‘Drive’.

Well, CL would run 14 plays starting on their 24 yard line and when Thorpe’s kicked ball crossed over the bar that clock was down to 1:45 and little time for a score from their opposition.

Canyon Lake started ‘The Drive’ with a Josh DeVries 3 yard run and then a fumbled snap and one yard gain for Skyler Tschoepe had the Hawks staring at 6 yards needed for a chance to keep this drive going.

The Hawks would throw their first and only pass to surprise the Eagles but a good defensive player was there to tip the ball and as luck would have it, Shane Relkin was johnny on the spot with the reception.

That play was good for 19 yards and made up for a Pleasanton play in the first half that had the same result when CL tipped a ball on a third down conversion for the Eagles.

DeVries had the only explosive run for 19 yards on this drive while all the rest of the totes would be of the 4-5-6 yard variety.

 Player          Rushes    Yardage
 Josh DeVries      4         31
 Hayden Dubois     3         14
 McGuire Johnson   4         14

Canyon Lake would rush all three backs the rest of the way until a motion penalty took a third down and 2 yards needed for a score…to a third down and 7 yards needed to break the tie.

DeVries got the 5 yards back assessed by that penalty but was still left needing 2 yards to reclaim the lead.

Enter Sophomore Mike Thorpe who had one attempt for a field goal blocked for the season in a varsity game against Boerne two games earlier.

Thorpe had proven his worth in his first game of the season when he came on in the fourth quarter to kick a 37 yard field goal to beat Blanco for the Junior Varsity.

In fact, that was his first field goal try ever as Thorpe had been playing Soccer growing up.

So a 19 yarder would be a piece of cake. And Thorpe would go ahead and make enough cake for the whole team after sailing the ball through the upright and giving Canyon Lake what would the final score, 24-21.

The Hawk defense would keep this game in hand by holding Pleasanton with two completions out of 7 tries with their last play sacking their quarterback.

Every facet of this game was vintage and Canyon Lake would raise some eye brows with their fourth win being over a team that had counted up 9 victories for their season.

Pleasanton has a hard time with the slot-t and this would be the second year in a row where they were derailed showing only one loss on their ledger sheet.

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                 1  2  3  4   Final
 Pleasanton      0  6  8  7   21
 Canyon Lake    14  0  7  3   24

 Scoring Summary:
 Hawks-McGuire Johnson 8 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 4:42, 1st
 Hawks-Hayden Dubois 27 yard run (Mike Thorpe kick), 1:50, 1st
 Eagle-Jacob Arevalo 2 yard run (pass failed), 4:31, 2nd
 Hawks-McGuire Johnson 3 yard run ( Mike Thorpe kick), 4:51, 3rd
 Eagle-Grant Jackson 11 yard pass from Arevalo (Oliver from Arevalo), 0:40, 3rd
 Eagle-Jackson 37 yard pass from Arevalo (Jason Mills kick), 9:04, 4th
 Hawks-Mike Thorpe 19 yard field goal, 1:45, 4th

 Game Stats         Eagles      Hawks
 Total Yards        294         323
 First Downs        14          14
 Rushes/Yards       36/130      46/304
 Comp/Att/Int       16/24/1     1/1/0
 Passing Yards      164         19
 Punts/Average      2/29.5      1/45.0
 Fumbles/Lost       1/1         4/2
 Penalties-Yards    6-45        4-15
 TOP                22:54       25:06

Passing             Comp  Att   Pct   Yards  TD  Int
 Skyler Tschoepe    1     1   1.000   19     0   0

Rushing             Att   Yards  Ave   Lg   TD
 Hayden DuBois      17    118    6.9   38   1
 Josh DeVries       11    110   10.0   43   0
 McGuire Johnson    16     76    4.8   18   2
 Skyler Tschoepe     2      0    0.0    1   0

Receiving           No    Yards  Ave   Lg   TD
 Shane Relkin        1    19    19.0   19   0

Bracken Christian finished their Spring practice last week and it turned out to be a surprise party as several players jumped out of their box and seemed in step for what could be a decent season.

“If we can make stops then I think we will have a better season than last year,” Head Coach Lloyd Fields said.

BCS would have been in a much better position when they reached the playoffs last year if the defense could of been a little more stout.

“We could not make stops on defense last year,” Coach Fields continued. “We gave up too many fourth down plays in our game with Austin Hill Country and other games….those contests had a chance of changing the outcome with those stops.”

The defense will have Noah Boriack more often this season. Boriack primarily played offense. He still finished with 3 interceptions with very limited snaps.

Another interceptor will be Coy Zunker who suffered a season ending injury last year but still ended fourth in tackles last year with 60 and 3 interceptions.

“I will not let the injury I had last year hold me back for my senior year,” Zunker said with a stethoscope around his neck. “I am going to play the best that I can,”

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The ReSporter will continue a series on most exciting games this past sports year for Canyon Lake students.

Last week, The ReSporter, went back through the football win over Wimberley and how that was as much a mental hill than anything else for this Hawk squad.

This week we will rehash the Hawk’s game with Boerne.

The Greyhounds had been a team that had knocked CL out of a chance for a playoff spot for two years in a row. Those losses, especially two years ago was when the Hawks had just had their loss to Wimberley after starting the year 6-0. Then a tough loss to Boerne for their second loss with both setbacks coming in district play, was enough to leave the Hawks on the outside looking in.

During the 2012 season, Canyon Lake started the game with a 9-0 lead and Eduardo Covarrubias had 100 yards rushing in the first quarter.

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Bracken Christian started their 2014 Spring practice this past Monday after saying

good-bye to the last class that played in a State Championship game.

“I was really impressed with the young guys,” Coach Fields started. “I will go to bed tonight presently surprised.”

BCS will be starting their second first year quarterback this season after Sam Hilgendorf put up his cleats after last season and Eli Achilles enjoyed a 4 year reign at the position before that.

Sophomore Brady Beene will take over this year and will look to continue a Warrior given of playing in the playoffs.

“Beene throws the ball very well,” Coach Fields added.

Bracken has only missed out on the postseason their first year which also happened to be their last season with a losing record.

A tradition of winning is a common occurrence with Bracken Christian.

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Canyon Lake lived to see another day as Cody Powell pitched a complete game one hitter in dominating the

Panthers for the second time this season with the win.

Nick Cahill also had a decent day going 4 for 4 from the plate with 3 rbi helping to raise his batting average from .339 to .383.

Canyon Lake will be playing again tomorrow against Fredericksburg as the three way tie will be played out in order to see who finishes 3rd and 4th. With one of the three teams leaving without their uniform and out of the dance.

This game also broke a losing streak just in time to help with that all important confidence builder type of contest.

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District 27-3A Baseball Standings

                     W   L   Pct.
 Boerne             13   1  .929
 Wimberley           9   5  .643
 Navarro             6   8  .429
 Fredericksburg      5   9  .357
 CL Hawks            5   9  .357
 Bandera             3  11  .273

 Tuesday Scores
 Navarro          8   CL Hawks   4
 Fredericksburg  15   Bandera    3
 Boerne          12   Wimberley  3

 Friday Games
 CL Hawks         @   Navarro
 Wimberley        @   Boerne
 Bandera          @   Fredericksburg

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Canyon Lake’s Final Stats for this year’s Softball team with comparisons to past six campaigns.

 Team Stats 6 Years
 Batting Average                    On Base Percentage
 2014       .323                    2014          .397
 2011       .283                    2012          .364
 2013       .272                    2011          .342
 2012       .252                    2013          .331
 2009       .229                    2009          .331
 2010       .229                    2010          .286

 Slugging Percentage                Fielding Percentage
 2014       .475                    2012          .906
 2012       .379                    2013          .906
 2013       .369                    2011          .898
 2011       .305                    2010          .866
 2009       .277                    2009          .826
 2010       .276                    2014          .818

 Top 5 All-Time (based on 100 at bats)
 batting average          on base per.           slugging per.
 Alexis Robinson   .380   Brianna Young   .488   Alexis Robinson  .710
 McKenna Beseda    .376   Missy Romero    .479   Missy Romero     .689
 Brianna Young     .367   Alexis Robinson .466   Brianna Young    .603
 Missy Romero      .359   McKenna Beseda  .416   Kelsey Ahrens    .547
 Kelsey Ahrens     .315   Kelsey Ahrens   .365   McKenna Beseda   .485

 at bats                  runs                   hits
 Vicky Henderson    289   McKenna Beseda    80   McKenna Beseda    103
 McKenna Beseda     274   Missy Romero      77   Missy Romero       90
 Kelsey Ahrens      267   Alexis Robinson   67   Brianna Young      87
 Missy Romero       251   Kelsey Ahrens     57   Kelsey Ahrens      84
 Brianna Young      237   Tiffany Arredondo 53   Vicky Henderson    78

 rbi                      doubles                triples
 Brianna Young       75   Missy Romero      24   Missy Romero        9
 Missy Romero        55   Brianna Young     24   Alexis Robinson     8
 Kelsey Ahrens       50   Kelsey Ahrens     22   Kelsey Ahrens       2
 Alexis Robinson     41   McKenna Beseda    12   McKenna Beseda      2
 Katy Payne          40   Katy Payne        11   Katy Payne          2
                          Alexis Robinson   11   Mary Jordan         2
                                                 Megan Browning      2
                                                 Carly Dubois        2 (97 ab)

 home runs                walks                  stolen bases
 Alexis Robinson      5   Missy Romero      55   Tiffany Arredondo  34
 Kelsey Ahrens        3   Brianna Young     53   McKenna Beseda     33
 Brianna Young        2   Alexis Robinson   31   Vicky Henderson    27
 Missy Romero         2   Mary Jordan       24   Alex Henderson     25
 Katy Payne           1   Vicky Henderson   21   Missy Romero       22
 Emma Broussard       1

That phrase will be here before you know it as Hawk fans will have some sweet

dreams while waiting for that first pitch next February, 2015.

Hitting was certainly in good form this season as CL decided to restitch some new covers for those Softballs.

Homeruns were certainly a site that has now been seen enough times to verify that the long ball can be hit with some degree of authority at the Hawk Diamond.

Nine homers this season that had 10 triples and 25 doubles coming along as traveling companions.

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