Varsity Lions find stride, win three in a row

By Alonzo Garza
POST-REGISTER

The Varsity Lions played incredibly well against the Lehman Lobos at Lion Field on Friday, April 18. They beat the Lobos 5-3 in the seventh inning. The Lions have been on a roll since taking a 5-4 win from the Steele Knights on Friday, April 11 and beating the Clemens Buffaloes 7-1 on Tuesday, April 14. Both Schertz games were away.

Lions vs. Lehman
“The team is 3-0 in the last three district ball games,” coach Mark Elder said. “We are playing very good right now and this is the first game that we did not make an error.”
The Lobos tried to keep up, but it was not their day, nor their game. The Lions played flawlessly and with great focus until the sixth inning when the Lobos began to earn runs.
Lockhart pitcher A.J. Crider pitched seven innings and struck out nine Lobos. He also went 1-3 with a big hit driving two runs in for the Lions. Jacob Castillo went 3-3 with a double. Aubrey Voigt went 2-4 with an RBI.
“Rafael Regalado has made great catches during the seventh inning in two of the last three games after coming in for defensive reasons. Those catches were great!” Elder said.

Lions vs. Clemens
There was not much of a contest against the Clemens Buffaloes and the 7-1 final score tells the whole story.
“This was the rotation we wanted all year,” Elder said. “Due to injuries… things didn’t work out that way, but tonight it worked to perfection.”
Jimmy Mendez pitched six outstanding innings to give the Lions their second win in a row. Castillo came in to close the game in the seventh. A.J. Crider hit a three run homerun in the fifth to put the game out of reach for the Buffaloes.
Matthew Gallaway and Kody Zimmmerhanzel each had doubles and Steven Crider made two hits.
“Our defense played great behind Jimmy,” Elder said. “This is the team we have been looking for all year. We have played pretty good baseball the last two games and we need to keep our level of playing.”

Lions vs. Steele
The Lions were down 4-0 going into the sixth inning and rallied to score one run in the sixth and three in the seventh forcing an extra inning with a tie. They beat Steele 5-4 in the extra inning.
“This was a great win for us,” Elder said. “Especially after the first game against Steele where we lost 3-2 in extra innings early in the season. This was a total team effort. Rafael Regalado might have made the play of the game in the bottom of the eighth, running down a for sure double to make the first out of the inning.”
A.J. Crider pitched eight innings and struck out 11 Knights. Ricky Rodriguez scored the winning run after leading off the eighth with a single.
The Lions’ district record is now 4-8 and their overall record stands at 10-14. They played against the New Braunfels Unicorns at New Braunfels on Tuesday, April 22 and will face the Del Valle Cardinals in the last game of the regular season at Lion Field on Friday, April 25. All Lion fans are encouraged to attend and cheer on the Lions in their last home game.
Check next weeks’ Post-Register for scores and highlights.
See you at the game.
agarza@post-register.com