Lion baseball dominates district rivals

The Lockhart Lion varsity baseball team traveled to Del Valle to earn a close victory, 4-3, against the Cardinals on Friday, March 24.
Defensively, Steve Gonzales led the Lions with 16 strikeouts to earn his second district win. In the first three innings, Gonzales struck out all nine Cardinal batters that came to the plate.
Lockhart”s four runs were scored on t

hree hits and received one error in the field.
Scoring for the Lions was Gonzales with two runs from two out of three hits including a walk, a double, and a single. Also scoring for Lockhart was Ortiz driving in three runs with a double.
In the fourth inning, Del Valle scored two runs on their only two hits of the game. They scored one more time in the seventh inning, but that wasn”t enough as Gonzales struck out the final batter to end the game at 4-3.
After the win against Del Valle, Lockhart has a 3-0 district record and a 7-8 overall record.
“I”m excited about the overall effort the guys gave, but we have a long way to go,” said Coach Vasquez. “We need to continuously work hard to get where we want to be.
“We are facing our biggest week in our season so far. Next on the schedule we have Connally and Taylor who are strong competitors,” Coach Vasquez added.

Varsity vs. Vista Ridge
The Lions hosted the Vista Ridge Rangers on Tuesday, March 21, sending them home with a 2-0-shutout defeat.
Leading the Lions defensively for the no-hitter game was junior Michael Schulle at the mound with catcher Dennis Ortiz. Schulle struck out nine batters and walked two to earn his first district win.
Offensively, the Lions made six hits against the Rangers pitcher. Michael Wright went two out of three at bat with a single, triple and a run scored. Dennis Ortiz also went two out of three at bat with two singles and a run scored. The other two hits came from Steve Gonzales with a double in the third inning and Josh Hazelett with a single in the fifth inning. Brandon Hodges and Gonzales each had a RBI.

Freshman vs. Vista Ridge
The Lockhart Lion freshman team played a double header against the Vista Ridge Rangers on Monday, March 27, with a home field advantage.
In the Lions first game, they served the Rangers a 10-0 shutout defeat.
Defensively, leading the Lions was Jacob Castillo who pitched five innings giving up only one hit. He had five strikeouts and gave two bases on balls.
Offensively, Castillo went two for two at bat with a homerun. Also earning a homerun was Richard Ybarra who batted one for three hits. Johnny Juarez also went two for two at bat.
“With the weather as bad as it was we played great defense and Jacob Castillo pitched a good game,” Coach Mark Elder said. “The guys hit the ball very well. These guys are working hard and it is showing with every game.”
In the Lions” second game against the Vista Ridge Rangers they suffered a defeat, 11-0.
Offensively, the Lions only had one hit against the tough Ranger defense. Lion Travis Linder went one for two with a double at bat.
“The weather really affected our pitchers during this game,” Coach Elder said.
The Lions walked eight Rangers and hit three batters.
The freshman team”s overall record is 12-6 and 3-1 in district.
(Courtesy of Gifford Whitehead and Mark Elder)