The Llano softball and baseball seasons are over. Better news for the Lady Jackets, who went 4-8 in district and 10-14 overall. Three of the 10 wins were against Burnet.
The finale
Llano finished at Taylor, April 21, and played a fine game before losing 4-3. “Maybe the best game of the year that Lauren Young pitched,” advised Head Coach Bobby Williams.
BASEBALL SENIORS, L-R: Bryson Agee, Jason Gann, Blake Dillard, Drew Baker, Rhett Weaver, and Jaden Napolez. The Jackets lost at Taylor, 11-2, April 21. They finished their season, April 25, at Salado.
BURNET—Sydney Hicks homered—again. Molly Lindner made a catch with style that would have out-pointed Simone Biles, and Kendall Wenzel came off the canvas after a second-inning knockdown to pulverize Lady Dawg pitching—again—with three hits—and Llano completed a season trifecta, three convincing wins over Burnet: 8-5, April (unlucky-for-the-‘Dogs) 13, and two in March by the robust scores of 11-0 and 11-1.
“Hard to beat a team three times,” said head coach Bobby Williams, “espe ...
LIBERTY HILL—A superb showing by the Jackets at the 19-4A District Meet, April 11-12. Four won gold, a bunch of others also qualified for the April 19 Area Meet, and, as a team, Llano was third among the seven schools, while Lampasas and Burnet were 1-2.
Ray Dixon, battling wet throwing rings in discus and shot put, swam away with two gold medals.
LIBERTY HILL—Six Llano High girls will continue Track & Field, April 19, in the Area (2nd) round of the postseason, and the venue will be Panther Stadium just as it was for the 19-4A meet, April 11-12.
Avery Tudyk had the best showing among the Jackets at district with a pair of silver medals in the 100-and300-meter hurdles.
MARBLE FALLS—When Mack Brown, Charlie Strong, Mike Sherman (A&M), Jeff Fisher (Rams), or one or more of Tiger’s swing coaches, were fired, it was no shock, but when some of us learned that Faith Academy Lady Flames head basketball coach, Jerry English, had been removed from the bench, it was, no question, a shock.
English not only led Faith to a TAPPS-2A State Title in 2014 and other huge successes in his 12 seasons with the Flames, the 2016-’17 team was 34-5 and was in front of Luthe ...
Spike Dykes, the winningest Texas Tech football coach in the 20th century, and a person, who “never met a man he didn’t like,” has died at the age of 79. Dykes apparently suffered a heart attack, April 10. He was a resident of Horseshoe Bay.
Spike Dykes was a head coach in high schools and made stops that included Belton, Big Spring, and Alice, and finally, Midland Lee.
Good pitching and a couple of runs here and there, and Llano won its third district softball game of the season, 4-1, over Leander Glenn, April 10.
“Team win altogether,” said head coach Bobby Williams. “Great pitching performance.” Indeed. Lefty Lauren Young struck out seven Grizzlies and allowed just three hits.
“I was throwing curves, a screwball, and throwing inside to jam ‘em.” The screwball moves in on the right-handed batter.
Drew Baker put the icing on the cake to wrap up two wins by Llano over Tom Glenn High, victories very much because of two fine pitching performances. His was one of them — a complete game, 6-0 decision. Check the softball story for those details.
A rare Monday (April 10) for athletics and a rare 4 p.m.
Jaden Napolez shows off how a first baseman can go into his linebacker mode, as he finishes this rundown. Unfortunately for the Jackets, Salado won the game, 8-1. Llano also lost last week to Taylor, 5-0.
