JV baseball tourney to start here today
By Donnie A. Lucas
The Lion baseball team is starting the 2021 season at home this week, hosting a JV tournament on Thursday through Saturday.
The Lions will play Sweetwater’s JV at 2:00 Thursday, then take the field again on Friday at 1:00 p.m. against the Baird varsity. The third day of the tourney has the Lions playing the Abilene Cooper JV at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Coach David Fairchild has had only nine total players from both varsity and JV to work out, with the majority of the players still involved in the basketball playoffs.
“We were waiting on 13 more guys from basketball to join us,” he said. “There are nine guys from both JV and varsity who have been working out so far.”
Now that basketball season over, the other players will join the team, with some participating in this week’s JV tourney.
Five other area schools are playing in the tournament, including Sweetwater JV, Cooper JV, Cisco JV, Early JV, and Baird’s varsity.
Fairchild said that workouts have been limited to the green room mostly, with only two outside practices due to the recent winter weather conditions.
Albany is on the schedule to host DeLeon on Tuesday, March 2 in varsity action, followed by a JV game at 6:30 p.m.
The varsity will travel to the Glen Rose tournament March 4-6, and the JV will be in tournament action March 4-6 in Eula.
Asked about the prospects for the 2021 season, Fairchild said that the Lions are playing in District 8-2A this season, which includes previous district opponents Haskell, Hawley, and Stamford. Two new teams have moved down to 2A from 3A this season.
“We were already in a tough district, but now Cisco and Anson have moved down to join us,” Fairchild said. “That is going to make this a very competitive district race. Anson is currently No. 2 in the state.”
The Lions had a very promising season cut short last year, standing at 7-0 when classes were cancelled last March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It has been a long time since we were on the field,” he said, “but we have a good bunch who will work hard to compete.”
