Lions drop hard-fought district opener to Hawley

By Sam Waller

The Albany Lions baseball team came off spring break to immediately begin District 8-2A competition this week.

The Lions (8-2 overall) hosted Hawley on Tuesday, March 21 in the district opener for both teams. Hawley won in a close 2-1 game. Details will be reported next week.

On Friday, March 24, Albany will host Anson, followed by a third consecutive home game against Haskell at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 28.

Lions coach David Fairchild said the key for Albany is district is to “come out and play.”

“We had a pretty good break and felt we needed one because we played five games the week coming into spring break,” Fairchild said. “Hopefully, we’ll come back rested and get ready for a long season.”

After finishing second to Anson last year before reaching the Region I-2A finals, Fairchild expects another challenging district slate.

“Year in and year out, our district is one of the toughest in the region,” he said. “It’s competitive every game, and we had three teams go three rounds deep or better last year. It’s a tough district, but it makes you better for the playoffs if you’re able to get out.”

Fairchild said the key for Albany is pitching. No Lion pitcher worked more than three innings during nondistrict.

“We’ve had two get to 60-65 pitches, but that’s not everybody,” Fairchild said. “We go off pitches instead of innings.”

Fairchild said he will begin stretching pitchers out during district but doesn’t expect any to challenge the 110-pitch limit any time soon.

“It’ll be closer to playoff time before we get to that, when it gets a little hotter,” he said. “Right now, we don’t have very good pitching conditions.”

Junior Varsity

Albany’s JV team (3-3) is set for six district games, facing Hawley, Stamford, and Cisco twice each. JV games will be played following varsity games when Albany is at home.

Fairchild said he will attempt to add games, most likely on Saturday mornings, if opponents become available.