Lions, Lady Lions gear up for spring sports
By Sam Waller
With basketball season winding down, Albany Lions and Lady Lions athletes turn their focus to spring sports.
Competition begins this month for track, tennis, golf, softball and baseball with seasons extending to late April and into May.
The first events will be Thursday, Feb. 13 with softball competing in the Clyde tournament and junior high track running at Stamford.
Softball
Lady Lions coach Jimmy Fuentes said he’s made some changes to the schedule posted on the school website and will have an updated version soon.
The Lady Lions will play Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 13-15 at Clyde. Albany opens District 8-2A play March 10 at Abilene TLCA. The bi-district round of the playoffs is the week of April 26.
Baseball
While the Lions varsity waits for basketball to finish up, the junior varsity will start its season Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 20-22 by hosting the Albany JV tournament.
The varsity will start with the Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 27-March 1 with the American Cancer Society tournament. The 30-team tourney will be played at six locations from Brock to the Wichita Falls area. The Lions will host a varsity tournament Thursday-Saturday, March 6-8.
Albany opens district play March 18 at Haskell. The first round of the playoff will be held the week of May 3.
Track And Field
The high school boys and girls teams open their schedule Friday, Feb. 21 at Hamlin. Albany is scheduled to attend six meets before the District 10-2A meet, scheduled for Wednesday, April 2 at Cisco.
Boys and girls teams will follow the same schedule.
Albany will host the Roaring Lions Relays on Thursday, March 27. That will be the last meet before district.
The area meet is scheduled for Thursday, April 10 at Graham with the Region II-2A meet Friday-Saturday, April 19-20 at Springtown. The Class 2A state meet is set for Friday, May 3.
The junior high teams will attend six meets total. That includes the Albany meet on Friday, March 21 and the district meet on Saturday, March 29 at Cisco.
Golf
For the first time in several years Albany has a home date on its schedule. Albany Golf Course will be the site of the Lady Lions Invitational on Monday Feb 24 and the Lions Invitational on Wednesday, Feb. 26.
Albany has four boys tournaments and three girls tournaments on the schedule.
The District 10-2A tournament will be played Monday-Tuesday, March 31-April 1 at Baird’s Shady Oaks Golf Course. The Region II-2A tournaments are scheduled for Monday-Thursday, April 14-17 at Old Brickyard Golf Course in Ferris. The girls tournament will be played the first two days, followed by the boys.
The Class 2A state tournaments will be played at Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin. The girls tournament is Monday-Tuesday, April 28-29 with the boys Monday-Tuesday, May 5-6.
Tennis
The Lions tennis program will have five tournaments to prepare for district competition. Albany opens the schedule Thursday, Feb. 27 at the Hawley Invitational at Rose Park Tennis Center in Abilene.
The District 10-2Atourney will be played Monday-Tuesday, April 21-22 at Rose Park. The Region II-2A tournament is the week of May 7 at Richland Tennis Center in North Richland Hills. The Class 2A state tournament is Thursday-Friday, May 15-16 at San Antonio’s Blossom Tennis Center.
The junior high program will begin play after the high school district tournament.
