Lions set to open playoffs against De Leon
By Melinda L. Lucas
With a regular season loss to Hawley on April 22, the Albany Lions are going into the baseball playoffs with an 8-6-3 overall record.
Albany will face De Leon this week in a best-of-three series for the bi-district title, with the first game set for 4:00 p.m. Thursday, May 1 in Clyde. Game 2 will be at Graford, also at 4:00 p.m., with a third game to follow if needed.
The Lions, who ended 6-4 in district play for the second place spot in Division 2, were set to play the first place team from District 7-2A. Albany baseball coach David Fairchild thought there would be a playoff on Monday for that position, since three 7-2A teams were in a 5-5 tie as of Friday.
“Bangs, Coleman, and De Leon were all tied, but Bangs will go in the big school division, and De Leon swept Coleman during the regular season, so De Leon ended up as the Division 2 winner,” Fairchild said. “Coleman will play Stamford.”
Fairchild said he doesn’t know a lot about the Bearcats this season.
“They have a good, mature pitcher, but that’s about all I know,” the coach said.
The Lions, who were 6-4 in district play, have been fortunate not to have any injuries so far this season. However, there have been other challenges.
“I have 15 players, and last week, we had our first practice with all 15 players there,” Fairchild said on Monday. “That’s the only time that’s happened since we started working out in January.”
The coach said that the athletes have been gone for legitimate reasons, including FCCLA competition, track, tennis and other events, but it was unusual.
“I thought we were going to go the whole season without everyone there,” he said.
With only two seniors, Albany is fielding a young team.
“We graduated a lot of seniors last year, and Chip Chambers and Landon Balliew are the only two this year,” Fairchild said. “We have some juniors with playoff experience, but the rest of them will learn as we go.”
Division 2 Stamford was the District 8-2A champion. Hawley, in the second place spot, is entering the playoffs as the number one seed for Division 1.
Albany (D2) was number three in the overall district standings, while Anson (D1) was number four.
This is the first year that baseball has been included in the Division 1 and Division 2 playoff split, like football.
Game Details
Because Hawley is in Division 1, last week’s 0-8 loss to the Bearcats did not have a bearing on the Division 2 standings.
The April 22 game was played in Eula because of field conditions.
“We had too many walked batters – seven total with three errors,” the coach said. “It’s hard to win games with those stats. I did feel like Clay Chapman and Calhan Fairchild had some quality at-bats.”
The coach put several pitchers on the mound during the game.
Chip Chambers faced 13 batters during the evening, striking out one, while Brody Oliver, Aiden Vickers, and Calhan Fairchild all saw eight batters with one strikeout each.
At the plate, Clay Chapman was 2 of 3, Calhan Fairchild was 1 of 3, and Wesley Gleitz was 1 of 2 for Albany’s four hits.
