Little League All-Star action is about to be in full swing with Albany fielding teams in two divisions.

The 8U select team also hosted one of four playoff brackets, as well as the finals, during the last week, with the Albany team making it to the final four.

Both the 10U and 12U All-Stars are set to start pool play on Saturday, most likely in games hosted locally, although the details of the pool games were not due to be set until Wednesday after the deadline for this edition of the News.

Albany 7on7 team members went 3-0 in their qualifying tournament in Archer City this last Saturday, meaning that they have now qualified for the state 7on7 tournament in College Station on June 27 and 28.

The team had a few more players available for this tournament, as some of those that were previously playing baseball joined the team for the games in Archer City.

Local players faced off against Wink, Holliday, and the host team Archer City.

The team is coached by Anthony Cedar and Spencer Newsom.

The 2019 Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athletes All-Star games were held last weekend, and four Albany senior athletes took part in the festivities.

Joshua Dyer played on the North baseball team, Ryan Hill was a member of the North men’s basketball team, Cameron Dacus was selected to the Red football team, and Cutter Edgar played for the Blue football team.

Dyer and the North baseball team won the FCA All-Star baseball game with a narrow 6-5 victory over the South team on June 7 at First Community Field at Angelo State University in San Angelo.

The Lion baseball team pulled together an epic comeback effort to defeat New Deal in the Region I final series, advancing for the second time in three seasons to the state baseball tournament in Round Rock.

Even as this edition of the News is being printed, Albany (23-7) is squaring off against defending Class 2A champions Big Sandy (34-4) in the semifinal round of the tournament that was set for 7:00 p.m. Wednesday at Dell Diamond.

With two weeks of the summer vacation and a couple of summer sports camps already in the past, local youth still have the opportunity to participate in additional camps coming up in both June and July.

The boys all-sports camp and basketball camps drew large numbers of participants over the last two weeks, but students out for the summer still have more camps to look forward to.

Volleyball Camp

The 2019 version of the Albany Volleyball Camp is set for June 10-12, with coach M.J. Vickers Reneau heading up the instruction.

Albany’s 7on7 football team went 1-2 in their first games of the season, as they prepare to enter tournament play. 

The local team played three games at the Lee School Complex in Abilene on Thursday, May 30 to start their season.

Eight players made the trip to Abilene, where they competed against Haskell, Merkel, and Merkel JV.

The team lost to Haskell 35-21, lost to Merkel 14-7, and then beat Merkel JV 49-6.

Albany was shorthanded because many local players are still involved in baseball playoffs.

Beth Roysdon was elected president of the Albany Softball Association at the organization’s annual officer election meeting last Tuesday.

Amy McDaniel will remain vice president.

“Due to a light turnout, elections of other officers were tabled until our next meeting,” McDaniel said.

The Softball Association will meet again at the Shackelford County library at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18.

Two local Little League 10 and under teams worked through the competition in the county bracket of the District 5 tournament last week, with the Albany Reds beating the Albany Indians to advance to the overall district championship against city bracket winner Wylie Hooks on Monday.

The Reds lost to the Hooks in the championship game, 10-5, according to coach Clint Chapman. Wylie was the winner of the city bracket of the tournament against other Wylie and Abilene teams.

Four Albany seniors will be competing in the annual Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athletes All-Star games this weekend.

Cameron Dacus and Cutter Edgar were both selected to play in the FCA All-Star football game. Dacus and Edgar will be playing against each other, since the football teams are not determined by geography.

Dacus will be a member of the Red team, coached by Jeff Cordell of Sonora.

Edgar will play for the Blue team, coached by Ben McGehee of Sweetwater.

An Albany 13 and under travel baseball team won their State Tournament in Euless May 18-19.

The team, made up of local youth with the exception of two players from area towns, won the event after also competing this spring in tournaments at Brownwood and Wichita Falls.

The team goes by the name of the Yard Goats and is coached by Tony Wheeler and Justin Read.

The team was 5-1 at the state event, losing only in their first pool game on Saturday.

The Yard Goats then won five games in a row, including an 11-3 win over Pro Source in the championship game.