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.

By Donnie A. Lucas

After missing out on their regular season opener and a tournament last week due to the weather, the Lady Lion softball team got on the field Monday to earn a 20-0 victory over the Cooper JV in Abilene.

Albany will play in the Stephenville tournament starting today, weather permitting. The girls are scheduled to play Springtown at 3:30 p.m. and Midway JV at 5:00 p.m. at McClesky Field at City Park in Stephenville.

The Lady Lions will play Crowley at 11:00 a.m. Friday at Stephenville High and Krum at 2:00 p.m.

Carolyn Hill (second from right), who often helps coach local tennis players as a community volunteer, works with several junior high students on their serving. The Albany High School team members were in action for the first time this week, with Hawley hosting a weather-delayed invitational meet at Rose Park in Abilene.

By Donnie A. Lucas

The 2020 Class 2A All-State Football selections were announced Monday by the Texas Sports Writers Association, and the list includes one Albany player.

Senior Wesley Estridge received Honorable Mention by the organization at the defensive lineman position.

The 2A selections included schools from both Division I and Division II.

Estridge was also named to the Class 2A second team All-Big Country at defensive lineman. He was the district lineman of the year, totaling 74 tackles (27 solo), including 18 for a loss and 2.5 sacks.

By Sandy Morris

The local Little Dribblers teams continued their season with games on Saturday, Feb. 20, in the old Albany High School gym. 

The final games will start at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 27. 

Results from last week’s games are listed below.

Boys WEEK 3

Gray 29 – Black 27

Scoring for Gray – Matthew Key 2, Ben Russell 5, McCoy Vaughn 3, Blake Britting 19.

Scoring for Black – Jathan Perez 4, Slayton Parsons 9,  Lyle Wheeler 14.

Black 31 – Red 24

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Albany High School track season is slated to start today in Breckenridge, although the weather forecast may delay or even cancel the event.

Field events are scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, followed by running events at 5:00 p.m.

The meet is billed as a relay event, which means there are additional, non-traditional relays on the schedule while some of the usual races are not being held.

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Lion basketball team won the bi-district title in a 57-55 barn-burner with a two-point buzzer shot against Petrolia last Saturday in Bryson.

Albany advanced to the area round against Lipan on Tuesday in Eastland, losing 75-46 in a season-ending defeat to finish the year with a 11-7 record.

Details of the loss to the state-ranked Indians will be reported next week.

The Lions  overcame a 16-point deficit in the fourth quarter, capped by the buzzer basket by Barrett Beal to win the game and keep the contest out of overtime.

By Donnie A. Lucas

Weather conditions resulted in the cancelling of a scrimmage last Friday and the season opener on Tuesday for the Lady Lions softball team.

The team was still scheduled to play in the Eastland tournament this week, although the Thursday portion of the tournament was moved to Friday.

“They changed the Eastland tournament from a three-day event to a two-day tournament on Friday and Saturday,” said coach Jimmy Fuentes. “The number of games we will play was cut from six to four.”

By Sandy Morris

Eight local Little Dribblers teams started playing games on Saturday, Feb. 6, in the old Albany High School gym. 

The games will continue each Saturday through February.

Games start at 9:00 a.m. Feb. 20 and Feb. 27.

Results from the first two weeks of play are listed below.

Boys WEEK 1

Black 40 – Blue 27

Scoring for Black – Jathan Perez 8, Slayton Parsons 4, Luke Smith 9, Lyle Wheeler 17, Zaiden Dockins 2.

Scoring for Blue – Trevor Bellah 11, Levi Murphey 16.

By Melinda L. Lucas

A meeting of those interested in the Albay Girls Softball Association was postponed from its original time on Feb. 17 to next Wednesday, Feb. 24, according to association president Jacey Shack.

The meeting will be held at the Scout Hut starting at 7:00 p.m.

All parents are encouraged to attend, as well as anyone who would like to volunteer during the season.

“The meeting is open to anyone who has questions or needs more information about the season,” said Shack. “We also need volunteers willing to assist during the season.”