By Donnie A. Lucas

Accolades continued to come in for members of the 2019 Albany High School baseball team that advanced to the state tournament last month.

The Texas High School Coaches Association hosted its annual All-Star game last Saturday at Dell Diamond in Round Rock. 

Albany senior Joshua Dyer played for the Class 2A-4A North All-Stars, which ended up losing 6-2 to the South squad.

Dyer played third base in the game, going one for two at the plate and scoring one run.

By Nolan Davis

Albany’s 7on7 team members continue to compete and hone their skills as they prepare for the state tournament in College Station on June 27 and 28.

The local team recently competed in a qualifying tournament in Abilene on June 14. While the team had already qualified for the state tournament thanks to their efforts in a previous qualifying tournament, the Abilene tournament was a chance to practice and improve their play, according to their coaches.

The team was divided up into two separate teams for the tournament – a varsity and a JV.

Several Albany Lion baseball players received All-District honors for their regular season performances, including senior Joshua Dyer being named the District 8-2A MVP.

Three other Albany players were given superlative honors among the four 2A schools in the district. 

District 8 also included four 1A schools, which were represented in a separate set of selections.

Freshman Cooper Fairchild was named the 2A Newcomer of the Year, while junior Ben West shared Pitcher of the Year honors along with Hawley’s Dylan Frazier.

What started as a dead-even pitching duel through four innings ended with the defending state champion Big Sandy Wildcats breaking the deadlock with three runs in the fifth on their way to 4-1 win and a third consecutive appearance in the Class 2A final last week at Dell Diamond in Round Rock.

Big Sandy (36-4) repeated as the state winner on Thursday with a 7-1 win over Linden-Kildare.

Albany pitcher Ben West and the Wildcats’ pitcher Brandon Hendrix opened the semifinal bout firing from the mound.

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.