Since our last report we have hosted a tournament, completed our first district game, and will have played our second and third district games before you hear from us again.

Back on March 7th, 8th, and 9th we hosted the Mill Pond Classic. On Thursday, the day opened with Mason taking on Goldthwaite with their JV’s and then with their varsities. Then at 2:00, Mason’s JV played the San Saba JV. Pitching for the Armadillos was John Welch.

In the 4:00 game, Mason faced the San Saba varsity. Garrett Welch was the pitcher of record. Kelan Verette at short, Ryan Guidroz in center, and Jordan Watson at catcher all made good plays. Offensively, our only hits came from Kolton Ellis and Cosme Diaz. We were walked several times and got on with errors, but could not produce the runs when needed. In the end, Mason won the game 12-6.

The 6:00 game had the Gold-thwaite JV against the San Saba JV. Josh Cazares was the pitcher for the Dillos. Good hits by Holt Oliver and John Welch helped lead to many runs for the Armadillos. San Saba won this game by a score of 12-7.

At 8:00, Goldthwaite and San Saba varsities met up. Kelan Verette did the pitching for the Armadillos. Good plays by Jordan Watson throwing out runners at first and second base, and JT Mathis fielding and making throws from shortstop was just enough defense to hold the Eagles to seven runs. Good hitting by Cosme Diaz going one for three with a run scored, TJ Hibler going two for three with a run scored, and Kolton Ellis, who had a game-tying two run single, helped to even the score at 7 when the game had to be called due to time limit. San Saba won the affair by having more runners advance to third than the Eagles did.

Mason’s JV won both games and advanced to the championship game. San Saba JV went 1-1 and would play for third place, leaving Goldthwaite’s JV in the 10:00 Saturday game with a 0-2 record. The varsities were all 1-1. Fewest runs allowed helped to break the tie. Mason gave up the least, so they were in the championship varsity game. San Saba gave up the second least and would play for third place. Goldthwaite gave up the most and had the 12:00 game.

On Friday, the day started with Lampasas’ JV defeating Harper’s JV. The next game had Harper’s varsity beating Hamilton’s varsity. Then, Harper’s JV defeated Johnson city’s JV and Johnson City’s varsity defeated Harper’s varsity. In the last two games of the day, Lampasas’ JV beat Johnson City’s JV and Johnson City’s varsity defeated Hamil-ton’s varsity.

So in the 10:00 Saturday game, Johnson City’s JV outscored Goldthwaite’s JV. Goldthwaite’s varsity beat Hamilton’s varsity in the 12:00 game. Then, the San Saba JV went against Harper’s JV. Holt Oliver was the pitcher of record for the Armadillos. A lack of hitting and some errors on defense allowed Harper’s JV to win third place with their victory.

These two teams also faced each other with their varsities. Ryan Guidroz took the mound for San Saba. The first few innings were going pretty good by striking out the opposition and limiting Longhorn base runners. The Armadillos were not hitting and advancing runners much either. In the fourth, some key errors allowed some Harper players to score and San Saba could not answer back in the bottom half. Harper won the game 6-4 and took third place for their varsity as well.

Eminent weather was fast approaching as we started the championship JV game with Lampasas’ JV against Mason’s JV. Lampasas scored 8 in the top of the first and Mason did not answer in the bottom half. Big flashes of lightning were beginning to cause delay. After an hour or so, we awarded first place to Lampasas and second to Mason so we could prepare for the championship varsity game. The weather proved to get worse instead of better and all involved parties agreed to simply not play the game so that everyone could seek shelter and head back home. Thirty minutes after that, it poured an inch of rain.

San Saba’s All-Tournament selections were: Ryan Guidroz, Kolton Ellis, and Garrett Welch. Ryan had an outstanding pitching performance again. Even though it was a loss, 13 of the 15 recorded outs were strikeouts. He also was three times in one game at the plate and scored all three of those times. Kolton was our offensive leader in our three games. Garrett has been a utility player in this tournament and for this season. He pitches when no one else can, he plays infield and outfield, and even played Saturday with a stomach bug along with a couple of others. Overall, it was a good tournament, just wish it could have ended better. We offer a huge “THANK YOU” to the many people that got involved and helped to put on and promote this tournament. It could not have gotten done without you! We look forward to hosting an even better one next year, weather permitting!

Last Friday, March 15, during Spring Break, we travelled to Gorman to open up district play. Kolton Ellis started the game with a triple to right center and Cosme Diaz brought him in with a sacrifice fly to right. Up one to nothing, Ryan Guidroz took the mound and sat down three Gorman batters down in order.

San Saba scored two more runs in the top of the second and Gorman scored one off of a single and advancing on some passed balls. The score would remain 3-1 until the top of the fourth when San Saba gained four more runs. A pitch hit TJ Hibler, Dallas Caldwell drew a one out walk, and Kolton Ellis singled to center, driving in Hibler. Caldwell scored on an overthrow error. Cosme Diaz doubled to center to score Ellis, and Guidroz doubled to left to score Cosme. Pitching and defense continued to keep Gorman in check until the sixth and seventh innings only allowing two more runs on the day.

Eventually, the Armadillos would score three more runs in the next couple of innings. We defeated Gorman 10-3. This win makes our season record 6-8 and 1-0 in district. Our next game will be on the road at May on Friday, March 22, at 5:00. We will then be playing Cross Plains here at Dillo Diamond on Tuesday, March 26, at 6:30 with our varsity. Our JV will be playing here against Goldthwaite on Monday, March 25, at 4:00. See remaining baseball schedule for other dates and times of games this year.