Sports

RICE’S MYERS HEADS TO STATE FOR SHOT PUT

GARWOOD – The Rice Little League nears the start of the season as they hosted their inaugural co-ed softball tournament fundraiser on Saturday, May 6. Teams met together for a double elimination style tournament as they raised funds for the Rice All-Stars Little League teams. The funds were raised using the participation fees for each player and team as several residents of Eagle Lake and the surrounding areas joined in to participate in the event.

The sports programs of Weimar recognized several of their standout athletes on Sunday, May 7 as part of the festivities at the Weimar Athletics Banquet. Players in several sports received spotlights as the school gave out awards and recognition for their students’ achievements throughout the past school year. Baseball, softball and golf awards could not be given out as those seasons were still in progress by the time of the banquet.

The Weimar Ladycats have had nearly a perfect start to their postseason as they have dominated each of their first two opponents to begin what they hope will be a deep playoff run. Through four postseason games, the Ladycats have allowed just one run combined while scoring double digits in every game so far. Their lone concession came in the first round against Falls City, so this time around, Weimar made sure to keep their sheet clean as they won twostraight shutout games against the La Villa Lady Cardinals for the Area Championship. They start the regional portion of the playoffs with a series against a familiar foe, the Schulenburg Lady Horns at Rice High School. Game one begins on Thursday, May 11 at 6 pm.

The Weimar Wildcats varsity baseball team needed extra innings to secure their Bi-District Championship and move on to the Area round of the postseason. After a blowout victory to start the series, the Wildcats got into a dogfight with the Falls City Beavers in the following games as they dropped a close one in game two and needed 11 innings to decide the victor in a decisive game three. The Bi-District Champions will move on to face Skidmore-Tynan at Yoakum High School starting on Friday, May 12 at 7 pm. Game two and, if necessary, game three will be the following day with action starting at 2 pm.

The Columbus Cardinals varsity baseball team did not have many difficulties taking on their first-round postseason opponents. Facing off against the Randolph Ro-hawks for the Bi-District Championship, the Cards had some of their best offensive performances of the season as Randolph struggled to slow down the Cards’ impressive hitting. After two straight games of domination, the Cardinals claimed the Bi-District Championship round with an over 13-point average margin of victory in both games. With the series victory, the Cards move on to the Area Championship round where they will take on the Lytle Pirates in Wimberly on Thursday, May 11 at 6 pm.

The Columbus football and volleyball teams have released their schedules for the 2023 Fall season.

The Cardinals’ Ty’Vone Whitehead will be Columbus’ lone representative in the State Championship Meet after becoming the Regional Champion in the 100m dash. Whitehead will compete at Mike A. Myers stadium in Austin on Thursday, May 11 at just after 6 pm.

As a team that spent much of this past season within the ranks of the Texas Girls’ Coaches Association’s top 25 list, the Lady Cards have made it clear that they stand amongst the elite softball team in Texas. In the Area Championship round of the postseason, they made it abundantly clear that their name should be near the top of the list as their second-round opponents, the Cotulla Cowgirls, entered the series as the seventh best 3A team according to TGCA. Columbus did everything they could to prove that they deserve a top ten spot just as much as anybody as they went on to pick apart Cotulla on both sides on the way to a dominating series sweep that marked Columbus’ most total wins in one season in program history at 27. After the win, Columbus moved up to no. 8 on the rankings while Cotulla dropped out of the top ten. The Lady Cards start the regional rounds of the postseason with a series against Jourdanton in Marion starting on Friday, May 12 at 5:30 pm.

SEGUIN – The track teams for both Rice and Columbus needed a second trip to Matador Stadium after qualifying for Regionals after strong outings in the area meet. Each team added more quality performances to this season’s resume as both teams finished with a single athlete that will move on to the state meet. While many did not reach the next level, there were many performances to be satisfied with as the Raiders and the Cardinals had strong outings in the regional meet.

The Rice Raiders’ varsity baseball team finished the year with one of their strongest offensive days of the season at the plate in the season finale against the Palacios Sharks. They hit double digits as they found a lot of success with their hitting attack. However, they did not have nearly as much success on the defensive end as they struggled to slow down the Sharks from putting up double-digit hits of their own. Their difficult outing on defense undermined their success on offense as they eventually fell to Palacios in a 13-7 defeat to finish the season.

This year’s golf season proved to be a strong year in Colorado County as both Weimar and Columbus had a number of golfers qualify for the state championship meet with impressive performances in the regional meet. With the state meet quickly approaching in May, UIL has released the general times each competitor and team will be taking their turn on the course.

The Weimar Ladycats got their postseason run started the right way with a complete effort against the Falls City Lady Beavers. Weimar finished their playoff opener with relative ease as they won two straight games by double-digit margins and forcing mercy-rule finishes in both games. The offense and defense combined for a dominant performance that saw the Ladycats move on to the next round to compete against the La Villa Lady Cards for another threegame series. Game one will be played in Beeville on Thursday, May 4 at 6:30 pm with Game two to be played on Friday at Kenedy High School at 5 pm. If necessary, Game three will be played directly following Game two.

WEIMAR - The Weimar Wildcats’ varsity baseball team got the end to the season they were hoping for as they approach postseason play and vie for a deep UIL state playoff run. They were able to find a quality mix of good hitting as well as strong defense to keep a definitive advantage over the Bloomington Bobcats, a team Weimar has had success against this season. They continued their successful run against Bloomington by adding another big, double-digit win over their district opponents. On a night when the Wildcats celebrated their seniors and parents, they also celebrated a season finale victory as Weimar claimed a 10-0 win over Bloomington.

KINGSVILLE - The Weimar Wildcats had several athletes qualify for and compete in the regional track meet with a chance at making it to state. Many Wildcat athletes had top performances at the area meet, taking top four placements to qualify for Regionals hoping to repeat their success against heightened competition. Despite not sending any competitors in to the state meet, the Wildcats had several quality performances as they had several athletes reach the finals for their respective events after strong outings in the prelims.

COLUMBUS – The Columbus Lady Cardinals have gotten an ideal start to their postseason run after completing a blowout victory against their first-round opponents. Columbus had no issues staying effective offensively as they reached double-digit runs to start their postseason run. The Marion Lady Bulldogs had no answer for the Lady Cards’ potent hitting as Columbus went on to take a resounding 10-0 victory in a one-game elimination in the playoff opener.

Postseason play is officially here for the Columbus varsity baseball team as their first-round matchup against Randolph is set up for Friday, May 5 in Flatonia as the teams vie for the Bi-district Championship. Before the Cards could shift their focus to the first round of the playoffs, they took on a pair of quality opponents last week as they looked to get a final tune-up before the postseason. The Cards started off with a loss to Hallettsville that conceded the tiebreaker in the district standings as both teams finished the season with a tied district record. They followed with a playoff warmup game against the Comanches of Shiner that ended in victory for Columbus.

Last week, a pair of Lady Cards signed their collegiate commitments to play their respective sports at the next level. Jordyn Templeton, a member of the state-qualifying Columbus golf team, will continue her golf career in collegiate competition after signing with Centenary College of Louisiana.

Head Coach for the Columbus Lady Cards’ varsity basketball team, Mike Albers, received state-wide honors after claiming the 3A Regional Coach of the Year Award in Region five. Albers claimed his spot in history as one of the first coaches to receive this award in the inaugural year of its existence.

The Weimar Ladycats have been one of the top 2A teams in Texas this season, ending a regular season with one of their strongest seasons and a high placement in the TGCA state softball poll. The third ranked team in the state proved why they were in the top five for a large part of the season by finishing the regular season with a 14-game win streak that led the Ladycats to their top state ranking as well as the district title. With just one loss in district play, Weimar held on for the first-place spot in the standings after outlasting both Shiner and Ganado who finished in second and third place respectively. After a huge 19-0 blowout over Flatonia, the Ladycats played a postseason warmup against the Columbus Lady Cardinals who are also ranked in the TGCA poll to get ready for their first-round, playoff matchup against Falls City on Thursday, April 27.

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