Softball starts season strong
The Wimberley Texan softball team is off to a sizzling 7-3-1 start this season, which is all the more impressive given how much talent they are replacing.
That makes it all the more difficult for a brand new coach. Robert Klick has taken the reins for the softball team, and while this is his first season in Wimberley, he has a lot of coaching experience. Klick is in his 17th year as a softball coach coming from Van High School, where the team routinely made deep runs in the playoffs including a run to the State Finals five years ago.
A total of six seniors graduated from last year’s squad. This year’s team only has one senior and two juniors making the team predominately underclassmen.
But that one senior is making a large impact. Caroline Cagel is leading the team in the circle and in the box. The pitcher is committed to play softball for the University of North Carolina and is averaging almost two strike outs per inning through the first 11 games of the season. She also leads the team in batting average.
“She has a dominating presence about her,” new head coach Robert Klick said. “Her control is phenomenal. It is very rare she gives a free pass to anyone. She will make the other team earn it. We are fortunate to have her in the circle.”
The number two pitcher for the Texans is Marika Spector but she too makes her presence known with the bat. As the leadoff hitter, Spector sets the Texans up for success.
“If she gets on it is pretty much a guaranteed run because she has so much speed,” Klick said. “She is great on the base paths.”
The Texans nearly swept the weekend series, or perhaps we should say daily series. Weather kept the team from playing on Thursday, so all three games were played on Friday.
Spector started in the circle against Austin Mc-Callum holding them to one earned run in an 11-1 victory. Cagel then took over to claim a 6-2 win against Rockdale. After a rough first inning for pitcher Ashlyn Castro against Kileen, Spector stepped back on the field to finish off the game. The Texans were down 4-0 after the first inning, and had to fight back.
The toll of the threegame day was also obvious as the final game would be played on a time limit. That means it would end at a given time no matter what point the game was at. The confusion ended up benefiting the Texans.
Wimberley battled back to tie the game at 6-6 in the fourth inning before Killeen added on two more runs. After scoring one run in the bottom of the fifth, the Texans had a chance to tie it up with one out and a runner on base, but time was of the essence. What looked to be a simple ground out ended with a throw to home plate to get the Texan runner out for the second out of the inning, but Killeen thought the game was over and rolled the ball back into play. Rhyan Masur was still on the base paths, and she kept running to score the tying run as time was called.
Wimberley played Smithville Tuesday after the Wimberley View’s time of press. They play Thursday through Saturday in a tournament at San Marcos High School.