Burnet baseball wins two at own tourney
CAPTION: Pitcher Mason Watson is one of several hurlers the Bulldogs will rely on as they move to District 24-4A play. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
The Burnet High School baseball team finished its tournament with a 2-1 record March 5-6.
The Bulldogs (5-8-1) smashed Killeen High 17-0 March 5 and followed that with a 20-9 thrashing of Elgin before losing to Glen Rose 16-7 both on March 6.
“We hit the ball better,” head coach Russell Houston said. “I think our kids competed well at the plate. We didn’t have a lot of strikeouts, which is beneficial. Putting the ball in play allows you to have a chance (and) forces the other team to make a mistake or allows you to have a chance to get a hit. So it was a good weekend at the plate.”
This tournament lined up days before the start of District 24-4A play. So the top trait Houston wanted to see from his players didn’t have as much to do with their skills.
“Competitive fight,” he said. “It’s a long, quick three weeks where you’re playing 15 games, and you just hope your kids can find a competitive fight where they will go compete, no matter the situation — good, bad or indifferent — and just be able to go compete and fight and go win.”
Before the season began, Houston had committed his team to playing in 15 games in three weeks with the aim of discovering traits about this group. Now that district play continues Friday at 7 p.m. in Marble Falls, he has some answers.
“The question was which new kids on the varsity are going to be able to step up and perform when their number is called,” he said. “And I think we found some of those answers. I mean, we’re not perfect and we’re not firing on all cylinders yet. But I think we’ve answered some of those questions.”
One was witnessing how these Bulldogs faced adversity. Would they shrink when the pressure was turned up? Would they go back to fundamentals in manufacturing runs? Would they make the defensive plays to get out of innings?
Houston indicated he was pleased with all of that and wasn’t surprised by how consistent the Bulldogs have been in those areas. His question came back to how they mentally approached each situation.
“It’s more of a mentality that you hope your kids can come up with,” he said. “When they’re new, you just don’t know how they’re going to react. And when they get put into situations – just the right mentality, the right competitive fight. They all want to be successful. But do they want to be successful when it’s time or can they be successful when it’s time? So I think that’s the biggest thing is, which kids are going to be able to step up, which kids are going to be able to compete right here, right now?”
Burnet will travel to Salado for a 1 p.m. contest Tuesday, 17, then welcome the Eagles at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 19.
“I think maybe (we have) a little bit of momentum, but district play is just different,” Houston said. “In tournament season, you don’t know which pitcher you’re getting from the other team, and I think the big thing is we try not to worry about the other team. For us, I don’t think it matters who we play if we play the way we are capable of playing, then we’re going to be in every ball game and give ourselves a chance to win. We may not win, but we’re going to give ourselves a chance to if we’ll just go compete.”
CAPTION: Charles Edwards bends to catch the ball while keeping a foot on the bag for the out. Photo by Martelle Luedecke/Luedecke Photography
