Hill Country All-Stars take part in District 21 Little League tournament

By Brady Keane BCC Contributor Photo by Paula Bes

Last week, the Hill Country All-Star team, composed of players under 13 from Bandera, Utopia, Pipe Creek, and Medina, participated in the District 21 All-Star tournament. Errors and tough competition kept the team from a win, but team effort yielded up some excellent plays.

In their first game on Monday, the boys took on a tough Dilley team. Early errors hurt Hill Country, and Dilley took a commanding lead that held throughout the game, with the final score being 11-2. The Hill Country All-Stars did finish strong however, adding 2 runs in the final inning to give them more momentum heading into their next game.

On Wednesday, the Hill Country All-Stars faced off against the Somerset All-Stars in an elimination game.

In the first inning, Hill Country started off slowly, unable to get anyone on base. But when they took the field, starting pitcher Casey Harp had the Somerset hitters baffled early in the game, striking out 4 hitters and allowing only 1 hit in the 3 innings he pitched.

In the second inning, things heated up at the plate for Hill Country, as Justin Dale and Damon Martinez were able to reach base on walks. That brought up Abel Garcia who promptly crushed a homerun over the left field fence giving Hill Country a 3-0 lead.

Chisom Magee kept the inning going for Hill Country by drilling a double deep into the outfield. Trevor Karnes followed that with a walk, and Aidan Keane was able to drive in another run for Hill Country on his single.

Things started to unravel in the 3rd inning though for Hill Country, as walks and errors continued to plague the team.

Somerset was able to pick up 13 runs in that inning, and as Hill Country came to the plate they just couldn't get the bats going again. Austin Bess was able to work a walk, and Martinez was able to reach base on a bunt, but great defensive plays by Somerset kept Hill Country off the scoreboard.

Although the Hill Country boys ended up losing the game by a score of 14-4, they stayed in both games in the early innings and were just not able to maintain their leads through out the game.

All the players would like to thank manager Jerrett Lamb and coach Jeff Karnes for helping them grow as a team in the short amount of time they had together.


Pictured: Hill Country All-Star team players and coaches included Manager Jerrett Lamb, Chisom Magee, Mckrae Decker, Justin Dale, Able Garcia. Aidan Keane, Casey Harp, Trevor Karnes, Wyatt Blair, Coach Jeff Karnes, Damon Martinez, Austin Bess, Keaton Mcinnis.