They cannot be called “The Lone Ranger,” because of the first word in this sentence, but a power-hitting first baseman and a dynamite dandy in the softball outfield will attend Ranger Junior College in the fall.

Dustin Jordan, the six-foot, three-inch lefty, who bothers pitchers more than Scott McClellan bothers George Bush; and Emily Schendel, the first in line to ignite a spirit fire, will carry the Llano colors to a school between Fort Worth and Abilene and maybe a stolen base away from Interstate 20.

Jordan, in his one varsity season as a Yellow Jacket, hit a mammoth .450 with two home runs and 35 runs batted in. “I didn’t hit too many homers during my tryout,” Dustin disclosed, “but I did hit a lot of line drives.” He visited Ranger in the midst of helping Llano win four games in the playoffs--the victories resulted in bidistrict and area titles.

“I didn’t do too well in the first round of hitting,” Schendel mentioned, describing her own audition, “but in my second chance, I was hitting them to the fences.”

Schendel had a remarkable 12 doubles this past season. She was a main reason Llano went to the playoffs, 2006 through 2008, won its first-ever district crown in ‘07 and followed that with a never-done-before triumph in the playoffs. The Jackets claimed a bidistrict championship earlier this spring.

“She really deserves the opportunity to play in college,” softball head coach, Brian Cottle, declares with pride. “She’ll do well, because she has the heart and desire to succeed.”

“He showed tremendous improvement,” Jackets’ head baseball coach Chad Krempin said about Jordan. “You talk about a power surge in the middle of our lineup: Lance Dickey, Travis Ramos and then DJ--three, four and five.”

Krempin’s coaching plus those bats and others who came through offensively, and a young, but solid, pitching staff, catapulted the Black and Orange from an awful start to a 20-win campaign.

Dustin Jordan doesn’t exactly show off his enthusiasm the way Schendel does, and when you see him swing at the ball in such an easy manner, you get the feeling he might be waving at a passing train on a hot summer day.

It doesn’t matter, though, that his performance at the plate seems so (cliche hazard ahead) effortless, because the ball is returned in reckless fashion to the defense; opposing coaches don’t have to remind their fielders to, “look alive out there.”

“I hope junior college pitching isn’t too much tougher than high school pitching is,” Jordan, still in his graduation gown, May 30, tells his interviewer. “I know it’ll be better, but I have confidence I can handle it.” Everyone talks about the skill of the “next level,” but SOMEBODY from high school has to succeed there. Might as well be a couple of kids from Llano.

Cottle says this about Emily’s prospects as she goes against quality opposition, and the scene becomes a bit more serious: “Ranger coaches will run her a lot, that’s for sure, but as far as the game is concerned, she won’t have any problem.”

“It will be good for me, a small school in a small town,” Schendel says, “but I love softball, and I’ve worked my whole life to achieve this. To think it’s happening is amazing.”

What was REALLY amazing was Schendel’s role in beating Wimberley three times in two years. In their first meeting in 2007, Emily flew home with the winning run in the ninth inning on a sacrifice fly.

In the decisive contest between the two teams, the one which determined the 25-3A champion, all she did was collect two singles and a double.

So, good luck to a pair of Jackets who will take the next step in another classroom and on another ball field. There’s no question they will do their best, and Ranger will be a better place because of its newest students and citizen