Sports

BURNET—The farewell tour for Marcos Vallejo remains paved with perfection and one dandy invitation. Just before he added two gold medals to a collection that keeps rising in value, the pleasure of his company was requested at the Texas Relays, a near-century-old landmark of track history. “I never thought I’d get there,” the Llano High senior said.

LAMPASAS—It’s one of the most incredible games you’ll ever be lucky enough to read about. If the 23rd run of this 12-11 carnival had been scored by the “other” team, the word incredible would not figure in the top ten of appropriate adjectives. You’d have to designate it as “Baseball: Impossible.” A Llano loss would have upstaged (downstaged?) the Rangers’ World Series collapse for sports implosion.

BURNET—There weren’t any golden moments for the Llano High girls’ track team at the Bulldog Relays, but there were silver linings to thwart any clouds on an early spring day that felt like midsummer. The Jackets’ 4x200-meter relay squad finished its duties in 1:52.6 and lost by under a second to Salado.

District is looming, but the bats are not booming. Woes, not wins, are the call, after the umpire yells, “Play Ball!” An unusual, non-tournament, three-peat, may have been the worst stretch of games in Brad Harman’s four years as Llano head baseball coach. You want a second opinion? I’m getting to where I like the camouflage uniforms. The Jackets began a 43-hour tour, March 13, and finished ...

Call them the Bat Girls who topped the charts of the Hit Parade. They ran circles around—well, where else?—the bases, of course. They were golden in Goldthwaite and had plenty of punch against Mason. Too much hyperbole for you? How about 31 runs in 11 innings for the Llano softball squad? LHS 16, G’waite 8 Taylor Swift hasn’t had so many hits—19—as the Lady Jackets collected on the Eagles’ diamond, March 13.

There has never been a Men of Faith crowd so large in the five years of its existence, and some 270 members and guests heard a stirring rendition of the wonders of faith, March 13, at the Church at Horseshoe Bay. Dr. David Cook, a near writing-phenom in the early stages of the second decade of the new century, carries quite a portfolio to inspire his listeners. Dr.

As John McEnroe used to say to a tennis umpire, “You can’t be serious!” I’d say the same to Denver Broncos’ brass, who certainly fit more than half of that word. If you read my story a couple of months ago on Tim Tebow praying on the sideline after a good play, you know I’m not his greatest fan.

It was raining hits, March 5, but by March 9, it was just plain raining on the plain. The Llano softball Jackets were luckier—and drier—than most during the warm and cold and wet week. LHS 18, Brady 0 The offense gets a lot of credit for pounding Bulldog pitching, but Jaimie Ivey allowed no hits in four innings of work on the first Monday of March.

Cierra Jordan patiently waited four months for vindication. She may have been excluded from the All-District volleyball first team, but sounder minds prevailed on the other hardwood, and she earned that recognition in basketball. Note: coaches vote for these squads, but Shawn Sweeten and Daryl Friedrich were not allowed to cast a ballot for Llano players. Jessica Wunderlich, the fearless battler underneath the glass, and Paige Friedrich, the fine outside shooter, were placed on the se ...

INGRAM—He squeezed in a total of a mile and a half workout for the week. That would be like if we ate four cookies one day instead of six. He was coughing plenty, and so—no surprise—his 125-pound body didn’t look so hot on race day. What happened? Marcos Vallejo ran the 3200-meter race in nine minutes, 41 seconds, and the 1600 in four-25, and he earned two gold medals, March 2, in the Warrior Relays.