Lions Roar into Regional Finals

Memorable RT-C Run Ends in 3rd Round Versus Defending State Champions

After byes in the first two rounds, Wednesday marked the first postseason action since last year’s state title game for the Fayetteville Lions.

And the defending state champs look as good as ever – and not at all satisfied.

That was clear as the Lions unfurled a banner that said “Still Hungry!” after they swept Round Top-Carmine in a best-of-three regional semifinal series Wednesday in Brenham.

The Lions downed RT-C 7-3 in the series opener. Reid Gross pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts. Cooper Mau doubled and Gross and Travis Gully each drove in two runs. Then in the night game the Lions really showed their might, winning 13-0.

Freshman hurler Chance Konvicka, who was watching last year’s title game from the stands, pitched a no-hitter.

“My nerves were crazy. I was battling it the whole game but I had to keep going,” Konvicka said. “This was the first no-hitter of my life. I just didn’t want anybody talking to me in the dugout. I just was trying to stay in my zone.”

After the final out of the game, his teammates ran to the mound and doused Konvicka with water in celebration of the feat.

“For a freshman, that was pretty impressive,” Jaeger said of Konvicka’s performance. “He mixes his pitches well and he has enough velocity and movement to keep people off balance, and the defense played well behind him.”

Now Fayetteville advances to face old nemesis D’Hanis in the regional finals. These teams have met several times in this round over the past several years. Details of that series were not finalized at press time.

“We just need to play clean games and not make mental mistakes,” Jaeger said of the key to success this next round.

Memorable Run Ends for RT-C

Meanwhile, Wednesday’s losses marked the end of the season for the Round Top-Carmine baseball team.

They gave the Lions a strong battle in Game 1, led by Jacob Polasek’s four-hit, three-RBI performance, and strong relief pitching from Kannyn Goehring. But Fayetteville was too much in Game 2.

“I’m very proud of how we played, said RT-C head coach Blake Goehring. “That’s why we wanted to play one game instead of a series but lost the flip. We knew playing them in a three game series would be tough, going against the defending state champs. They are really deep and we are not, but we can hold our heads up high.”

That’s especially true considering how the season started for the Cubs.

“Starting the year in February we didn’t even know if we were going to have a team,” Goehring said. “We had two girls (Kim Rohde and Ilse Salinas) volunteer to play and a couple of guys that had never played volunteered to play just so we could have a team. A few of our guys have been playing since they were five years old and wanted to have a team. These kids fought and have a lot of heart.”

Not only did the shorthanded Cubs make the playoffs, but they won their first two postseason series before running into the Lions. The Cubs graduate three seniors (Salinas, Alexander Estrada and Jaleel Alshinow) but Goehring said he thinks the Cubs will be able to field a baseball team again next year.