District Champs

Rams capture fifth district championship since 2019

San Marcos Hill Country Christian added another trophy to their collection, winning the TAPPS Division IV District 4 Championship and earning a first round bye in the playoffs.

The Rams and Head Coach Matt Norman captured their fifth district championship since 2019 despite losing a talented senior class from last season.

“Going into this year, we thought this was going to be a rebuilding year,” Norman said. “We were losing some seniors from last year so the coaching staff felt this was going to be a rebuild. To our surprise, we had a solid incoming freshman class of athletes. They hadn’t played softball before, [but] they really picked it up. We just transition from where we first started the season to ‘wow we really can compete’ than just rebuilding. The dominoes just fell into place and here we are with another district title.”

Hill Country Christian after falling just short of the district championship last season, rebounded with a 12-1-1 overall record and captured the district championship with a 9-1 record.

One of the reasons for Hill Country’s success has been the ability of the freshman and sophomore players to adapt to the game of softball while stepping up in the place of the graduating seniors.

“We had a really good freshman class come in,” Norman said. “They are all around athletes and picked up the game of softball really well. We are also led by a sophomore pitcher that has been doing an excellent job of leading the team.”

Despite the majority of the freshman players having limited softball experience, their athleticism and desire to learn the game has sped up the learning curve.

“As a group, they are the most athletic as a whole coming into the program,” Norman said. “Their focus, attention and their desire to learn while being hungry to go out there and play [is outstanding]. They show up to practice on time and are ready to go. It’s been great to see.”

But the season was not without its hurdles.

In the district opener against the New Braunfels Christian Academy Wildcats, the team that beat out Hill Country Chirstian for the district championship last season, the Rams pulled off a stunner beating NBCA 16-6.

Hill Country Christian then rattled off four more wins before playing the Wildcats for a second time.

But NBCA got their revenge, beating the Rams 9-4.

The defeat was a tough pill to swallow for the Rams, but ultimately turned out to be a learning moment and a catalyst for the season.

“After that loss, the team really buckled down,' Norman said. “They realized that if we beat a team once before doesn’t mean we can get beat again. That philosophy of anybody can beat anybody at any given time [was something] the team really took to heart. [After that], the team took everything one game at a time.”

The motto of playing one game at a time proved to be the ultimate saving grace for Hill Country Christian.

The Rams ran through the remaining district schedule to win out and stay on top of first place in the district standings.

NBCA took another district loss giving Hill Country Christian sole claim to the district championship.

“You never know how a team will ultimately respond when they take a loss like that,” Norman said. “That is the deal with this freshman class and our sophomore pitcher [Saylor Martinez] who is the de facto leader of the team. She rallies the team together and then everyone has really good practices. They played each inning and game one play at a time while controlling what they can control. In the end it just worked out in our favor.”

With the district championship in tow, Hill Country Christian earned a first round bye in the TAPPS Divsion IV playoffs and into the Area Round.

The Rams will host their playoff game and will play the winner of San Antonio Keystone-Bryan St. Joseph Catholic.

Hill Country Christian has become a prennial district championship and playoff contender despite being a young program that first started in the 2010s.

But under Norman’s leadership, the Rams have now become a local powerhouse.

“The softball program was kind of a young one when I took over in 2017,” Norman said. “[Hill Country softball program] was two years old. When I came in, we were just trying to get players who wanted to play. We had some success that year and qualified for the playoffs in that first year. Then in 2018, we had a real bad second year before coming back in 2019 to win the district championship. Now the team has really performed and the program has gotten bigger.”

The area round championship game will take place May 2 in San Marcos.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc