Sports

After turning 80 in January, a thought arose. With the major changes that have taken place in the sports world in the past 30 years, I mused as to whether I would trade the life I had lived in the sports world for a new start in today's atmosphere. The answer took less than a nanosecond: no way.

In today's sports world when one talks about a Field of Dreams, they are referring to baseball fields as made famous by the movie of the same name. Dripping Springs has long had a field of dreams in their history beginning back in the 1880's. Every small town or community seemed to have a baseball team and they were also very strong rivalries, not to mention any big celebration was climaxed with a baseball game. I read about how the community treated a non-popular politician at a political rally. They assigned each politician to a spot on the stage to make their speech. He was last. As it was nearing his time, various people mingled through the crowd letting them know the game was about to start. By the time his speech was to be made there were very few people left in the crowd. He complained this was not the first time it had happened. Also, Syd Hall, a life-long Driftwood native and DS graduate, could remember starting out early in the morning and walking to Dripping Springs to watch or play in a baseball game.

In today's world of high school sports and especially in the larger school districts, tax payers money in the form of big bond issues are used to build Taj Mahal edifices for the few players that are fortunate to make the squads. In the smaller classifications, not so much. In the early years little preparation for a field. Find a field large enough to carve out a football field. Mow the grass, dig up the non-useful plants like sunflowers and grass burs, etc. Maybe blade it off, put up the goal posts, line the field off and “viola” you were set to go. Might add bleachers later but mostly people either brought their own chairs, parked their cars around the field or stood outside the fences to watch the games.

It’s not everyday you can call yourself a national champion but here in Dripping Springs, four local volleyball players will have that distinct honor.

Recent Dripping Springs High School graduate Adam Knutson and rising senior Caroline Dill were named 2021-22 High School All-Americans by the United Soccer Coaches organization. The All-America teams recognize student-athletes who compete in the sport during the winter or spring. Knutson and Dill were

For the Tigers baseball team, the season came and went all too soon — but the awards from that season continue to show up. The team had its usual ups and downs, but when it was all said and done, the Tigers would finish with an 18-13 season with a tie for second place. The Tigers playoff run was short-circuited quickly. That did not keep the quality of the players from being recognized in the district honors being passed around to those who deserved it. The coaches meet just after the district schedule has concluded and vote on the individuals honored. Even though players are selected for a position, the truth is many of the players are called upon to play several positions as the situation calls for. Below are the Dripping Springs players selected for their skills and academics.

As many former athletes are prone to do, they get together and relive the days when they played sports in high school. Bruce Springsteen's “Glory Days” alludes to this very phenomenon in his song. Of course, it is not uncommon to have those days stretched in greatness as remembrances do not match the stats or reduced due to the modesty of the individual. Well, Dripping Springs is one of the few schools in the state that has complete stats for most varsity sports for athletes or anyone else to peruse for recall information. DSHS has been involved in sports since around 1915 but most of the information starts in the 1950's. It provides scores, season individual stats, school sport records, season/career Hall of Honor categories, coaching records, championship teams, history and much, much more. Despite the information provided, there are still gaps. It is expected individuals probably kept scrapbooks and can help make the information more complete. If that is you, then please contact us and we can fill in.

Every decade or so, a special athlete makes their mark in the sports world. In the 90s, Dripping Springs' Tony Salazar was that person for Tiger athletics. He would make his impact on Tiger football in his freshman year of 1996.

The week after the regular season concludes, the coaches always get together to select all the special honors that comes with a sports season. This, of course, includes the all-district and allacademic teams. The alldistrict honors the athletic skills of the individual while the all-academic reinforces the fact a player can juggle the time required to be on the field and the classroom.

All Dripping Springs sports seasons concluded on May 13th as the Lady Tigers softball team was eliminated from the playoffs. On the same day, two track athletes competed at the state track and field meet in Austin. A week earlier, the lone Tiger golfer at the state tournament was playing his final 36 holes. This week was the last hurrah in UIL Class 5A for Dripping Springs before moving on to 6A next year.

Faith Wylie, a graduating senior and soccer player at Dripping Springs High School, is competing in the XXIV Summer Deaflympic Games this week.

It has been a steady-asshe-goes trip for the Dripping Springs Lady Tigers as they move through the playoff bracket. The games have become the type of games one usually expects from fastpitch softball. Good pitching, good defense and adequate hitting. This was evident as they played Southwest Legacy in the area round. Of course, the main thing is to come out on top and advance. The Lady Tigers squeezed by in the first game 1-0 and then came back to take the 4-1 victory.