Abbott’s run in Round Rock ends in 1A Semifinals

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KWTX) - The defending 1A State Champion Abbott Panthers fell in the state semifinals on Wednesday, getting run ruled 19-6 by Fayetteville, the team Abbott took down in the state title game a year ago.

Losing in the semifinals via the run rule definitely hurts on the surface, but the run totals don’t tell the entire story.

Abbott actually outhit Fayetteville, ending the game with eight knocks to Fayetteville’s seven. It was the 14 walks issued by the Panther pitching staff that took Abbott out of the game, which is what frustrated head coach Kyle Crawford.

“It’s tough because we outhit and we played better defense I thought,” said Crawford. “We make one error to their four, we outhit them, and we get run ruled. It starts and stops with throwing strikes, and that was our nemesis this year. You hope it doesn’t show up in Dell Diamond, but hey, that’s baseball.”

While the Panthers failed to win back-to-back title, Crawford is still using this experience to teach his team life lessons. He says he’s not teaching his boys to just be better baseball players, but he’s teaching them to be better men after baseball.

“There are gonna be some days where you wake up in life and you feel like you can’t throw a strike,” said Crawford. “There’s a lot of life you can learn in this game, and that will always be the number one thing in Abbott, is how we can make these men successful the rest of their lives. If we do that, then ultimately, we’re doing our job.”

On the bright side, Abbott is only losing one senior on their state semifinal team. After the game, Crawford assured that his team will back in Round Rock in 2025.

“We’re gonna feel really good about a team bringing back eight starters,” said Crawford. “We have a good freshman class and a good group coming up behind them. So once we step away from this, that will make (us) feel good about this.”

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