Shortly after celebrating the state semifinal series win with his teammates on the diamond at Mumford ISD last Friday, Lake Travis pitcher Cooper Webb took a deep breath and mentally turned the page.
Webb, the Cavaliers’ ace who is headed to Texas for college, knew he had 1 more start in his high school career: Saturday at Dell Diamond in the 6A, Division 1 state championship game. It’s the game he’s been counting on starting all season.
“This is going to be the biggest game of my life,” Webb said, “but the preparation is going to be no different than any other week. I’m just going to go in, work hard, look at the scouting reports, and watch videos.”
And on Saturday, he’s going to toe the rubber and do what he’s done all season: attack the hitters.
“I’m going to pitch to my strengths and pitch to their weaknesses,” Webb said.
That plan has worked no matter who Webb’s faced. In 15 starts, he’s posted an 11-1 record. The lone loss came against San Antonio Johnson in the Area playoffs, when the Jaguars scored a pair of runs after a fly ball popped out of right fielder C.J. Hansford’s glove as he tried to make a diving catch with 2 outs in an inning. In 74 innings, Webb’s allowed just 29 hits and 14 runs while striking out 127 batters.
Lake Travis coach Ryan Rogers said Webb is throwing as well as he has all season. He’s complementing a dominant fastball with a breaking ball that’s sharper than it was earlier in the season.
“He’s gotten better each week and keeps making progress,” Rogers said. “He’s throwing a lot of strikes, pitching to early contact, and mixing things up much better. When he’s going like this, we feel really good with him on the mound.”
Along with improving his ability to pound the strike zone – he’s walked just 23 on the season – Webb’s worked very hard on the mental side of his game. Specifically, he’s worked on staying calm when tension climbs. The last true jam he faced came in the Regional Championship series, when Cedar Ridge loaded the bases with no one out against him after the Cavaliers had taken a 3-0 lead.
“You can see him work his routine,” Rogers said. “You notice him taking his hat off, taking deep breaths behind the mound. That’s all part of his process to get back to competing and winning pitches. That has helped tremendously and allowed him to minimize things when we do get into a jam.”
Staying calm doesn’t mean he doesn’t show emotion. After escaping that jam by allowing only 1 run, Webb displayed his excitement as he came off the mound. He also pounded his chest after getting key outs as the game progressed.
“Oh yeah,” Webb said after that game on May 20. “I’m a really competitive guy. I love being out there and showing my competitive nature.”
Rogers preaches controlling your emotions, but he knows a little release is both healthy and understandable.
“The biggest thing is being in control of yourself,” Rogers said. “You have to do that before you can control your performance. He gets excited when he gets out of big moments, and let’s face it, these are some of the biggest moments these guys have faced so far in their lives. In the heat of it, the emotion comes out. Maintaining control through that is part of his maturity.”
His teammates have the utmost faith in his ability to keep doing what he’s been doing.
“I feel like we have the advantage in this type of scenario,” catcher Yanu Molina said. “We know Cooper can throw 7 innings. And if he can’t, we have C.J. (Hansford, 9-1 with 3 saves and a 0.96 ERA) behind him and then Luke (McBride, 3-2 with 1 save this season after a stellar postseason in 2025) and Dan (Womack, who started and won both of the game 3s Lake Travis needed in the playoffs, 4-0, 2.17 ERA).
“We really feel confident that our pitching staff can manage 1 game because we have some of the best arms in the state and in the nation,” he continued.
Of course, Keller has its own ace on the mound in Tennessee signee and potential first-round draft pick Cole Koeninger, who throws consistently in the mid-90s and is 10-1 on the season. Both Yanu and Nelson Molina, who hit in the heart of the Lake Travis lineup, said he’s the hardest-throwing pitcher the Cavaliers have faced all year and compared him to former Dripping Springs pitcher Cooper Rummel, who’s now at Texas.
“That was the toughest night,” Yanu Molina said of the time he faced Rummel in 2025. “That was the first time I’d seen someone with that velo(city).”
What’s the key to hitting against someone who throws that hard? Whatever the Cavaliers did that night worked. They beat Rummel 4-2 last season.
“Whatever we do, we’re going to have to attack,” Nelson Molina said.
Whether that’s using the small-ball attack that’s started so many postseason rallies or simply making Keller’s defense work, the key, Yanu Molina said, is putting the ball in play against Koeninger.
“We just have to play our style,” he said. “We need to get on base, get our bunts down, and force the defense to make plays. At the high school level, not many defenses can execute 10 plays out of 10. So we try and force mistakes and get them to panic.”
“We’re going to have to be tough and battle,” McBride, who's been the Cavaliers’ starting left fielder for much of the season, said. “We have to be on time with the fastball. It’s going to be there, so we gotta go get it and put pressure on the defense.”
Staying tough is a trait McBride brought back to the diamond with him after quarterbacking the Lake Travis football team to a state semifinal appearance in the fall.
“It’s just the mindset of being tough,” he said. “In football, you gotta be tough, you gotta stand in (the pocket) and make that pass (even as you’re being hit). In baseball, being tough is about fighting those pitches off that aren’t yours, getting on base, and getting those guys out.”
Thanks for reading The Austin 6A High School Sports Report! This post is public so feel free to share it.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.