oakhillgazette.com
March 6, 2014 Volume 19, No. 5 Southwest Austin’s Community Newspaper Since 1995
Oak Hill ballfields will be ready to ‘Play Ball!’ by Ann Fowler OAK HILL - Although the weather has not cooperated as much as organizers would like, it appears that the Oak Hill baseball and softball fields will be in good repair, ready for play when the umpires call, “Play ball!” on Monday, March 17.
Community rallies to restore baseball complex hit by October flood The Opening Day ceremony will be held on Saturday, March 22, and a couple of cool cats have agreed to help young Oak Hill ballplayers celebrate that weekend. World Series champion first baseman Lance
Berkman, known as the Big Puma, will throw out the first baseball pitch on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., while star softball pitcher, ex-UT phenom and Olympic gold medal winner Cat Osterman will throw out the first
softball pitch on Sunday at 4 p.m. Berkman recently retired after 15 years in the major leagues. Born in Waco, this graduate of Canyon High School in New Braunfels actually played at the Oak Hill ballfields in his youth. He is a six-time All-Star and played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2011 when they won the World Series, and before that was a star for the Texas Rangers and Houston Cat Osterman and Lance Berkman will Astros. throw out first pitches on Opening Day. Catherine “Cat” Osterman played mostly soccer and Softball National Player of the Year basketball as a youngster, but three times while at UT, where she discovered softball when she was pitched the first perfect softball tagged as a back-up pitcher. She game in UT history as a freshman. asked for pitching lessons for her Cat was the youngest member of the 11th birthday and the rest, as they gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic say, is history. She was named USA See OHYSA on page 22
Fight to save ‘Taco Bell’ oak is nearing victory by Bobbie Jean Sawyer
Spring Home & Garden issue Australian bottlebrush (Callistemon) on Poncha Pass. See Home & Garden, p. 14.
Gazette: Bill Scheick
OAK HILL - The fight to save a historic Oak Hill Heritage oak is only a few thousand dollars short of being won. Aided by community members and local businesses, the Austin Heritage Tree Foundation has raised $17,000 of their $20,000 goal. Kelli Reyna, TxDOT public information officer, said the new deadline for transplanting the historic heritage oak at the intersection of William Cannon and U.S. 290 has been set for March 17th. The tree is also known as the “Taco Bell” oak tree, for the Taco Bell that used to
The ‘Taco Bell’ heritage oak tree at William Cannon and Hwy. 290. be on that corner. The 130-year-old oak tree currently stands in the way of TxDOT’s See FIGHT on page 22