By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
With another win in District 32-5A — a 1-0 victory over Pace on Tuesday — the Porter Cowboys now have won 10 straight district games after dropping their opener to Donna North.
Porter has everything clicking: its bats, its pitching. And now the Cowboys look toward a bigger prize, a district title.
Porter has been fighting for the top spot with PSJA High and handed the Bears a 5-2 district loss a few weeks ago.
The Cowboys and PSJA High play again April 28 at Porter, and a victory would secure the title for Porter.
“(PSJA High) will have a tough time (here), they’re a fly ball hitting team and our field blows in,” Porter coach Barton Bickerton said. “So, of course, I like our chances. They way these guys have been playing lately; I like our chances against anybody.
“We’re in a situation if we beat PSJA (High), no matter what happens the last game, we’re district champs. So we’re in a good spot.”
STILL FIGHTING
Pace has played better this season and finds itself in the hunt for the final playoff spot in District 32-5A.
The Vikings need some help with only a few games remaining on the schedule, but they must look at what they’ve done — or haven’t done — during the season.
“There have been too many of these,” Pace coach Ruben Aynes said after his team’s 1-0 loss to Porter. “And we’re coming up on the wrong side of it, one-run games and a lot of extra-innings games. We’ve not able to pull them off, but at least we’re there, we’re fighting.”
But Aynes believes in his squad and said the players kept going even when the season looked bleak early.
“We went to 1-5 in district (to start the season),” he said. “Right there shows how hard my kids work, because we could have very easily shut it down for the rest of the year. But we didn’t because we’re going to keep fighting because that’s what we continue to do. No matter what, we’re going to fight.”
COMPLETE GAMES
Lopez was right in the thick of the playoff race for District 32-6A a short time ago.
But the Lobos have had trouble holding on to leads or letting them get away late. Lopez held an early lead against Hanna on Friday, only to lose 4-3. On Tuesday, the Lobos dropped a nine-inning affair 11-9 to San Benito.
With only two games remaining on the district schedule, the Lobos have fallen short of the postseason again.
“I just told them we have to play complete games,” Lopez coach Victor Martinez said to his team after the loss to the Eagles. “We can’t just have a few good innings. A game is seven innings, and we need to make sure we finish stronger.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.