DENNIS SILVA | STAFF WRITER
SAN JUAN — Trailing 1-0 in its best-of-three Class 6A area playoff series against Brownsville Hanna, La Joya Palmview saw its two-run lead disappear as Hanna stormed back to tie the game at 4 at Cain Field.
Then, everything came to a halt. Again.
For the second time in as many hours on Saturday, Game 2 was postponed because of inclement weather after the game started in La Joya and continued in San Juan. The game was scheduled for a second re-start at 9 p.m., but lightning struck within 20 miles of the field and it was called off. That would have set the game back another 30 minutes, and instead Hanna coach Eddie Garcia agreed to resume matters at 6 p.m. Monday at the La Joya ISD Complex. Game 3, if Palmview wins, will be 45 minutes after Game 2.
“We weren’t going to be waiting back and forth and taking the kids in and out,” Rick Garcia said. “It’s not right. They can be hurt. He (Eddie Garcia) finally agreed that we can’t be waiting every 30 minutes. The courtesy he gave us is we’ll play Monday, and if it’s meant to be for either team, it’s meant to be.”
Game 2 will resume at the top of the seventh inning.
A rapid downpour caused the series to be moved initially from the La Joya ISD Complex. After a 90-minute hiatus to transport to and from, the teams played one inning at Cain Field before lightning struck and a tornado warning was issued for Hidalgo County. The series came to another stop around 6:15 p.m.
At that point, the teams had the opportunity to either suspend play until Monday or wait out the weather. Rick Garcia wanted to play Monday. Eddie Garcia was adamant about waiting and finishing.
At 6:45 p.m., the teams left to go eat with the idea to resume play at 9 p.m., but a lightning strike put those hopes to rest.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” Eddie Garcia said. “You wake up at 7 in the morning with one goal in mind and you’re so close and we can’t get it done because of Mother Nature. Hey, whether it’s today or Monday, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. That’s the way I see it, that’s the way the kids see it.”
Momentum was on Hanna’s side. Not only do the Eagles have the 1-0 series lead, they scored two runs in the sixth inning to tie the game.
Moving the game to Monday allows both teams to continue the series with the availability of their No. 1 pitchers, each of whom threw Game 1.
“They’re on three days’ rest, and that’s not bad to have the best of both teams going at it to see who wants it more, if we go to a Game 3,” Rick Garcia said. “It also benefits us because we play Monday and we resume that one inning, maybe I bring our ace (Leo Perez) in to pitch that inning (and extend the series).”
In Game 2, Lee Alonzo and Cesar Saldana contributed two-out RBI singles to put Hanna ahead 2-0 in the first inning. Palmview’s Cesar Rosales had a two-out RBI single later in the frame, and the Lobos scored two more runs on passed balls and got a sacrifice RBI from Ismael Martinez in the fourth to go ahead, 4-2.
The Eagles scored two more two-out runs in the sixth to knot it up, and that’s where the game stood heading into the seventh.
“Our kids were ready,” Rick Garcia said. “It’s a tied ballgame, but we’ve been in these situations before. Our kids were down and they’ve responded. We can’t control the weather. It’s baseball and you just see what happens.”
While Eddie Garcia did not get what he wanted Saturday, his team will have another shot at securing an area championship on Monday.
“Like we’ve been doing all year, these guys have stayed focused,” Eddie Garcia said. “It’s a routine and it has to continue. We have to respect the game, and the situation we’re in, 4-4 in the top of the seventh with an area championship on the line … they’re learning. They’re experiencing that nothing is given and they’re going to have to earn it. They’re going to have to work for it, and hopefully we can.”