BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
ROMA — After a series full of McAllen High Bulldogs left on base, the first inning of Game 3 felt like déjà vu.
McAllen High senior first baseman Abanny Garcia reached on a two-out double against Laredo United, but the Bulldogs couldn’t get him in.
“We had players left on base in almost every inning yesterday,” McAllen High coach Eliseo Pompa said. “We were getting hits. We just couldn’t get those timely hits when we needed them. … In that first inning, it was more of the same thing. We just couldn’t get a hit at the right time.”
In the fourth, Garcia again doubled, and this time the Bulldogs would not be denied. Senior catcher Nate Quintanilla blasted a double that gave Garcia plenty of time to trot home for the game’s first run.
“Everyone was cheering me on,” Quintanilla said. “We were all pumped up from that one run. We all started to focus and play good ball.”
The run gave McHi life, senior pitcher Robbie Maldonado spun a gem, and the Bulldogs went on to take the Class 6A bi-district series by virtue of their 2-1 win in Game 3 on Saturday at Roma High School.
“It was a great series to start our postseason, because we had to battle, and we had to fight,” sophomore shortstop Aaron Nixon said. “We know we can, but actually seeing it on the field was big for this team, especially the guys who have never been here before.”
Many fans have been wondering if McHi has been tested enough this year. That question was answered in this series. Pompa said United was one of the toughest teams the Bulldogs have faced this season.
“In a playoff series, you throw away the records, the seeds,” Pompa said. “There is a lot of history and pride at Laredo United. When they get into the playoffs, they expect to go three or four rounds. We are in the same boat. Just two good teams that went after it against each other.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for the Bulldogs, who advance to face PSJA High, which won its Game 3 against Weslaco High on Saturday.
“They are a good team,” Quintanilla said. “It will be exciting to have a series back at home. And we are coming for them.”
Garcia and Quintanilla are veterans who have been pushed to the limits in the playoffs before. On Saturday, the duo combined to give McAllen High life with its season on the brink. McAllen High won Game 1 6-3, but Laredo United took Game 2 5-1.
The Bulldogs scored the winning run in the bottom of the fifth. Nixon came up to bat with two outs and the bases empty.
“It was a curveball in,” Nixon said of the first pitch. “I was looking fastball away, but that’s my approach. I just stuck to it, and I hit it.”
Nixon’s blast to left had serious velocity, but it didn’t have a lot of arc to it.
“When I first hit it, I thought it was a line drive,” Nixon said. “Then I saw it carrying, and after my first few steps, I knew it was gone.”
The ball got out in a hurry, barely clearing the wall in left.
Coming into Saturday’s game, Maldonado had only thrown four innings this year because of shoulder tendinitis. But, in the biggest moment, he stepped up. Maldonado battled through all 112 pitches on Saturday, getting the complete-game win with eight strikeouts, allowing just three hits.
“He pitched his heart out,” Pompa said. “He said he has been ready for a week. He did a god job today. He hung in there, and he wasn’t coming out until he got the final out.”
Maldonado was gutsy throughout. He hit his stride in the third, retiring the side in order and fanning the first two Longhorns hitters. In the sixth and seventh, Maldonado fought through exhaustion and multiple base runners, but he kept his team in the game, getting outs at crucial junctures.
“My teammates were behind me,” Maldonado said. “They told me to keep my poise and just focus on getting that last out.”
With runners at first and third, Maldonado induced a ground ball that was handled by the Bulldogs defense for the final out.
“It was a tremendous feeling,” Maldonado said. “That was my first complete game in over a year. And we are moving on in the playoffs. There is nothing better than that.”