By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
It’s been quite a past few days of success for Los Fresnos athletics.
The Los Fresnos softball and baseball teams captured tournament championships over the weekend. And to top it all, the Los Fresnos boys basketball team qualified for the Region IV-6A Tournament later this week in San Antonio with Tuesday’s 62-49 third-round victory over Edinburg Vela.
The Lady Falcons’ softball team went 4-1 during the past weekend’s Los Fresnos-Port Isabel Tournament, including a 7-3 victory Saturday against Rio Hondo in the title game.
“I think my team is playing well overall (at this point of the season),” Lady Falcons softball coach Traci Blackman said. “Since I have only four returners right now (from last year’s team), we are taking things one game at a time and trying to gain some good experience. I see a lot of them gaining some confidence in playing at the varsity level.”
When asked who her top players or captains were, Blackman said, “I don’t really have any captains. I have four returners, though. It’s hard to give a list of standouts because they are all doing a good job.”
The Lady Falcons next play in the Brownsville ISD Tournament that starts today.
The Falcons’ baseball team improved to 6-0 on the season after going 4-0 in the Los Fresnos-Port Isabel Tournament with a 10-5 triumph over Brownsville Porter in Saturday’s championship game.
Los Fresnos’ Germain Castillo, a junior center fielder/right-handed pitcher, was named the tournament MVP. He had two of his team’s 10 hits against Porter, including a first-inning solo home run.
“Our bats came alive and some good things happened,” said 14th-year Falcons baseball coach Rene Morales, who has taught and coached at Los Fresnos for 27 years.
When asked what he likes about the way his team is playing so far this season, Morales said, “It’s our overall team hustle and team chemistry. We still have a lot of jelling to do. Right now, we’re just trying to get better every day.”
The Falcons next play in a Corpus Christi tournament that starts today.
LADY CARDS SOFTBALL
The Harlingen High softball team is coming off a strong showing at last weekend’s La Joya Tournament.
The Lady Cardinals are now 10-1 after suffering their only setback of the season thus far in the La Joya Tournament title game as Edinburg Vela prevailed against Harlingen High 3-2 in 11 innings.
“My team at this point is playing very sound and fundamental softball,” Lady Cards coach Josh Silva said. “We can hit the ball well, 1 through 9 in the lineup. We have been getting hits in the right situations with runners on base and so forth.
“Right now, one of our top performers offensively is April Garcia, who leads the team in home runs, OBP and BA,” Silva added. “Another top performer offensively is sophomore shortstop Alexa Perez, who is one of our captains. She is hitting well above .500 and has an OBP of, like, .600 something.”
The Lady Cards are getting the job done defensively as well.
“Defensively as a unit we are keeping our fielding percentage high with only five errors committed on the season,” Silva said. “And so far, most impressive is our pitching ace Audrie Sayas. The last time I checked she has 42 strikeouts and only seven walks in 18 innings with an ERA of 1.114.
“She’s our standout at this point, but this is a whole-team effort,” the Lady Cards coach added. “Audrie pitches well because she’s fearless and knows she has a sound and fundamental team behind her. We just grind, and reinforce making routine plays and making strong, solid contact with our bats.”
BISD SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
The Brownsville ISD Softball Tournament opens at 10 a.m. today with games at Brownsville schools Hanna, Pace, Veterans Memorial and Rivera.
Besides the squads from the host sites, other teams in the tournament are Brownsville Lopez, Laredo Nixon, La Villa, Weslaco East, Los Fresnos, Edinburg High, Laredo Cigarroa, Port Isabel, Bryan High, Laredo Martin, La Feria, Edinburg Economedes, Brownsville Porter, McAllen High, Edinburg Vela and Laredo LBJ.
The tournament championship game is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at Hanna.
SAN BENITO EVENT
The Lady ’Hounds Softball Invitational opens at 9 a.m. today with host San Benito facing Lyford. Other teams in the tournament are Mercedes, Rio Hondo and Sharyland Pioneer.
The tournament championship game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Saturday in San Benito.