LYFORD — Harlingen South’s Lexi Sandoval won Game 1 in the circle Friday night and came into Game 2 on Saturday to close out the game and the Class 5A bi-district softball series with McAllen High.

The Hawks won Game 2 8-5 on Saturday at Lyford High School to win the series 2-0 and advance to the area round.

McAllen High’s tying run was at the plate with two runners in scoring position in the top of the seventh, but Sandoval jammed the batter, allowing her defense to make the easy out and ending the series.

“Overall, the team effort was great,” Harlingen South head coach Jose Rios said. “We had different stars in different moments, different innings and situations — it was great seeing this young team play bigger than they were.”

Sandoval replaced starter Kailee Silva in the top of the fourth with the score 7-4 and the Bulldogs chipping away at the lead after being down 7-1 after two innings. Silva relieved Sandoval in the first game.

“We knew having either one of those two throwers was going to seal the deal for us,” Rios said. “It worked out in our favor, praise God.”

Harlingen South’s Kara Jenson came up with a huge catch for the Hawks with the score 7-5 during the top of the sixth and runners in scoring position. It looked like the ball was going to sail over Jenson’s head, but she adjusted well and then threw out the runner on third that was late back to her bag to end the inning.

“I put a lot of pressure on my shoulders, but I felt good because of the team I have,” Sandoval said. “I knew that we had this game in the bag.”

Harlingen South’s offense exploded during the bottom of the second, scoring six runs. Janessa Rivera brought a runner in with a double, Sandoval drove in two with a double, Haley Vasquez also had an RBI and Natalie Martinez brought in two with a triple.

McAllen High’s Brianna Franco had a sacrifice fly to help start a run in the top of the fourth. Giada Farias smacked a triple off the wall to bring in two runs and scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-5. That was the last of the scoring for District 31-5A’s third seed.

It was a homecoming of sorts for Harlingen South head coach Jose Rios. The Hawks coach was previously the head coach of Lyford before making the move to Harlingen South last season. Friday night’s storm forced the Hawks out of Harlingen for Game 2.

“It is home away from home,” Rios said. “At the end of the day this where I am from, this is my community. I know there was people supporting me, but at the end of day it is Hawks on to Round 2.”

Harlingen South faces Corpus Christi Flour Bluff at a time and place to be determined for the area round.

SANTA ROSA — Santa Rosa spotted six runs to IDEA Donna in the first inning and came back to win 21-6 during their UIL Class 3A bi-district -elimination game Saturday at Santa Rosa’s softball field.

Inside-the-park home runs and savage baserunning helped the Warriors recapture the lead during the second inning after tying the game in the bottom of the first. After drawing a walk, Leslie Flores just ran around the bases to score as IDEA Donna infielders tried to throw her out.

In the top of the second, the Warriors scored 11 runs to make it 17-6 after Bela Grijalva scored on an inside-the-park home run.

Warriors head coach Nathan Alvarado decided to start sophomore DJ Ruiz in the circle. The first attempt at pitching this season did not go well for one of the best sub-5A players in the Valley as she walked multiple runners, spotting IDEA Donna the six runs.

“I wanted to give her a chance,” Alvarado said. “After putting in Alexis Colon, everything was working and all cylinders were firing. I think our bats were good, everything was working good for us and I am happy about today’s performance.”

Colon came in and shut it down the rest of the game. IDEA Donna’s Jennifer Ortega had success against Colon, going 2-for-2 with a double and single, but other than Ortega, the Titans had little to no success at the plate.

There is logic in the Warriors opting to not start Colon. Santa Rosa faces Kingsville Santa Gertrudis in the next round. Colon was hardly touched by IDEA Donna, so the defense was not worked much.

“It is going to be tough,” Alvarado said. “They are loaded, stacked, so it is going to be tough. If we have a solid week we can show up.”

The Warriors join fellow sub-5A teams Rio Hondo, San Perlita, Lyford, Edinburg IDEA Quest and La Villa in the second round of the UIL playoffs.

Only IDEA Quest picked up a win from District 31-3A. The Blazers are the District 31-3A champions and are going to face Corpus Christi London in the area round.

Lyford had a bye and Rio Hondo won by forfeit in Class 3A. San Perlita crushed Runge 17-3 and is set to face D’Hanis in the area round. La Villa swept Port Aransas in Class 2A. La Villa won Game 1 7-2 and Game 2 7-6 on Saturday.

The Valley’s teams from District 32-4A ran into stiff competition from District 31-4A. Port Isabel and Raymondville were eliminated in the bi-district round.

The full area-round schedule will be on RGVSports.com next week.

HARLINGEN — Harlingen High had not won a playoff game since 2009, and only a win Friday night would keep its season going.

The Cardinals stepped up to the plate in front of their home crowd to pull off a 3-2 win over the La Joya High Coyotes.

“They just fought,” Harlingen High head coach Kevin Ledesma said. “That is something we talked about today. We wanted to force that Game 3, and our girls played amazing defensively, offensively we put it together and, overall, just a great team win.”

Harlingen High senior Madison Vargas watched the game from the bench as a designated hitter. Vargas started the top of the sixth inning with a double and scored when the throw after Zuelly Cruz’s dribbler down the third-base line sailed over the first baseman’s head.

Vargas beat out the throw at the plate for the winning run.

“It was just me focusing and doing what I needed to do,” Vargas said. “Just helping my team as much as I could.”

Vargas also hit a double earlier in the game and is likely to start in the circle for Game 3 at 7 p.m. today in Harlingen. Vargas and her fellow seniors were not ready to hang it up, she said.

Freshman pitcher Vivian Garcia picked up the win after relieving Abigail Garcia in the sixth with the score tied at 2. Vivian Garcia faced the heart of the Coyotes’ lineup to close out the game.

“She knows what she has, and we know what she is capable of,” Ledesma said about Vivian Garcia.

Abigail Garcia and Vivian Garcia had a terrific defense behind them Friday night. The infield of Cruz, Athena Linnartz, Lilly Rocha and Emma Louks made incredible plays to help out their pitchers.

La Joya High tied things at two in the fifth inning. Alayahi Alaniz drove in the tying run with a double. Jordan Reyes scored earlier in the inning after stealing home.

Harlingen High picked up its first two runs in the fourth inning. Linnartz smacked a single, Rocha walked and Cruz brought them home with a double.

“(Cruz) is amazing,” Ledesma said. “One of those freshmen that is a firecracker that provided that little spark when we needed.”

MISSION — Great pitching, even better defense and clutch batting with runners in scoring position lifted Brownsville Lopez to the first playoff win in its softball program’s history.

The Lobos defeated the Sharyland Pioneer Diamondbacks 5-1 on Thursday night at Pioneer High School, going up 1-0 in the three-game series.

Brownsville Lopez has yet to win a playoff series. The win against the co-District 31-5A champions is a mighty first feather in the cap, but the Lobos are going to need to play another impressive game Friday night to make it to the second round.

The game could be played at a neutral location if the Lobos’ field in Brownsville is not ready for the 7 p.m. start time.

“It was harder than it looked,” Brownsville Lopez head coach Jesse Martinez said. “That is a good team. They are an offensive machine. They get those balls in we are talking about a tie game early, the complexity of the game is completely different.”

Lobos shortstop Alma Lezama drove in the last run for Brownsville Lopez in the top of the sixth to go up 5-1. Lezama also had a double on the night. Pitcher Jenny Shank drove in a run after her shot to the outfield was mishandled in the fourth.

Shank pitched a terrific game. The sophomore never faced more than four batters in an inning, finishing with six strikeouts, and the defense was strong behind Shank. The infield made sure routine grounders stayed that way, and the outfield also made sure fly balls were snagged.

“I think I held it down, and my teammates really pulled through the entire game,” Shank said. “Without them I could not have played the way I did. I am just really proud of them for helping me out as a pitcher because I need them.”

Shank had her run support early.

Chalene Granado, the second batter of the evening, drove in leadoff hitter Amanda Garcia in the first inning. Cayley Granado scored off an error in the second, and Anahi Granado drove in a run in the third to help the Lobos grab a 3-0 lead.

Chalene, Cayley and Anahi Granado, all sisters, were praised heavily by Martinez after the game.

“They are awesome kids,” Martinez said. “They have fantastic character; they love the sport and are incredibly coachable. The most coachable kids I have ever dealt with.”

The Diamondbacks scored their lone run in the third. Valerie Vela hit a leadoff triple and was brought home by Alondra Rodriguez.

The neutral location has yet to be determined if the field is not ready for Game 2.

Sharyland High’s Alan Gonzalez is the last tennis player standing from the Rio Grande Valley in the state tournament after day one.

Gonzalez won the required two matches to set up a rematch of the 2022 Class 5A state championship match with Fort Bend Kempner’s Noey Do.

Gonzalez and Do face off at 8:30 a.m. at the Northside ISD Tennis Center in San Antonio.

Gonzalez won his first match against Austin McCallum’s Andrew Lavine, 6-0, 6-1 and then in his second match he defeated Amarillo Tascosa’s Ethan Ruppanne 6-2, 6-3.

Sharyland High’s Hugo and Memo Garcia won their first match in boys doubles defeated a team from Longview 7-5, 3-6, 6-2. The Garcias lost in a close match against a team from Amarillo High 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-3. Memo and Hugo won the Class 5A Region IV championship two weeks ago.

Harlingen’s South’s Diego Garcia and Ethan Carter lost in the first round of their boys doubles match. Two of the best players from the Lower Valley lost 6-2, 6-1 to a team from Frisco Centennial.

Garcia and Carter finished off a terrific season for Harlingen South tennis. The pair played an instrumental part of helping the Hawks reach the third round of the playoffs in team tennis. Both will be back next year.

McAllen Memorial’s Diego Salvo wrapped up his Mustangs career with Dania Casas in mixed doubles. The Region IV champions picked up a win against a team from Abilene Wiley, 6-2, 6-3, but lost in the second round to a team from College Station.

Casas is set to be a junior next season and is already the No.1 girls for the Mustangs.

Edinburg North’s Maya Chen also picked up a win at state. The freshman defeated Allen’s Chelsie Son 7-6 (7), 6-4. Son was a state qualifier in 2022.

Chen lost in the second round to a player from Katy Tompkins.

HARLINGEN — Brownsville Veterans Memorial senior Jason Villarreal smacked a single to center field to lead off the top of the sixth inning and then stole second, third and home for the game-winning run in an important 5-1 win over District 32-5A foe Harlingen South on Tuesday night.

Villarreal replaced starter Aldo Navarro on the mound in the sixth and did not allow a hit, striking out three during the final two innings. Navarro, a sophomore, picked up the win, giving up one run in the first inning and striking out five.

It was Navarro’s fifth win of the season. The pitcher said he was a little sore on the mound.

“I feel like I have to put myself on the line for our seniors,” Navarro said. “We have a great team, and I just want to be there to represent.”

Brownsville Veterans coach Adam Vera said he has Navarro work a lot, but the sophomore pitched five solid innings against the now third-place team in the district.

”Navarro did a heck of a job,” Vera said. “He threw a lot of strikes, competed and showed us what we needed to see from him tonight. Jason came in and closed it out. I told the guys right now, we squared up a lot of baseballs and that is all I ask for them to do. If you get a pitch you can handle, hit it hard somewhere and we will let the rest handle itself.”

Chargers first baseman Ricardo Rubio was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Jose Martinez drove in a run with a shot between second and first to go up 4-1 in the sixth. Designated hitter Oscar Rodriguez added insurance in the seventh with an RBI.

The win puts the Chargers in second place in the district, but Harlingen South could force a tiebreaker with a win Friday at Brownsville Veterans.

“It has been a great season, great team and great group of guys,” Villarreal said. “Harlingen South is a good team, we battled and I am thankful we came out on top. It has been a ride, and I hope we have a good playoff run.

The Chargers take on the Hawks at 7 p.m. Friday at Brownsville Veterans Memorial High School.

HARLINGEN — It was a normal April day for then 9-year-old Anthony Garcia, a third-grader at Austin Elementary School in Harlingen, just a tickle in the back of his throat in the morning, but he pushed on to school.

After lunch, Garcia needed to be helped to the nurse’s office. Disorientation, blurred vision and vomiting overtook him. Garcia soon was sent to the emergency room.

Garcia was discharged a few days later but eventually returned to the hospital, where he spent the next few months fighting autoimmune encephalitis — resulting into medically induced comas to fight the disease.

Now a senior at Harlingen High, Garcia has recovered from the life-threatening disease and recently competed at the Region IV-6A tennis tournament in San Antonio, where he qualified as a District 32-6A champion in mixed doubles.

Autoimmune encephalitis is a medical condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the brain, causing inflammation of the brain and overall crippling brain function.

“My mom was the one that had to tell me what happened,” Garcia said. “She would tell me that I couldn’t eat, walk or talk. It was hard for me to do anything.”

Garcia does not remember much prior to the disease taking over his body either, he said. Just faint memories of his fight starting in late April 2013 at Driscoll’s Children Hospital in Corpus Christi.

Late May, the doctors diagnosed Garcia with encephalitis and began a treatment process centered around plasmapheresis — the removal of antibodies by removing blood plasma from the body, separating it to plasma and cells, and finally transfusing the cells back into the bloodstream.

Garcia was receiving this treatment while in a medically induced coma to prevent permanent brain damage from constant seizures.

“It was hard,” said Anthony’s father, Tony Juarez. “It is something you would not think of happening. You think, ‘Why does this happen.’ It was hard, very hard.”

Garcia was not recovering. Medicine removed from his blood during his plasmapheresis treatments resulted into a collapsed lung and a return to to a medically induced coma.

“No one thought he was going to make it,” said Anthony’s mother Isabel Garcia. “It is literally like the movies. They put you in a room, a doctor is sitting down and they sit you down. They explain to you that there is nothing else they can do for your child. Start thinking about options.”

Driscoll Children’s Hospital had not had an autoimmune encephalitis case before Garcia but had a doctor who had experienced it before: Dr. Ching Wang, a pediatric neurologist.

“He was our angel in disguise,” Isabel Garcia said. “He never gave up on him.”

Garcia was taken out of intensive care by the end of July, but another fight began.

Garcia only weighed 68 pounds after being discharged and could not walk, talk or eat. Outpatient therapy services were needed and had to come out of pocket until insurance was approved, and the service could not guarantee Garcia would be normal again.

“They had never seen a child like that before,” Isabel Garcia said. “They started with all these different therapies, and they pushed and we pushed.”

November is when Garcia reached for a bag of Doritos, the first time eating solid food in six months. In January 2014, Garcia went back to school, and in May of that year he was back to normal, but with an impact on his long-term memory.

“I try not to think about it,” Garcia said. “It makes me sad, just hearing what I went through, it is, like, wow, I went though that.”

Garcia was active in most sports before the disease, especially contact sports, but with the doctor saying no to contact sports because of the brain, Garcia and his family opted for tennis.

“It has been life-changing, playing tennis,” Garcia said.

By the time Garcia started playing tennis in high school, he had regained his athletic prowess from prior to falling ill. His vertical leap was the highest on the team, head coach James Tanamachi said. Lobbing over Garcia was not an easy shot.

“Because he was so athletic, I never had a clue about his prior medical condition until his mom told me this year,” Tanamachi said. “It is just amazing how far he has come back from it all.”

Tanamachi said Garcia was very coachable and that he felt bad for being hard on Garcia for stuff, but it worked out for the best. Garcia became a district champion and competed 10 years from the day, April 11, at the regional tournament in Austin.

“Thank Coach T, his assistant coach and his wife, helping and working with him to get to this point,” Juarez said. “He achieved something very big. All the work they did with him was amazing to see. I am very thankful for the coaches here.”

Garcia and his teammate, Ashlynn Burn, were eliminated at the regional tournament during the first round, but Garcia was happy just to be there, he said. Now that tennis is over, Garcia is preparing for graduation and planning to attend Texas State Technical College in Harlingen.

EDINBURG — It has been a lukewarm start to the season for the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros.

RGVFC has only played six matches this season and could use a win right now. The panic button could stay sealed even if the Toros do not pick up three points against Memphis 901, one of two teams remaining in the USL Championship that have yet to win a match, at 7 p.m. today at H-E-B Park.

Eight teams out of 12 make the playoffs from each conference this season, so below average is good enough to make the playoffs in a league that has a lot of parity. Draws litter the league standings.

The Toros (1-3-1) only lost their first USL Championship match of the season last week in Pittsburgh, 2-0 to the Riverhounds. Head coach Wilmer Cabrera said nothing worked well.

“We did not defend as we should and we conceded two goals,” Cabrera said. “Offensively, we did not create anything. We were not expecting to have that type of game, but we have to deal with that. We were all terrible.”

Here is a brief preview of @RGVFC head coach Wilmer Cabrera talking to the media. pic.twitter.com/AWJbMMyMp9

— Rey Silva of Pro Sports RGV (@SoTxAthletix) April 21, 2023

The Toros do not have the worst defensive record in the league, having only given up five goals so far this campaign. Only three teams have given up less, but the Toros have given up two goals in back-to-back matches.

RGVFC defender Jonathan Ricketts, like Cabrera, acknowledged things need to be better on defense.

“Concentration,” Ricketts said. “Focusing on our roles, no silly mistakes — all those basic things that are sometimes easier said than done. It is just a mind game, a focus game, and we need to be on top of that.”

RGVFC players huddle by head coach Wilmer Cabrera at practice on Thursday at H-E-B Park. The Toros return to H-E-B Park today after spending the last three games on the road. Photo courtesy of RGVFC.

The Toros are not scoring many goals either. RGVFC has only scored four goals this season in the USL Championship. One of them came from the left foot of Ricky Ruiz.

“We need to be technically better individually,” Ruiz said. “I think we have created chances, but a lot of our chances are not on target. I think that comes to every player individually, including myself. Also, being smart with the ball. Sometimes in the final third we have struggled.”

Toros forward Ricky Ruiz juggling during training on Thursday. Photo courtesy of RGVFC.

A boost to the side could be the return of striker Frank Lopez, who could receive minutes this week after missing the start of the season due to injury.

Memphis has former USMNT keeper Bill Hamid and a host of other ex-MLS players to choose from when it comes to Edinburg.

PHARR — PSJA North is one of the hottest softball teams in the Rio Grande Valley entering the final game of the season.

The Raiders showed no signs of cooling down as they enter the playoffs with an 11-0 win over McAllen Rowe on Friday night to clinch at least a share of the District 31-5A title.

The Sharyland High-Sharyland Pioneer game, the other piece of the District 31-5A title puzzle, was postponed due to the weather. A Sharyland Pioneer win seals the tie for first, but with a loss the title is handed to the Raiders.

The Raiders’ lovely turf field saved the day after a storm rolled through the Valley in the afternoon, but by the time 7 p.m. rolled around it was clear skies for game time. Multiple games across the Valley had to be postponed.

“We started off a little bit slow,” Raiders head coach Stephanie Lugo said. “I think it was the emotions built up from the rain, hail, all the elements of the weather and senior night — everything building up to this day. I think our girls might have started late, but they did their job and came out swinging in that third and fourth inning.”

The Raiders started kicking the door down during the third inning and ripped through it in the fourth.

Outfielder Eileen Reyna started things off with a bunt. Catcher Haley Martinez did the same, and Reyna scored on an error. Martinez also scored on multiple errors on Krissy Luera’s hit to an infielder. The Raiders were really aggressive when running bases, stretching singles to doubles and doubles to triples.

“That is our thing,” Lugo said. “I instill in them that speed kills. If we have girls on base, we need to get them in somehow and some way, so we are always going to be aggressive no matter what.”

The heart of the lineup cranked out single after single as the Raiders scored six runs in the fourth after posting three in the third. PSJA North scored a run during the first and second innings.

Raiders pitcher Hailey Garza did not give up a hit until the top of the fourth. Garza struck out three in third and two in the first, and shut things down in the fifth to help clinch a third straight district title.

“I did not feel like it was my best,” Garza said. “I still came out and did what I needed to do for my team. I knew my team had my back.”

After the game the Raiders drenched Lugo in cold water, payback for ice baths, Lugo said.

“Everybody said this group of girls could not do it,” Lugo said. “I am glad that they showed up this season. Yes, our first district game we may have lost, but they built every game after that and got better every single game. They did their job to come back on top and prove everybody wrong.”

If Sharyland Pioneer wins today, it meets PSJA North at 5 p.m. Monday at Sharyland Pioneer in a battle for the No. 1 seed.

WESLACO — Techno music on a loop, a band, cheerleaders and a hyped-up crowd provided the background for Weslaco ISD seniors saying their future intent while on stage.

Local universities were shouted out, as well as distant Ivy League schools and some of the best public and private schools in Texas. Commitments to the workforce, the military and the best of the bunch — tattoo school, which drew a great cheer — were celebrated Friday at the Susan M. Peterson Performing Arts Center on Central Middle School’s campus.

Athletes tend to grab the college signing spotlight, usually in a gym surrounded by family, teammates and students forced to be there.

Weslaco ISD treated students to a college decision day to celebrate the choices students make with the National College Decision Day of May 1 looming.

The event was headlined by guest speaker and former professional athlete Vince Young. The former NFL quarterback is much more than an athlete, and — like most of the students pledging their commitment to universities — Young sat in the same seat that Weslaco ISD students will sit in a few months.

Before being drafted by the NFL in 2006, Young attended the University of Texas, where he made a name for himself on the football field.

Young was instrumental in leading the Longhorns to a NCAA national championship in 2006 over the University of Southern California in arguably one of the best college football games in history, ensuring the legendary status of Young in the state’s capital.

Young returned to Austin to complete his education and in 2013 graduated with a degree in youth and community studies. The former quarterback helped create a fun environment inside the performing arts center, speaking words of encouragement with a key message.

“We are very proud of them,” Young said. “A lot of students probably do not feel that people are proud of them. This program is to show a lot of that.”

Young provided his own experiences to the crowd during his speech.

“You are going to go through trials and tribulations,” he said. “But the main thing is to stay focused on what you need to accomplish: your goals and why you came to school.”

Like on the football field, Young commanded the stage, and so did WISD senior Tristen Solis, one of the three emcees for the event. Solis had home-field advantage, as a theatre student had performed on that very stage numerous times.

Solis spoke his decision into the mic. The senior is going to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“It was awesome,” Solis said. “It is super cool that everybody gets the opportunity to announce what they are going to do for the rest of their academic years.”