FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

HARLINGEN — The names are in and a total of 17 applicants applied for the Harlingen South and Harlingen High baseball head coaching positions at the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District.

A break down of the list revealed 13 coaches applied for the South position and four applicants are penciled in for the Harlingen High spot.

One of the names in line for the Harlingen South position is Santa Rosa’s head baseball coach Steven Mendoza, who guided the Warriors to the bi-district playoffs this past season.

Other notable names on the list are Greg Pena, assistant coach Los Fresnos, Chris Gracia, a former assistant coach at South, and Jimmy Young, who is an assistant coach at San Benito.

The Cardinals are replacing former head coach Bryan Aughney, who departed Harlingen High this summer to take the head coach position at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio. Aughney spent five seasons at Harlingen and made three playoff appearances.

Harlingen South, meanwhile, is replacing longtime head coach Tony Leal, who was named the Hawks’ head coach in 2005 and quickly turned the program into a state powerhouse leading the Hawks on to the UIL Class 5A state championship in 2007.

WHO’S LEFT?

The finalists up for the head baseball coach at Harlingen South and Harlingen High

HARLINGEN FINALISTS:
Kevin Lewis
Jameson Wicks
Fernando Cantu
Arturo Hernandez

SOUTH FINALISTS:
Jameson Wicks
Fernando Cantu
Antonio Hernandez
Matthew Quintanilla
Kevin Lewis
Leroy Rodriguez
Aaron Guerra
Gregorio Peña
Christopher Gracia
Aucensio Garza
Steven Mendoza
Joshua Silva
Jimmy Young

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

For the first time in nearly a decade and a half, the departure of Harlingen High’s Bryan Aughney and Harlingen South’s Tony Leal has left Harlingen CISD simultaneously searching for two varsity head baseball coaches.

Aughney leaves the Cardinals after a successful five-year stint during which he rejuvenated the program and led the team to three playoff appearances.

“I’m very thankful to Coach Manny Gomez and (Harlingen High principal) Imelda Munivez for the opportunity they gave me,” said Aughney. “The senior class that is coming in has a great nucleus of guys to get them in a great position to compete for a district championship.

“But besides the baseball specifics, the other little things that we talked about on a daily basis will hopefully give them the tools to be successful not just on the field, but also in the classroom and in their life beyond athletics.”

Aughney departs the program for the head baseball job at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio.

Prior to his arrival at Harlingen, Aughney found success at the University of Texas at Brownsville where he spent five years with the Scorpions program. From 2008-12, Aughney accumulated an overall record of 124-107 and qualified for the NAIA National Tournament twice.

“It’s a move I’m excited for because I’ve wanted to go back to the college game and I think it’s a great opportunity for myself and my family,” said Aughney. “I think it’s a good fit for my family and where our family values align with. I think with what I wanted to do in my long-term and overall career, it was a great opportunity and good timing, and things just happened to line up.”

According to the Harlingen CISD website, Harlingen South is also looking for a head baseball coach as Tony Leal no longer seems to be the Hawks’ skipper.

However, it’s unclear as to why Leal is no longer part of the program and attempts to reach him for a response to the matter went unanswered.

Leal was named the Hawks head coach in 2005 and quickly turned the program into a powerhouse as in 2007 he led the Hawks on a historic run to the UIL Class 5A state championship.

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

The 2017 Valley high school baseball season was full of positive surprises for the Lyford Bulldogs and Valley Morning Star All-STAR coach of the year Chris Cervantes.

After starting the District 32-3A schedule 1-1, Cervantes and the Bulldogs responded by going on an impressive seven-game win streak and, in the process, captured the league title for the first time since 1995.

However, the team fell to tough Kingsville Academy team in the bi-district round of the postseason.

Another bright spot for the Bulldogs this season was VMS All-STAR Most Valuable Player Layne Klostermann. The junior led the team both on and off the field, and was also recognized as District 32-3A’s MVP.

“Layne was a tremendous leader for us and was definitely one of the standouts for the team,” said Cervantes. “Due to his leadership on the field and off field, the kids responded well to him and when we needed a big play he was always there to back up the team and help us win that elusive district championship.

“He is a hard worker that made plays when he needed to and he was definitely one of the guys that the other players looked up to.”

Another player that was instrumental for his team was VMS All-STAR Defensive Player of the Year Troy Zepeda. The senior standout was pivotal for the Rio Hondo Bobcats this season and was one of two Class 4A players from the Valley that earned a spot on the THSBCA all-state team. Zepeda was also named a first-team second baseman on the 32-4A all-district list.

“Getting Defensive Player of the Year taught me that hard work pays off,” said Zepeda. “I learned that you get what you give and I gave it all I could at every practice and strived to contribute the most I could at every game for the team. I played until the end whether we were winning or losing.

“I am beyond humbled to have been selected as a two-time all-state player and all my glory goes to God because he has blessed me with my baseball skill.”

Zepeda dedicated his senior season in memory of his grandmother.

VMS All-STAR pitcher of the year was awarded to Harlingen’s Connor Harlan. The junior most notably pitched a one-hitter and his precision pitching led the Cardinals to their first playoff appearance in two years. However, Harlan wasn’t always the team’s ace and really came into his own this season.

“Connor came into the year being a swing guy for us as a sophomore,” said Harlingen head baseball coach Brian Aughney. “Early on this year he took his role and really ran with it, and got some early starts during tournament time, and he just really took advantage of his opportunities. Connor threw back-to-back shutouts and threw 14-16 innings of one-hit baseball.

“He’s not a guy who is going to light up the radar gun, but he is going to locate, and change speed and control the running game. He’s really developed as a pitcher and I’m super proud of him for the type season he’s put together and I know it’s going to continue to fuel his fire to be the best that he can be.”

Harlan was also recognized for his performance as a first-team pitcher on the District 32-6A all-district list.

Another player that has continued to improve his game is Harlingen High’s Boedy Flores, who was named the All-STAR Offensive Player of the Year.

Flores was also unanimously named first-team third baseman on the District 32-6A all-district list.

“Boedy was the district’s unanimous third baseman and for the third year in a row he’s earned our team award as our big hitter,” said Aughney. “He’s a hitter and he knows how to hit. He’s got tremendous bat speed and has tremendous plate awareness and he understands how to hit very well.

“I’m really excited to watch him grow as a player into his senior year and he’s going to have some opportunities to play at the next level as well.”

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

HARLINGEN — The 2017 high school football season might still be three months away, however Harlingen South head coach Brian Ricci and staff are already looking ahead to the new season.

On Thursday afternoon, the Hawks concluded spring football by going live on the final day of practice. South will be looking to improve on last season’s 5-5 overall finish.

In District 32-6A action, South finished 2-5 last season, defeating only Brownsville Rivera and Los Fresnos. Nevertheless, the moral was high as Ricci and company left the field.

“I feel like we are way ahead of where we were at this time last year,” said Ricci. “Obviously this is the second year of our new system so a lot of the returning kids were going through a refresher and then we get to add new stuff. I’m happy with that and I know I have a lot of kids that were excited about playing and you can see be the numbers because we got a lot of kids playing and that’s important.”

Despite a few mistakes, Ricci remained positive about what he saw over the past three weeks.

“I was impressed by both of our lines,” he said. “On our D-line we have a couple of returners coming back so I felt they are going to be pretty solid, but on our O-line we have some juniors that really impressed me this spring, so I would say that going into the summer I’m happy with the D-line and O-line play.”

Harlingen South is set to return four starters offensively and five starters on defensive.

The Hawks open with a scrimmage against McAllen High on Aug. 26 before opening the season at PSJA High on Sept. 1.

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

HARLINGEN — An emotional Harlingen South head girls soccer coach Omar Pedroza stood in front of a large contingency of students and fought back tears of joy as senior Alexa Garza signed her letter of intent to play soccer at Paris Junior College.

In front of her family and friends, Garza put pen to paper and secured the next two years of her athletic and academic future.

“Today means a lot because it’s a marking as to how far I’m going to be going in the future and it’s the next step to getting closer to my college career,” said Garza. “For everyone to come out here and see how much today means to me means a lot to me.”

Over the course of the 2017 season, the senior defender helped the Lady Hawks navigate through a difficult District 32-6A campaign before heading in the postseason where the Lady Hawks defeated Edinburg Vela 6-1 and San Antonio Southwest 1-0 (4-3 in penalties) before finally bowing out in the regional quarterfinals to a tough McAllen High club.

“Just like every player I’ve had, I’m just very proud of them,” said Pedroza. “We had an excellent year again and the reason we do as well every year is because of kids like Alexa. They show up and they practice, and they have a lot of talent. They’re good kids and they work hard, and they play hard and that’s why we do so well every year because of kids like her.

“She started out in the midfield then we had some people hurt and she started playing defense, but once she was there she was probably one of the few kids that never came out of a game.”

Garza will be joining a Paris Junior College team that plays in the National Junior College Athletic Association. Last season, the Lady Dragons were 2-15-1.

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

Lyford’s three-time state qualifier Jacob Serna fared well during his third and final UIL Class 3A state golf tournament this week.

Held at Austin’s Grey Rock Golf Course on Monday and Tuesday, Serna opened the tournament by shooting a 77 on his first day and another 77 on the tournament’s second day for a two-day total of 154.

Serna finished the tournament in 12th place, which was his best finish of his previous three attempts.

After the tournament, Serna took to Twitter to share some words on his final high school competition.

“High school may be over, but I’m just getting started,” he wrote. “This isn’t he end, but only the beginning.”

Earlier this year, Serna signed his letter of intent to play golf for Millsap College in Jackson, Mississippi.

Meanwhile in the Class 4A tournament, which was held at Marble Falls’ Apple Rock Golf Course, Raymondville’s James Alfaro and La Feria’s Andy Cortez competed against the state’s best.

Cortez opened the tournament by shooting a 90. However, the sophomore recomposed himself and fared better on his second day by shooting an 80 for a two-day total of 170. His score was good enough to earn the first-time state qualifier a 37th place finish.

“My first day I was really nervous,” said Cortez. “There were all these people watching me, but it was the course that gave me the most trouble because I didn’t have much experience on it. The next day I just carried what I learned from the first day and just made it better.

“The course was extremely difficult, but I was able to go down by 10 strokes. But I think it was the choices I made on the course rather than the course that made it harder for me.”

Alfaro began his second state tournament appearance by shooting an 87 on Monday then followed that up with a 91 on Day 2 to finish the tournament with a 178.

“James started and ended the tournament well, but in between too many errant tee shots quickly got him out of contention,” said Raymondville head golf coach Steve Cantu. “Overall, it was not the outcome anyone would expect from James. I’m extremely proud for his efforts, especially when things tough. He hung in there and finished his rounds on a good note.”

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

SINTON — After Game 1 dramatics pushed the first contest between the Ro Hondo Lady Bobcats and the Wimberley Lady Texans to 10 innings on Friday night, Game 2 outdid the first by going 15 innings as the Lady Texans defeated the Lady Cats 9-8 on Saturday night Sinton High School.

Wimberley executed a squeeze play with one out to plate the winning run and tie the Class 4A regional semifinal series at 1-1.

The game, which began at 5 p.m., continued well past 10 p.m. as the two stayed even at 5-5 from the seventh inning through the 13th. The contest was also marred by an hour and half lightning delay.

After the delay, the Lady Bobcats’ bats got going again and scored two runs in the top of the 13th. After hitting a two-base hit, Rio Hondo’s Tianna Sandoval came screeching home on an errant throw to second base. Rio Hondo’s Abbie Alvarado then added another run to make it 7-5 heading into the bottom of the 13th.

However, the Lady Texans responded with two runs of their own as freshman Marika Spector scored on an RBI single by leadoff hitter Zorina Weed.

After stranding more than 18 runners in the first game, Wimberley came out and scored four in the bottom of the first inning and added another in the bottom of the third.

The Lady Bobcats got going and scored three in the top of the fifth and two in the seventh inning.

Game three began at 11:15 p.m. Saturday.

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

SINTON — Kayla! Kayla! Kayla! The large traveling contingency of Rio Hondo Lady Bobcats supporters continued the chant as Kayla Castaneda exited the gates at Sinton High School after hitting a walk-off home run that gave the Lady Cats at 1-0 victory over the Wimberley Lady Texans on Friday night in Game 1 of their regional semifinal series.

After 10 1/2 innings of scoreless play, Castaneda walked up to the plate and crushed the second pitch she saw out of the park, sending the Lady Bobcats into a frenzy.

However, Castaneda wasn’t thinking about swinging for the fences.

“All I could think of was getting a base hit and helping my team score a run, but nothing big,” said an excited Castaneda after the game. “Once I hit it though, I knew it was gone. I hit it right in the middle part (of the bat) and it was a high ball, and I love high balls.”

The home run was the second home run of the year for Castaneda.

With the win the Bobcats have a 1-0 series advantage with Game 2 set to begin at 5 p.m. today at Sinton High School.

“What a way to end it,” said Rio Hondo head softball coach Brett Esparza. “We had some key moments in the game where we stranded four or five key runners, but the girls’ perseverance was the final straw. We talked about it in practice and it was always going to be about who can grit it out.

“This was probably the greatest game I ever played in or coached in; boys or girls game, it didn’t matter. No matter what they (Wimberley) did, we found a way to get them out and no matter what we did they found a way to get us out.

“I hate to use the words destiny or fate, but somebody is looking out for us because everything just fell into place,” added Esparza.

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

SANTA ROSA — For a brief moment on Friday, the city of Santa Rosa stood still as one if its most admired and talented high school athletes put pen to paper and secured his future.

For months, the anticipation had been growing as rumors began to spread of possible college destinations for the Warriors’ Leo Lara.

On Friday, all was revealed as Lara signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Texas A&M University-Commerce this fall.

“Having everybody come out to witness my signing today means a lot to me because I’ve been here for four years and I love the great support system that they have,” said Lara. “I’m going to remember all my friends and the fans cheering when I would make buckets.”

Johnny Cipriano, Santa Rosa’s longtime basketball coach and recently named athletic director, was extremely happy for his prized cager.

“Leo’s a great, humble kid,” he said. “He’s the type of person that never lets his accomplishments overshadow who he was. His parents have done a great job of keeping him grounded and letting him know where he needs to go and where he needs to stay away from.

“I’m going to miss him a lot, but I know that’s part of life and he needs to move on. I just hope that he can move on and achieve his goals because I know he’s set some high goals. But I know they’re going to take care of him where he’s going.”

During his four years as part of the Warriors’ varsity hoops team, Lara helped lead his squad to four straight district titles, guided the Warriors to the Region IV-3A finals as a junior in 2016 and, last but not least, got the team into the UIL Class 3A state semifinals this season.

However, over the course of his high school career, Lara was also an all-around athlete in other sports, including football, track and baseball.

It is because of this sports diversity that Coach Cipriano believes Lara has an opportunity to reach a new level in his basketball game.

“Leo kept asking me ‘do you really think I’m going to get better’ and I would always tell him ‘I know you are because you have never specialized in any sport and now you will,’” said Cipriano.

“When he starts weight training and specialized training for basketball, the sky’s the limit for him because he’s done what he’s done to help despite limited practice since he was always getting ready for the next sport.”

The Commerce Lions compete in the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference. Last season, the Lions went 19-11 overall and 10-8 in conference action.

FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer

LA FERIA — With the UIL state golf championships teeing off this month, another area athlete who will get the opportunity to go toe-to-toe against the state’s best golfers is La Feria’s Andres (Andy) Cortez.

The sophomore will make his first appearance at the Class 3A tournament, which is scheduled to take place at Apple Rock Golf Course at Horseshoe Bay Country Club in Marble Falls beginning Monday.

At regionals, Cortez shot an opening-round 73 and a 77 on Day 2 for a total of 150. The score was enough to tie with James Alfaro of Raymondville and another player from Gonzales.

“I was in first place after the first day so I was in the last group and everyone was watching me, and they were waiting for me to finish,” said Cortez. “Some of the spectators around me looked nervous and I was thinking to myself, ‘why is everybody acting nervous,’ so I knew something was up. Coach came to me and told me I was going to have to go into a playoff because I was tied for second.”

After a three-way playoff hole, Cortez finished in fourth place but still advanced as one of the top three players not on an advancing team.

La Feria head golf coach David Briones said Cortez is ready.

“I think Andy is well prepared to play in this tournament,” said Briones. “He has been playing the junior golf tournaments all around the state most of his life so he is better prepared for this type of competition.

“He has been working hard these past few weeks, practicing with (teammate) Isabel (Prado) and together they have pushed each other to get ready for state.”

With only a few days away from competition, Cortez had some time to reflect on his achievement and being the first boys player in La Feria program history to qualify for state.

“Going to state as a sophomore means a lot to me because I’ve met a lot of people that I have played with who didn’t make it to state as a sophomore,” said Cortez. “I tried to qualify last year but it didn’t happen so I learned from my mistakes and applied it to this season. So being able to make it to state makes me happy.”

Cortez is set to tee off at 9:50 a.m. Monday.