BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR

In track and field recruiting, UTRGV owns it backyard. The program has dozens of talented local athletes on its roster.

The Valley has shown that it can produce Division I talent on a regular basis, recently sending athletes to UTRGV, Texas, Arkansas, UT San Antonio, Mississippi State, Texas State, SMU and more. Many of those track and field athletes have excelled.

But recently, outside of UTRGV, no Division I program has recruited the Valley better than the University of Houston — a powerful and esteemed program that has won 33 men’s and women’s conference championships during former world record holder Leroy Burrell’s 17 years as head coach.

The Cougars currently have nine RGV athletes (two women, seven men) on their rosters, according to the school’s sports information publications: Nora Monie, Sharyland Pioneer; Malaya Pistokache, Sharyland Pioneer; Dalton Curtis, Sharyland Pioneer; Guillermo Galvan, Mission Veterans; Hayden Flores, Harlingen High; Jose Herrera, Brownsville Hanna; G.J. Reyna, Mission Veterans; Jose Rodriguez, PSJA Southwest; and Felipe Valencia, La Joya Palmview.

They all contribute to their teams’ efforts during the indoor and outdoor seasons. And some are major standouts. Monie, after improving during her sophomore season in 2017, won a pair of gold medals two weeks ago at the Texas Relays in the shot put and discus throws.

Valencia, a redshirt junior shot and discus thrower, went to the NCAA regionals last year and placed fourth in the shot at the Texas Relays in March. He also won last weekend’s Houston Alumni Invitational with a gold-medal throw of 59 feet, 2.75 inches.

Houston has a long history of producing great track teams and athletes, including the incomparable Olympian Carl Lewis. More recently, the men’s team won consecutive American Conference indoor and outdoor track titles in 2016 and 2017.

GONZALEZ IMPROVES IN NEW ROLE AT TEXAS TECH

Former Edinburg Bobcats ace John Henry Gonzalez is now a middle reliever for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. As a freshman in 2017, the 6-foot, 225-pounder started nine games and appeared in 13 altogether, but he scuffled some and ended the season with a 6.52 ERA and a 2-3 overall record.

This season, the right-hander has cut his ERA in half. He has pitched in six games for the 25-6 Red Raiders, but Gonzalez has been effective. He has a 3.27 ERA in 11 innings with 14 strikeouts and only three walks. In his last two games from the mound, he’s thrown four innings and allowed just two hits while fanning six batters and walking only one.

SOUTH’S GONZALEZ TOPS AT ST. MARY’S TENNIS

Sophomore Jeremiah Gonzalez is playing the best tennis of his career. The former Harlingen South state finalist has notched a team-best 11-4 record as a St. Mary’s University singles player. He is also part of the Division II Rattlers’ best doubles team. He and partner Bojan Popovic have won 11 matches to just five losses. As a team, St. Mary’s is 11-5 on the season, winning five of its last seven matches.

The 5-foot-9 Gonzalez is just ahead of pace compared to last year’s breakout season, when he ended up 15-6 in singles and 16-9 in doubles. He was named Heartland Conference Player of the Week on March 20 for helping St. Mary’s take down a pair of top-25 teams while also handing a defeat to the No. 5-ranked singles player in the nation. Gonzalez went 5-1 that week, including 3-0 at No. 1 singles and 2-1 at No. 1 doubles.

RIO HONDO’S CASTELLANOS HELPING SUL ROSS ST.

Rio Hondo grad Alexandra Castellanos has exploded onto the collegiate softball scene with Division III Sul Ross State in West Texas. The freshman has started 26 of the Lobos’ 27 games through last weekend and is batting .323 with 20 hits and five RBIs for the 14-15 team, which plays in the American Southwest Conference and is based in Alpine.

Castellanos has played at least four different positions for Sul Ross, including second base, third base, left field and right field. The 5-foot-3 Castellanos has performed well at each position, handling 46 of 50 chances, recording 24 putouts and one double play for a .920 fielding percentage.

PORTER’S SAENZ LAUDED BY RED RIVER CONFERENCE

University of Houston-Victoria junior Adrian Saenz was recognized on April 6 as the Red River Athletic Conference Character Athlete of the Week. The Brownsville Porter product and criminal justice major has been a leader for the NAIA UHV men’s golf team for three years.

As part of the RRAC’s commitment to the NAIA Champions of Character program, the conference recognizes student-athletes from member schools who have exhibited a high level of scholarship, sportsmanship, integrity, responsibility and community service. Saenz has been active in the community helping the local Boys & Girls Club, took the lead on team study sessions and had the highest GPA on the golf team in the fall semester.

Know an RGV athlete doing well at the collegiate level in any sport? Send us a tip at [email protected].

BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR

DONNA — If a western Rio Grande Valley boys soccer power can deal with the schools from Brownsville, La Joya Juarez Lincoln is that program.

The Huskies mushed their way to the state title game last year and easily knifed their way through the District 30-6A schedule this season, losing only once. Juarez-Lincoln’s latest playoff opponent was Brownsville Hanna, which edged the Huskies 3-2 earlier this season.

On Friday night, 30-5-1 Juarez-Lincoln flexed its muscles once again, letting loose a barrage of second-half goals to bury the Brownsville Hanna Eagles 8-2 in a Class 6A regional quarterfinal game in Donna. The Huskies were intent on proving they were better than Tuesday’s close result against Edinburg Economedes in the area round might have indicated.

“The last game (Economedes) was a very tough game, and we didn’t play like we wanted to,” said midfielder Gerardo Reyes, who scored a hat trick on Friday. “This game, the second half was absolutely incredible. We had come out strong, and we made all our goals.”

With the victory, Juarez-Lincoln matriculates on to the Region IV tournament next week in San Antonio. Brownsville Hanna (18-7-3) was a game opponent, but the frustration and skill fueling the Huskies was just too much for the Golden Eagles to handle.

The Huskies’ Sergio Escareno and Edson Fonseca scored late in the first half to put Juarez-Lincoln up 2-0 at intermission.

Juarez-Lincoln scored its third goal two minutes into the second half. Then, Reyes found the net three times with a variety of shots over the next 20 minutes to break the game wide open and dash any hopes Hanna had of a comeback.

The Huskies went up 6-0 before the Golden Eagles scored two goals late in the match. But Juarez-Lincoln never stopped playing and hardly substituted, scoring two more late goals for good measure.

Coach Victor Ramos said his team worked hard to correct mistakes made in the game against Economedes, and he was happy with Friday’s result as he looks forward to regionals.

“We were there last year, and we won that competition and represented our region well at the state tournament,” Ramos said. “We know we will have difficult games there. We have three days before we leave here, and we have those three days to practice and get everything perfect.”

HENRY MILLER | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR

Donna North’s Elizabeth Reyes sees a lot of her younger self in Gaby Aviles. Many opponents can testify — they’ve seen way too much of both of the Chiefs this season.

The experienced senior Reyes and the feisty freshman Aviles will hope to continue their postseason surge as they lead Donna North into the Class 5A Region IV quarterfinals against Gregory-Portland at 7 p.m. tonight at Cabannis Field in Corpus Christi.

Reyes and Aviles have combined for 71 goals this year — 40 for Reyes and 31 for Aviles. Reyes, a forward, has 140 career goals, and she can envision her freshman teammate putting together numbers like that, and more.

“She’s amazing,” Reyes said. “I see a lot of her in me, and I tell her all the time when something happens that I have been in those shoes. We play well together.”

Coach Tony Garcia has been with the program for all five years of its existence and says that this year’s team is “a well-oiled machine and the most offensive balanced team we have.”

Reyes and Avila have multiple hat tricks this season — Reyes even scored six times in one game. Rarely will two players on a team score three goals in a game, but the Chiefs boast three. Nancy Espino scored three straight in a district matchup against Edcouch-Elsa and has 14 goals on the season.

“We can say it’s night and day from the very beginning of the season,” Garcia said. “We’ve made major strides, and their cohesiveness is nothing other than amazing.”

The Chiefs, who are in the third round of the playoffs for the second time in their five-year existence, put together an 11-3 record in District 32-5A this year, losing to Brownsville Porter once and to district champs Brownsville Pace twice. Midway through the first half of district play, Garcia noticed something a little special about his team.

“They turned into a well-oiled machine,” he said. “I had to take a step back, and when I did, I knew this was going to be a good little group.”

Donna North finished in sixth place in the district last year. Everyone knew Reyes was coming back. What probably nobody figured on was the impact Aviles, Espino and freshman goalkeepers Damaris Regalado and Michelle Garcia would have to revamp the Chiefs. Everybody knows now.

Regalado has been taking most of the time in net lately, but the two keepers alternated for most of the season. Regalado also recently won the district high jump title.

“She’s very secure on top, with a long reach and her height and her jumping ability,” Garcia said. “It’s hard for that ball to find its way into the net up on top with her there.”

Friday’s winner will play the winner of the game between Boerne Champion and San Marcos.

Aviles tweaked her ankle about two weeks ago and said she’s still not 100 percent healed. But she’s more resilient and much stronger than an average 15-year-old. She can control the ball and keep a defender away extremely efficiently.

“She’s had to battle with 18- and 19-year-old seniors, and not once has she backed away or not taken on that challenge,” Garcia said. “I knew she had the talent and the skills, but I never imagined it would be this type of talent and this type of focus and concentration. It’s always an all-out effort. Every practice, every minute, she’s a little Tasmanian devil out there.”

HENRY MILLER | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR

EDINBURG — Two years ago, the Donna High boys golf team didn’t break 400 for a team score. Many times, they didn’t come close.

Coach Tim Garate, however, knew those struggles were going to be short-lived. This was the team that would end the district-title drought.

Two years later, that same group of golfers is now district champs.

Donna shot a 378 team score, one day after shooting its best score of the year at 350, and claimed a 32-stroke victory over Edcouch-Elsa in the District 32-5A golf tournament Wednesday at Monte Cristo Golf and Country Club in Edinburg.

Donna junior Jonathan del Bosque also earned medalist honors with a two-day 163 (80-83), outpacing Brownsville Veterans’ Daniel Yznaga by seven strokes.

“I’m extremely happy,” said Garate, in his fifth year at the Donna helm. “These kids had never picked up a club prior to high school, but once they did, you could just see it was their sport, and they have worked hard.”

The team is made up of four juniors and one sophomore, Michael Garcia, who finished fifth overall in the tournament by shooting a 185 (90-95). Alexis Mendoza (188) and Esteban Lopez (192) also finished in the top 10 for Donna.

Donna and Edcouch-Elsa advance to the Class 5A Region IV tournament April 23-24 at the Golf Club of Texas in San Antonio.

Del Bosque came in shooting an average of nearly 88.5 for the season, and the team was averaging almost 380. On day one of the district meet, Del Bosque shot an 80 and the team came in with the 350, setting the tone.

“We had been talking about shooting from one range when they started, to getting to another range by this time of year, and they hit it exactly,” Garate said. “When they were freshmen, we were going to practices, and they asked if they could take their clubs home with them. Every weekend, they would take them home — this is no exaggeration — they would come in on Monday and put scorecards on my desk from the weekend, just like it was a homework assignment. They have worked extremely hard.”

Manny Lopez and Nick Reyes shot 179 and 183 to lead the Yellow Jackets.

In the girls District 32-5A tournament, Brownsville Veterans senior Julie Lucio put on quite a show, shooting a career-best 66 on Tuesday and following that with a 67 Wednesday to easily win top honors. The Chargers, as expected, also ran away with the team title, outpacing second-place Brownsville Lopez by 161 strokes, 618-779. The Chargers represented the top five individual finishers and were followed by Edcouch-Elsa’s Natalie Lopez, who scored a two-day 180. Lopez and teammate

Yara Ybarra will join the two Brownsville schools in the regional tournament.

JOHN JOE RIVERA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR

McALLEN — The Brownsville Rivera Raiders are heading back to the third round of the playoffs for the second year in a row after an emotional, come-from-behind win against the McAllen Memorial Mustangs 3-2 on Tuesday night at Boxer Hernandez Stadium.

Alyssa Ayala netted the game-winning goal for the Raiders with just two minutes left in regulation.

“I burst out in tears, because we are making history,” Ayala said.

Both teams began the game sluggish and entered intermission scoreless.

“We weren’t playing with any kind of intensity or urgency,” Memorial coach Matthew Kaiser said. “We changed that up and tried to play a few more sideline balls, and that gave us the chances, but we missed those chances.”

“At halftime, coach stepped aside, and we talked to the girls our way,” Ayala said. “We told them we need to step it up. We don’t want this to be our last game.”

Geo Hernandez got the Mustangs on the board first with a goal following a scrum in front of the Rivera net just five minutes into the second half.

The Mustangs’ Valerie Silva knocked in a header with 31:41 remaining to build a commanding 2-0 lead that stood for most of the second half.

At the 18-minute mark of the second half, Ashley Torres finally tallied the Raiders’ first goal of the night with a powerful shot right up the middle.

“On the opening goal, what can I say?” Torres said. “It was crazy!”

Brigitte Iglesias tied the game at 2 with a free-kick goal at the 5:03 mark.

“It was incredible, because we were down 2-1,” Iglesias said. “I told myself, I had to do it, I had to do it.”

With the game looking like it would head to a penalty-kick shootout, Ayala connected on the game winner at the 2:17 mark of the second half.

Despite coming out victorious, the Raiders know there is still more work to be done to continue their march through the state playoffs.

“There is always room to get better — more room for improvement,” Ayala said.

“And that starts with practice tomorrow,” Torres added.

With the win, the Raiders advance to the regional quarterfinal round to face McAllen Rowe, which blanked PSJA High 3-0 on Tuesday night.

TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR

Richard Cervantes is making a name for himself at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and he’s on a serious roll this year.

The Sharyland High graduate broke two school records while competing at the Texas Relays last weekend in Austin. The redshirt junior’s record-breaking shut put throw of 61 feet, 9.5 inches on Saturday snapped Javelinas Hall of Famer and former longtime NFL lineman Roberto Garza’s previous mark.

The 6-foot-3, 310-pound Cervantes beat Garza’s record by a little more than a foot and took home a bronze medal in the shot put, earning his second NCAA automatic qualifying mark in as many days.

The 61-9.5 throw was a personal outdoor best for Cervantes, and he did it against top Division I competition, besting throwers from schools like Texas, Oklahoma, TCU and Houston. UH’s Felipe Valencia, a junior from La Joya Palmview, finished just behind Cervantes in fourth place.

On Friday, Cervantes broke another school record at the Texas Relays on his way to claiming fourth place in the discus competition with a throw of 192-8.25. The mark was also an outdoor personal best.

A few weeks ago, the Lone Star Conference named Cervantes the Indoor Field Athlete of the Year after he placed third in the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships and earned All-America status. As a senior at Sharyland in 2014, he qualified for state in the shot put and discus and finished fourth and ninth, respectively.

PIONEER’S MONIE WINS TWO GOLDS AT TEXAS RELAYS

The University of Houston’s Nora Monie must have taken her offseason seriously. The Sharyland Pioneer alum, who lists powerlifting as a hobby, threw an outdoor personal-best 50-0.75 in the shot put at the Texas Relays last weekend. The UH junior’s heave earned a first-place finish in the B section division and would have been good enough for fifth in the A section.

Monie’s performance marked a 6-foot improvement over her best throw last year. The former Class 5A discus state champ also claimed her first gold medal at the Texas Relays by winning the B section discus with a throw of 170-3.75. Again, about 6 feet better than her best outdoor toss in 2017.

ROWE’S RODRIGUEZ LEADING ST. EDWARD’S

Karolina Rodriguez is doing it all for the St. Edward’s Hilltoppers softball team. The sophomore leads St. Edward’s in nearly every offensive statistical category, including batting average (.345), hits (30) RBIs (14) home runs (5) and slugging percentage (.575). She also plays multiple infield positions and some designated hitter.

The Hilltoppers are struggling this season (3-31), but the Division II program might be in an even worse position if not for the 5-foot-5 Rodriguez. The McAllen Rowe product is also vastly improved from last season, when as a freshman she hit just .214. Rodriguez, a former District MVP and first-team All-Valley selection, has made the Heartland Conference President’s Honor Roll twice in the last year for having at least a 3.5 GPA in a semester.

PALMVIEW’S PEREZ MAKING WAVES IN CORPUS

La Joya Palmview product Leonel Perez just may be Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s ace on the mound. The 6-foot-1 right-hander’s 4-1 record is the Islanders’ best, and his measly 1.25 ERA is second lowest on the team. Perez is a freshman, and the Islanders are a Division I school in the Southland Conference.

Perez had stellar four-year varsity career for the Lobos, finishing with a .442 batting average and a 23-6 record as a pitcher. For Texas A&M Corpus Christi (16-13 overall), he’s not seeing much action in the infield or at the plate. But that’s not a bad thing. Perez has pitched in six games, starting three, and has struck out 23 and walked seven with a .099 opponents’ batting average through 21 innings.

EDINBURG NORTH’S LONGORIA EARNS FIRST WIN

Edinburg North grad Jackie Longoria earned her first collegiate win recently, tossing her first complete game to help the NAIA University of Houston-Victoria Jaguars complete a three-game sweep over Texas College. The Jaguars are 14-12 overall and 7-5 during the conference season, including three straight wins.

Longoria, a freshman, allowed just one unearned run on three hits and no walks against four strikeouts in five innings. The former All-Area selection and district MVP also helped herself, going 2 for 3 at the plate with an RBI and a run scored. On the season, Longoria is 1-0 with a 0.88 ERA in two starts. The 5-foot-2 pitcher has seen action in 10 games and is batting .286 in 14 at-bats.

Know an RGV athlete doing well at the collegiate level in any sport? Send us a tip at [email protected].

HENRY MILLER | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR

MERCEDES — In an era of the long ball, when “oohs” and “aahs” come from monumental home runs by Major League players like Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton, small ball has nearly run itself out of ballparks at every level.

That’s not the case with the Mercedes Tigers.

Before the season began, Mercedes coach Armando Reyes realized that his team was going to be short on the long ball but large on speed and aggressive running. He knew Mercedes would have to manufacture runs.

The Tigers are running at every opportunity.

“We are going to force defenses’ hands,” Reyes said prior to his team winning the Knights of Columbus baseball tournament by defeating perennial winner Harlingen South 11-5 in the finals. The victory marked the first time Mercedes won its own tournament in at least 30 years.

In that championship game, the Tigers scored five runs on two hits in the fifth inning to break away from a 6-5 lead. The Tigers loaded the bases four times in the game but had two runners gunned down at the plate and another two doubled up for straying too far off the base. They also took an extra base on at least three occasions, even when the odds didn’t look so good. They registered four stolen bases, as well.

“We certainly don’t want to just go through the motions,” Reyes said. “When you try to take extra bases, it puts pressure on the other team, and they have to make perfect throws. If they do, that’s part of the game. The odds are that it won’t happen that often.”

In a recent game against Donna North, Mercedes scored its only run on back-to-back hit-and-run plays. The Tigers advanced six runners to scoring position throughout the game, including five who reached third base, but couldn’t get a key hit and fell 4-1.

“We got on base and we put runners in scoring position, but we couldn’t get the key hit, and getting those hits are critical when you play small ball,” Reyes said.

Playing the type of ball the Tigers play takes a total commitment. They can’t wait around to see if someone is going to send a fastball over the wall. They are required to push pitchers deep into the count, looking for free passes, passed balls or wild pitches and hoping a pitcher makes a mistake the longer he has to throw.

Facing a large deficit, however, puts additional pressure on the batters, and Reyes has to remind them that just because they are down a few runs, they aren’t going to change their philosophy.

“When we were down early in the season in some games, we talked about what type of a team are we,” he said. “How are we going to react to deficits? One of the things is being even more disciplined at the plate.”

Mercedes holds a 2-5 record so far in District 32-5A play but is still well within reach of the postseason. The Tigers’ pitching, behind J.P. Luna and Mando Reyes, has been solid of late. So has their fielding, which was a question early in the season. Now, the team’s success hinges on getting guys on base, running at every chance, and making some timely hits. Maybe even a home run or two? Well, maybe not. Even through the Tigers have a couple sluggers with more than just warning-track power, looking for gaps and making solid contact is what they are focused on doing. If the long ball comes, it’s not because they were swinging for the fences.

Josh Rodriguez leads the team with nine stolen bases, while Mando Reyes and Alejandro Cabrera each have five. As a team, the Tigers have swiped 38 bases. Even when they are not attempting to steal, they are putting pressure on pitchers and fielders, who know that a slight bobble could mean an extra base. On more than one occasion this season, the Tigers have scored from second on an infield hit or a fielder’s choice.

Joel Barrientes leads the team, hitting .545 with 14 RBIs. Mando Reyes is batting .500, and Rodriguez is at .455. Cabrera is second on the team with 12 RBIs. “Small ball and baserunning is a big part of our offense,” Armando Reyes said. “We go in there with a plan, and we are looking for a certain pitch — a positive pitch — and it takes a lot of practice and patience to do that.”

TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO RGVSports.com

McALLEN — McAllen High’s Jackie Lemus scored the first of an onslaught of goals 44 seconds into the game and the Bulldogs went on to flat-out dominate McAllen Memorial 9-1 on Friday at Boxer Hernandez Stadium.
What was supposed to a grudge match between District 30-6A’s cream of the crop — perhaps the RGV’s best two girls soccer teams — never materialized.
The Bulldogs were bigger, stronger and faster in every aspect of the match. They won 50-50 balls. Mireya Ramirez scored a hat trick. They were near perfect on set pieces, and their fast break was unstoppable.
“Boy, we just came out ready to play, and we were just all over them. I don’t think they knew what hit them the first 10 minutes into this game,” McHi coach Pat Arney said. “I have got to give these girls credit. Some of them were saying this is the best game they’ve ever played. Maybe, but we can still get better.”
With the victory, McHi finishes the season sweep of its crosstown rival and improves to 8-0 in district and 17-3-1 overall. The Mustangs drop to 7-2 in district and 20-3-3 overall.
Before Friday’s game, the Mustangs were on a roll. They had won five straight and outscored opponents 24-2.
But Friday was a completely different story. With its defense in disarray, Memorial allowed McHi to pounce early and often. The Bulldogs were up 4-0 just 17 minutes into the first half behind two impressive goals from Westyn Henderson. That would have been more than enough, but McHi continued to pour it on.
The first half was also a showcase of McHi’s speed and agility. The Bulldogs repeatedly made long runs — some scored, some didn’t — past would-be Memorial defenders. Either up the middle or down the sidelines — it didn’t much matter. McHi ran out to a 6-1 lead at intermission.
Sophomore Ramirez led a quintet of McHi scorers with her four goals. Henderson found the back of the net twice and Ava Alaniz, who played strong in every corner of the pitch, added two more. Zoe Flores also scored a goal.
“At first, we were nervous. We were super nervous. It’s a big game. But we still knew we were going to win,” Ramirez said. “We played awesome. We played as a team. We communicated. We played perfect.”

BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR

EDINBURG — Natalie Rodriguez hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead the Edinburg North Cougars past the Rio Hondo Bobcats 5-4 in an early season showcase of two of the area’s top programs.

Rodriguez, a junior who pitched the entire game, had just surrendered a one-run lead in the top of the seventh before getting her turn at the plate. She blasted a high fastball over the left-center field fence after an eight-pitch at-bat.

“My last at-bat, my girls told me to wait on it. Relax. Do your thing,” Rodriguez said. “So, with my mom yelling at me from the stands, which I told her to hush, but I stayed calm, saw a pitch I thought I could hit, and it went over.”

The homer negated a dramatic comeback from Rio Hondo, a Class 4A school that advanced to the elite eight last year. Edinburg North improves to 5-3 with the non-district win. Rio Hondo drops to 3-3.

Edinburg North picked up nine hits on the night against Rio Hondo freshman pitcher Kelsey Pizarro. Rodriguez helped her cause by going 3 for 4 with two RBIs. Hope Rodriguez added two more RBIs as she went 2 for 3 from the plate and smacked a home run of her own.

The Cougars jumped to early leads of 2-0 and 3-2 but couldn’t put Rio Hondo away. Edinburg North wasted several opportunities to pull further ahead because of errors in the field and mental mistakes, coach Richard Tressler said.

He added that he was pleased with the home runs but didn’t want the team to grow accustomed to relying on the long ball to get out of jams.

Going into the top of the seventh trailing Edinburg North 3-2, Rio Hondo started with the top of the batting order. Abbie Alvarado slapped a single to get on safely, then Bianca Cruz doubled off the left-field wall. Both scored after a sacrifice and Pizarro’s double to make the score 4-3 Rio Hondo.

In the bottom of the seventh, Seci Lopez drew a walk to set up Rodriguez’s home run.

Rio Hondo coach Brett Esparza said the loss was disappointing but added that he likes facing stiff competition in non-district play.

“We are just looking for opportunities to get better,” he said. “And we’re going to go out and challenge ourselves week in and week out. The only way you’re going to do that is against quality teams like Edinburg North.”

Rio Hondo picked up its four runs off eight hits.

RGVSports.com

The Valley continued to turn in strong wrestling performances at the regional tournaments this weekend, advancing 41 athletes to next weekend’s UIL State Wrestling Tournament at the Berry Center in Cypress.

The Region IV-6A tournament was held in San Antonio, while the Region IV-5A tournament was in Austin.

The Class 6A boys 160-pound division was a repeat of the District 16-6A championship, as Weslaco High’s Caleb Muniz defeated La Joya High’s Jan Vela with an 8-2 decision.

McAllen Rowe junior Omar Anguinaga parlayed his district championship to regional gold at 195 pounds, winning a dramatic match against Kelby Davis of Cedar Park Vista Ridge. Anguinaga was trailing the match by a point with 10 seconds remaining but made a late takedown to win 8-7.

La Joya Juarez-Lincoln’s Vanessa Doria improved to 24-2 on the season with a regional championship in the 102-pound weight class. Sidney Quintanilla of McAllen Memorial earned third place with a win over Natalee Guzman of La Joya High.

Serena Cervantes of McAllen High continued her dominance at 128 pounds with a major decision victory over Haylee Guzman of La Joya High. Viviana Torres of San Benito also advanced.

At the 5A level, Sharyland Pioneer sophomore Diego Serna won a regional championship with a 9-6 decision over Javier Chapa of Victoria West. Grulla’s Ivan Ozuna will also advance in that weight class — he wrestled his way into third place.

Rio Grande City’s Raul Lopez earned a regional championship at 120 to match his district title from a week ago, beating Jarred Adams of Hutto.

Ozzy Trevino of McAllen Memorial finished as a silver medalist after losing an 8-6 decision to San Antonio Johnson’s Enrique Munguia.

Nancy Saldana of PSJA High earned a silver medal after losing in the championship match to Dhaikiyah Geter from Killeen Shoemaker.

Weslaco High’s Melissa Ibarra lost a low-scoring, 3-1 match in the championship to Alina Kinsley.

Alberto Juarez of Mission High finished runner-up to Noah Gochberg of Vandegrift via first-round pin in the 113-pound championship. In the same weight class, senior Joshua De Hoyos of Weslaco High earned third place with his win over Austin Saylor of Cibolo Steele.

Edinburg Vela qualified Alberto Alacara in the 182-pound division after he knocked off Victor Gutierrez from Mission High in the fourth-place match.

Sharyland High’s Juan Colegio finished runner-up to Carson Pottenger of Georgetown in the 126 class.

At 145 pounds, Brandon Pritchard of Pioneer finished second in a high-scoring, 11-10 match to Julian Delgado.

Freshman Alejandra Briere-Segovia from Sharyland Pioneer finished in third place after pinning Cassidy King from Cedar Park just 19 seconds into the second round.

VALLEY WRESTLING STATE QUALIFIERS & ALTERNATES

(1-4 automatically qualify, 5 & 6 are alternates)

CLASS 6A REGION IV TOURNAMENT

At Blossom Activity Center, San Antonio

Boys

106 — 5, Abel Alvarado, PSJA Memorial

113 — 2, Alberto Juarez, Mission High; 3, Joshua De Hoyos, Weslaco High

120 — 6, Alexis Villegas, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln

126 — 6, Manlio Medellin, Weslaco High

132 — 5, Roberto Silva, Edinburg Vela

138 — 2, Oziel Treviño, McAllen Memorial; 3, Ramon Lopez, Edinburg High; 4, Humberto Alcala, Edinburg Vela; 5, Petey Lozano, McAllen Rowe

145 — 5, Christian Garcia, Weslaco High

152 — 6, Genaro Emiliano, Edinburg High

160 — 1, Caleb Muniz, Weslaco High; 2, Jan Vela, La Joya High

182 — 4, Alberto Alcala, Edinburg Vela; 5, Victor Gutierrez, Mission High

195 — 1, Omar Aguinaga, McAllen Rowe; 5, Brandon Rich-Avalos, Edinburg North

285 — 5, Jose Carrillo, Edinburg High

Girls

95 — 4, Mayeli Chaidez-Torres, Los Fresnos; 5, Krisol Cornejo, Edinburg Vela; 6, Jerilyn Abby Peralez, Edinburg North

102 — 1, Vanessa Doria, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln; 3, Sidney Quintanilla, McAllen Memorial; 4, Natalee Guzman, La Joya High; 5, Amada Solorio, Edinburg Vela

110 — 2, Melissa Ibarra, Weslaco High; 6, Nayeli Hernandez, PSJA High

119 — 3, Ashbby Alvarado, PSJA High; 4, Lesly Ramirez, La Joya High; 6, Stephany Juarez, McAllen High

128 — 1, Serena Cervantes, McAllen High; 2, Haylee Guzman, La Joya High; 6, Eva Cerda, Edinburg North

138 — 2, Nancy Saldana, PSJA High; 6, Ashley Leos, Weslaco High

148 — 2, Hannah Martinez, Edinburg North; 3, Maria Rangel, Edinburg High

165 — 3, Destiny Baltierra, PSJA High; 5, Isabel Rodriguez, PSJA Southwest

185 — 5, Paola Espinoza, Weslaco East; 6, Dulce Arenas, Edinburg Economedes

215 — 4, Brianna Gomez, Mission High; 6, Alexis Lopez, Weslaco High

CLASS 5A REGION IV TOURNAMENT

At Delco Center, Austin

Boys

106 — 1, Diego Serna, Sharyland Pioneer; 3, Ivan Ozuna, Grulla

120 — 1, Raul Lopez, Rio Grande City

126 — 2, Juan Colegio, Sharyland High; 5, Roy Cavazos, Grulla

138 — 5, Marcos Gonzalez, Donna North

145 — 2, Brandon Pritchard, Sharyland Pioneer

170 — 4, Manuel Almanza, Sharyland Pioneer; 6, Leonel Peña, Roma

182 — 4, Dominique Rodriguez, Sharyland Pioneer

195 — 3, Emanuel Huerta, Sharyland Pioneer; 6, Elder Manuel, Roma

285 — 6, Gabriel Martinez, Sharyland High

Girls

95 — 6, Monica Resendez, Donna North

102 — 4, Michelle Zavala, Edcouch-Elsa

110 — 5, Luisa Mendoza, Donna North; 6, Samanatha Rodriguez, Rio Grande City

119 — 3, Carolyn Villarreal, Grulla; 4, Emily Treviño, Sharyland Pioneer

138 — 2, Mia Padilla, Sharyland Pioneer; 4, Maida Ortiz, Donna High

148 — 4, Ferralin Alergia, Donna North

165 — 2, Yesenia Saldana, Edcouch-Elsa; 4, Zabrina Montalvo, Grulla; 5, Angela Navarro, Mission Veterans

185 — 3, Graciela Toscano, Rio Grande City; 5, Precious Hernandez, Donna High

215 — 4, Camila Flores, Sharyland Pioneer; 6, Rachel Villarreal, Rio Grande City