By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

PORT ISABEL — The Port Isabel Tarpons took a big step toward capturing the District 32-4A soccer title with a 6-4 victory at home against the Raymondville Bearkats on a cool, breezy Tuesday night with temperatures in the upper 40s at Tarpon Stadium.

The Tarpons built a 6-2 first-half advantage and held on for the win.

In all, eight of the two teams’ combined 10 goals were scored with the wind. Port Isabel had the wind at its back the first half and Raymondville had it during the second.

“We have it in mind to make it as district champions,” said the Tarpons’ Christopher Mosqueda, a senior forward who scored two of the first four goals for the Tarpons against the Bearkats. “I have to give credit to Raymondville because they played hard and did everything they could to take the win.

“For me to score gives my teammates motivation for us to keep on scoring and keep on winning,” Mosqueda added.

Port Isabel and Raymondville came into Tuesday’s match tied for the district lead with 21 points apiece. After it was over, the Tarpons (8-1, 24 points) moved into sole possession of the 32-4A lead. They have three district games left.

Raymondville (7-3, 21 points) is now in second place with two district matches remaining for the Bearkats.

Port Isabel won 6-1 at Raymondville during the first round of district on Feb. 8.

“This was kind of a combination of two (different) halves tonight,” Port Isabel coach Josh Kirton said. “The first half we went out and played really well. We executed and took advantage of our opportunities, but a couple of our mistakes brought Raymondville back into the game.

“The second half I wasn’t pleased with our performance (in allowing two more goals), but we rode our luck out and pulled out the 6-4 win,” Kirton added. “A lot of credit goes to Raymondville because they worked their socks off for 80 minutes. They went down 4-0 and then 6-2, and they still battled back to make it a game, so hats off to those guys.”

The scoring began 11 minutes into the match when Port Isabel’s Josue Avila fired a shot into the net from about 12 yards out. Mosqueda followed with a shot from the left side about 15 yards out four minutes later, during the 15th minute, to make it 2-0.

Teammate Alan Hernandez blasted in a shot from 30-plus yards on a free kick from the left side during the 18th minute for a 3-0 advantage. Mosqueda’s second goal during the 24th minute made it 4-0.

Raymondville then scored back-to-back goals during the 32nd and 33rd minutes to pull within 4-2. Both goals were scored by Saul Garcia, who wound up with a hat trick on the night. Garcia’s first goal was a header off a corner kick taken from the right side and the second came on a long roller from the middle of the field.

Port Isabel responded with two goals, both by Angel Sarabia, within the 34th and 35th minutes to restore the Tarpons’ lead to a more comfortable margin of 6-2.

Raymondville did all the second-half scoring, but it was not enough to overtake Port Isabel’s lead.

Garcia’s third goal during the 46th minute made it 6-3. Teammate Jesus Cortez converted a penalty kick to the right corner of the net during the 53rd minute to account for the final score of 6-4.

“Both teams played hard and really well,” Raymondville coach Robert Howell said. “We played a tough game and never backed off. We kept challenging and challenging. I have to hand it to the Tarpons because they played a really great game tonight. They were real solid.

“I think it shows that both teams are playoff-bound and we’re just looking forward to the (postseason) seedings and seeing where we go next,” Howell added. “We’ve got to finish the season strong first.”

Valley HS Boys Soccer Schedule 2018

Tuesday, March 5

District 30-6A

La Joya Juarez-Lincoln 2, La Joya High 1

Mission High 3, PSJA North 1

McAllen High 2, McAllen Memorial 1

McAllen Rowe 3, PSJA High 1

District 31-6A

Edinburg North 2, Weslaco East 1 (PKs)

Edinburg High 3, Edinburg Economedes 1

Donna North 10, Weslaco High 1

District 32-6A

Brownsville Rivera 1, Harlingen South 0

Brownsville Hanna 5, San Benito 1

Los Fresnos 5, Harlingen High 4 (PKs)

District 31-5A

Sharyland High 3, Rio Grande City 0

Sharyland Pioneer 6, Mission Veterans 1

La Joya Palmview 5, PSJA Memorial 0

Roma 2, PSJA Southwest 1 (PKs)

District 32-5A

Brownsville Porter 4, Brownsville Lopez 3

Brownsville Pace 2, Donna High 0

Valley View 3, Brownsville Veterans 1

Edcouch-Elsa at Mercedes, not reported

District 32-4A

Port Isabel 6, Raymondville 4

District 30-6A

LA JOYA JUAREZ-LINCOLN 2,

LA JOYA HIGH 1

LJ Juarez-Lincoln 1 1 — 2

La Joya High 0 1 — 1

LA JOYA JUAREZ-LINCOLN (2): Jorge Reyes, Tony Torres

LA JOYA HIGH (1): Oscar Quintana

RECORDS: Juarez-Lincoln 11-0, La Joya High 8-3

McALLEN HIGH 2, McALLEN MEMORIAL 1

McAllen Memorial 1 0 — 1

McAllen High 1 1 — 2

McALLEN HIGH (2): Isaac Jimenez, Dylan Martinez

RECORDS: McAllen High 5-6, McAllen Memorial 5-6

District 31-5A

SHARYLAND HIGH 3, RIO GRANDE CITY 0

Sharyland High 1 2 — 3

Rio Grande City 0 0 — 0

SHARYLAND HIGH (3): Manuel Cantu, Dereck Garza, Jorge Morales

RECORDS: Sharyland High 10-1, Rio Grande City 1-10

Friday, March 8

District 30-6A

Mission High at McAllen Rowe, 8 p.m.

La Joya Juarez-Lincoln at McAllen Memorial, 8 p.m.

PSJA North at La Joya High, 8 p.m.

McAllen High at PSJA High, 8 p.m.

District 31-6A

Edinburg Vela at Donna North, 8 p.m.

Edinburg Economedes at Weslaco East, 8 p.m.

Weslaco High at Edinburg High, 8 p.m.

District 32-6A

Los Fresnos at Brownsville Hanna, 5:30 p.m.

San Benito at Brownsville Rivera, 5:30 p.m.

Harlingen South at Harlingen High, 5:30 p.m.

District 31-5A

Mission Veterans at Sharyland High, 6 p.m.

PSJA Memorial at Sharyland Pioneer, 6 p.m.

District 32-5A

Brownsville Porter at Brownsville Veterans, 7:30 p.m.

Donna High at Brownsville Lopez, 7:30 p.m.

Mercedes at Brownsville Pace, 7:30 p.m.

Valley View at Mercedes, 7:30 p.m.

ROY HESS | Staff Writer

BROWNSVILLE— Hitting home runs is becoming second nature for the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons in softball.

Their dinger total for the young season thus far is 24 after hitting 29 homers all of last year.

The Lady Falcons highlighted Saturday’s final game of the Brownsville ISD Invitational Tournament by sending four homers over the fence during a 12-2, five-inning victory against McAllen Memorial at Brownsville Sports Park.

The three-day, 40-team BISD Tournament ended Saturday with games at all six Brownsville high schools, plus five fields at BSP. Each team was guaranteed five games during the tournament, which had no championship contest, only round-robin play.

“We all started hitting from the beginning today,” said Los Fresnos pitcher/shortstop Victoria Perales, a senior who belted two homers over the fence against the Lady Mustangs and went the distance for her team’s pitching victory. “We started fast (at the plate) and kept going throughout the whole game.

“It felt good knowing my teammates came after me (with some additional hits after I had our second homer),” Perales added. “I felt like I pitched a pretty good game, and I had our defense behind me. We cleaned things up after the first inning (when we made two errors and gave up two runs).”

The Lady Falcons won four games and lost once in the tournament. They opened with a 13-1 loss to Mercedes on Thursday before defeating Edinburg Vela 7-2, Mission Veterans 16-1, La Joya High 11-1 and McAllen Memorial.

The Lady Falcons are now 12-6 on the season.

“I’m pleased with how we went in this tournament,” Los Fresnos coach Traci Blackman said. “We struggled in our first game against Mercedes, and after that we came out and did really well since then.

“We just have to keep fighting, keep everybody together (as a team) and keep everybody following the same process (of getting better), and we’ll be good to go,” Blackman added. “We have to work hard and work through the things that we’ve got to work through.”

Los Fresnos’ fast start Saturday included solo homers during the top of the first inning by Valerie Guevara and Perales for a 2-0 advantage. The bottom of the first was when a throwing error to third base that sailed high allowed the Lady Mustangs to score their two runs. That error followed a fielding miscue at second that put a runner on base.

A solo homer over the center-field fence to lead off the top of the fourth by Samantha Campos enabled Los Fresnos to go up for good, 3-2.

Then came a nine-run scoring outburst by the Lady Falcons during the top of the fifth, which soon ended the game via the 10-run rule. Highlighting the inning for Los Fresnos was a two-run homer over the center-field fence by Perales along with RBI doubles by Shivani Garcia and Reba Reyes.

In all, the Lady Falcons collected 13 hits compared to only one for the Lady Mustangs.

Guevara and Campos each batted 3-for-4, and Perales went 2-for-3. Five other Lady Falcons had one hit apiece.

Kayla Dow’s single in the bottom of the first was the only hit for the Lady Mustangs. Dow was also the one who took the pitching loss.

Perales finished with three strikeouts, no walks and one hit batsman to go with her one-hitter.

The senior pitcher said the goal for the Lady Falcons this season is getting back to the playoffs. Los Fresnos didn’t advance to the postseason last year.

“I think we have a good team this year and we can go pretty far,” she said. “We have a lot of skill. The chemistry is very good this season. We all work really well together, and we have a great bond.

“I think we have the ability to get to the playoffs with this team,” she added. “We can start fast and shut down (our opponent) from there.”

The Lady Falcons continue non-district action at home at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against San Benito.

By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

Soccer in Brownsville doesn’t take time off for Charro Days.

While others were participating in festivities around town Friday night, the Pace Lady Vikings were busy getting past a tough city opponent in the balanced District 32-5A girls soccer race.

The Lady Vikings, playing at Lopez, prevailed over the Lady Lobos 2-1 to remain leaders of the district race. They now have a little breathing room, but not too much.

Pace was coming off Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Edcouch-Elsa in penalty kicks, so defeating the Lady Lobos was a pretty satisfying victory.

“First, more than anything, it’s the work of the team together and all the practices we’ve had (that helped us get the win),” said Pace’s Paloma Zamora, a sophomore forward/midfielder who scored the eventual game-winning goal with a little less than 20 minutes remaining. “We came (to Lopez) as a team, driven and in our formation, to find a way to win.

“This victory is very important because, if we won, we knew we would stay in first place,” Zamora added. “We are the defending district champions, and all the teams in our district are coming after us with the intention of defeating us, so this win was very important.”

Pace remains on top of the 32-5A girls standings with an 8-2 record and 25 points. Porter, a 5-0 winner over Valley View on Friday, stays in second place with an 8-2 record and 21 points. Lopez, still in playoff contention, slipped to 6-4 with 18 points.

“Lopez is a very good team, and they’re very well-coached,” Lady Vikings coach Jesus O. Villarreal said. “These games are all like this — very close — and today we won. It could have been the other way around. We’re going to celebrate because it was our turn to win.

“These games with Lopez are always good ones,” Villarreal added. “I want to give all the credit to our girls. They played their hearts out and won all the 50-50 balls. My hat’s off to our girls. They’re doing everything they can do to win. They’re playing with all their hearts.”

It was a scoreless match until three and a half minutes remained before halftime. Pace’s Marcy Garza received a pass from the right side and dribbled in on the attack to create a 1-on-1 situation with the Lady Lobos’ goalkeeper. Garza caught the goalkeeper a little too far out, lofted the ball over her and watched as it bounced into the open net for a 1-0 lead.

The Lady Lobos evened the match at 1 midway through the second half when Lopez’s Samantha Valdez attacked down the middle and found the net.

With a little less than 20 minutes left, Zamora provided her team with the game-winner. She lofted a long shot that carried into the goal to make it 2-1 and eventually secure the victory.

In the boys match, Lopez went up 1-0 on a penalty kick by Daniel Cruz midway through the first half before the Vikings tied the score at 1 on a goal via a header on a corner kick with eight minutes to go before intermission.

It was 3-1 for Pace at the half as the Vikings added two more goals within the last five minutes before the break.

Scoring the first-half goals for Pace were Ian Perez with two and Christopher Zapata with one.

Cruz added his second goal for Lopez from close range with 18 minutes left, but the Lobos came no closer.

Pace had beaten Lopez 3-1 during the first round of district last month.

In district, the Vikings improved to 6-4 with 18 points. The Lopez boys slipped to 6-4 with 17 points.

“I think mentally we were strong the whole match,” Pace coach Mario A. Zamora said. “Then, after it was 3-2, we still kept our mentality intact and (even) tried to score a fourth goal.

“I have to recognize the effort from the Lopez boys,” Zamora added. “The effort from Lopez never stopped. All in all, I think it was a great game for the fans. Both teams played their hearts out, and, fortunately, we got the win, so I’m happy with that.”

A heavy fog moved in by the end of the boys match, cutting down on vision across the field.

By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

It’s always nice to have twin sisters on your softball team, especially if they are Alex and Lexi Castro.

The senior sisters were a big part of the Lopez Lady Lobos’ 2-0 victory against Laredo Cigarroa to culminate Thursday’s first day of the Brownsville ISD Invitational Tournament.

The three-day, 40-team event features round-robin play at all six Brownsville high schools, plus five fields at Brownsville Sports Park. Almost every team from the Rio Grande Valley is participating along with five ballclubs from Laredo. Each team is scheduled to play five games. There won’t be a tournament championship game.

The tournament continues at 10 a.m. today and Saturday at the same sites.

Lopez rebounded after opening the tournament with an 11-1 loss at home against La Joya High in the morning. The afternoon went much better as the Lady Lobos again played on their home diamond and won with a shutout against Cigarroa to improve their season record to 8-7.

“I see my team improving and getting stronger throughout all these games of the tournament,” said Alex Castro, who went the distance for the Lady Lobos to earn the five-inning pitching victory and added an RBI double against the Lady Toros. “I hope we come out strong at the end of this tournament, and hopefully, we do well in District (32-5A).

“I felt pretty strong (on the mound),” added Alex, who had nine strikeouts, no walks and gave up four hits. “I think it’s going to be a really good tournament. It really does help (to do well on the mound and also at the plate) because it’s very good to help out the team in more than one place. If you help out in two places, it makes the team stronger.”

The Lady Lobos actually batted first as the visiting team against Cigarroa. With no score in the bottom of the first inning, Alex got off to a solid start by striking out the side. With Alex on the mound, the Lady Toros did very little on the bases. They had a runner reach third base only once and she wound up stranded there in the bottom of the second. Besides that, only three other Lady Toros reached second.

Lopez scored its two runs on RBI hits during the top of the fourth to break the scoreless tie.

Alex brought Lexi home from second base on an RBI double to center field with no outs in the second. Lexi had reached base via a fielding error on an attempted catch of a high fly by the Cigarroa left fielder.

Two batters after the RBI double, with a courtesy runner taking Alex’s spot at second, Lopez’s second run came home on an RBI single to left field by Rosa Sanchez with one out.

The two runs were enough to win, but Lady Lobos coach Jesse Martinez said his team could have easily scored more.

“Our hitting was OK, but we stranded way too many people,” Martinez said. “We should have had maybe 10 runs, or at least seven or eight. Sometimes, we were a little overly aggressive at the plate (and we squandered some chances).”

The Lopez coach said Alex’s pitching was what stood out to him the most against Cigarroa.

“Alex was on and she was hitting her spots perfectly (with her pitches),” Martinez said. “She was confident, she was strong, and that’s absolutely what stood out.”

While the Lady Toros finished with four hits and were led by leadoff batter Kassy Ramirez, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles, Lopez’s top hitter was Sanchez, who went 2-for-2 with two singles. In all, the Lady Lobos finished with six hits. Besides Alex’s double, also with a hit each for the Lady Lobos were Becky Ibarra, Jenny Sanchez and Blanca Olguin.

The Lady Lobos are trying to reach the playoffs for the third straight season in 32-5A.

“It feels very positive (to finish up the day with a win) because we put a lot of energy into this second game, and it showed off at the end,” said Lexi, who plays shortstop and also pitches. “We have four new girls, and we’re just practicing every day to get better. I hope we make it to the playoffs again this year.”

“It’s very exciting to have my twin sister on the team with me,” she added. “We’re always competing with each other to see who can do better. We’ll see how we each do tomorrow.

“We did great today, so let’s see if we can (all) do better tomorrow.”

ROY HESS | Staff Writer

Harlingen South’s boys and girls soccer teams enjoyed successful outings Tuesday as the second round of District 32-6A action got underway.

Playing at Los Fresnos, the Hawks defeated the Falcons 4-1 and the Lady Hawks prevailed 1-0 over the Lady Falcons.

The South boys built a 3-1 lead by halftime.

Leading the way for the Hawks was Leo Torres with two goals. Teammates Daylon Hernandez and Joaquin Ovalle added a goal apiece.

The win keeps the South boys tied with Brownsville Rivera for the 32-6A lead. Both teams are 4-2 with 12 points apiece.

“Our team seems extremely focused this second half after having the week off (last week),” Hawks coach Julian Robles said. “The team has worked hard all season to obtain positive results, and the guys have been rewarded for it.

“We understand how the district standings can change from one game to another since every district game is very competitive,” Robles added. “The only thing we can do is take it one game at a time.”

The South boys play at home against Rivera next Tuesday in what could be a showdown between district leaders. Before that, at 5:30 p.m. Friday, South is at San Benito and Rivera is at home against Los Fresnos.

The Lady Hawks did themselves a big favor in their district race by edging the 32-6A-leading Lady Falcons.

The difference in the match was a second-half goal by Mellory Grannum.

“The win gets us closer to first place and puts a little pressure on Los Fresnos,” Lady Hawks coach Omar Pedroza said. “We’ve just got to take care of business the rest of the season.”

The Lady Hawks play at San Benito as well on Friday. They play at 7:30 p.m. after the boys play at 5:30 p.m.

32-6A UPDATE

Here are the latest 32-6A boys standings: South (4-2, 12 points), Rivera (4-2, 12 points), San Benito (4-2, 11 points), Brownsville Hanna (2-4, eight points), Harlingen High (2-4, six points) and Los Fresnos (2-4, five points).

Here are the most recent 32-6A girls standings: Los Fresnos (5-1, 14 points), South (4-2, 13 points), Harlingen High (4-2, 12 points), Hanna (3-2, nine points), Rivera (1-4, three points) and San Benito (0-6, no points).

BUS ACCIDENT

The girls game between Rivera and Hanna on Tuesday night at Hanna was postponed because the Lady Raiders’ bus was involved in a traffic accident with a car en route to the game.

It appears the accident wasn’t serious.

“Overall, we are OK,” Lady Raiders coach Eduardo Torres said Wednesday.

The game has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. March 11.

32-4A BOYS UPDATE

Raymondville (6-2) and Port Isabel (6-1) remain tied for the District 32-4A lead with 18 points apiece, although the Bearkats suffered a 3-2 overtime loss at La Feria on Tuesday, while the Tarpons had an open date.

Port Isabel plays at home against La Feria on Friday and goes to Raymondville next Tuesday, so the boys race in 32-4A is getting pretty interesting.

By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

The Rivera Raiders appear to be on the rise as the second round of the District 32-6A boys soccer race gets going.

The Raiders opened the second half of 32-6A action Tuesday with a come-from-behind 2-1 overtime win at Hanna.

The victory kept Rivera tied with Harlingen South for the 32-6A lead. Each team is 4-2 with 12 points.

“I think everybody knows that we don’t have the talent and we don’t have the numbers that we used to have,” Rivera coach Salvador Garcia said. “But we still have the spirit. We have that Raider spirit that we’re going to fight, play as a team and play with discipline, which we’re doing most of the time.”

It figures to be a close battle all the way to the end in 32-6A for the four playoff spots from the six-team district.

“I was saying it (before) that in the 28 years that I’ve been a (head and assistant) coach at Rivera, this is the tightest race that I’ve seen,” Garcia said. “In reality, anyone can beat anyone. That’s how tight the race is.

“I don’t know if it’s wishful thinking or what, but in the one week we had off (last week), I saw a transformation in the team,” he added. “We finally found the two guys we want in the middle (at center midfielder) that are going to help drive the team. We were ready for Hanna (in the second round).”

Those two center midfielders are Jorge “Toti” Morales and Salvador “Chava” de Leon.

The Raiders are still without injured midfielder Kevin Zarrazagas, who Garcia said would be an anchor for the team when in the lineup. He is expected back in action in March.

Rivera goes on the road to face Harlingen South next Tuesday in a possible matchup of district leaders. First, on Friday, Rivera plays host to Los Fresnos and South is at San Benito.

32-6A UPDATE

Here are the latest 32-6A boys standings: Rivera (4-2, 12 points), South (4-2, 12 points), San Benito (4-2, 11 points), Hanna (2-4, eight points), Harlingen High (2-4, six points) and Los Fresnos (2-4, five points).

Here are the most recent 32-6A girls standings: Los Fresnos (5-1, 14 points), Harlingen South (4-2, 13 points), Harlingen High (4-2, 12 points), Hanna (3-2, nine points), Rivera (1-4, three points) and San Benito (0-6, no points).

BUS ACCIDENT

The girls game between Rivera and Hanna on Tuesday night at Hanna was postponed because the Lady Raiders’ bus was involved in a traffic accident with a car en route to the game.

It appears the accident wasn’t serious.

“Overall, we are OK,” Lady Raiders coach Eduardo Torres said Wednesday.

The game has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. March 11.

32-5A UPDATE

Here are the most recent 32-5A boys standings: Brownsville Veterans Memorial (8-1, 24 points), Valley View (8-1, 24 points), Porter (6-3, 19 points), Lopez (6-3, 17 points), Pace (5-4, 15 points), Donna High (2-7, six points), Edcouch-Elsa (1-8, three points) and Mercedes (0-9, no points).

Here are the latest 32-5A girls standings: Pace (7-2, 22 points), Porter (7-2, 18 points), Lopez (6-3, 18 points), Edcouch-Elsa (6-3, 18 points), Brownsville Veterans (5-4, 15 points), Donna High (3-6, 11 points), Mercedes (2-7, six points) and Valley View (0-9, no points).

32-4A UPDATE

Raymondville (6-2) and Port Isabel (6-1) remain tied for the District 32-4A lead with 18 points apiece, although the Bearkats suffered a 3-2 overtime loss at La Feria on Tuesday, while the Tarpons had an open date.

Port Isabel plays at home against La Feria on Friday and goes to Raymondville next Tuesday, so the race is getting pretty interesting.

By ROY HESS and KEVIN NARRO | STAFF WRITERS

It’s being billed as the biggest high school softball tournament ever played in Brownsville.

The Brownsville ISD Invitational Tournament begins today and runs through Saturday with round-robin competition at the city’s six high school fields plus five fields at Brownsville Sports Park.

In all, 40 teams are participating.

“The field in this tournament is going to be more competitive than last year,” said Rayner Cardenas, the Brownsville Veterans Memorial softball coach and tournament director. “This year’s field is the largest group the Brownsville Invitational has ever hosted. Almost all the schools in the Rio Grande Valley are in it, and five teams from Laredo will be joining us as well.

“All games will be played with a round-robin format,” Cardenas added. “Every team will play five games in the tourney. There will be no championship game.

“The best performance from last year was Edinburg Vela with a 5-0 record. This year the tournament is wide open.”

Action begins at 10 a.m. today with McAllen Rowe at Brownsville Veterans, McAllen Memorial at Brownsville Hanna, La Joya High at Brownsville Lopez, McAllen High at Brownsville Pace, La Feria at Brownsville Porter, La Joya Juarez-Lincoln at Brownsville Rivera, Lyford vs. Mission High at BSP Field 1, Mercedes vs. Rio Hondo at BSP Field 2, Santa Rosa vs. Harlingen High at BSP Field 3, Port Isabel vs. Valley View at BSP Field 4 and Raymondville vs. Donna High at BSP Field 5.

Each site has either three or four games scheduled today. After the 10 a.m. tournament openers, game times are noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Cardenas said some of the other interesting matchups for the first day include Mission Veterans at Brownsville Veterans (2 p.m.), Laredo Cigarroa at Lopez (2 p.m.), Edinburg High vs. Lyford (noon at BSP Field 1), Vela vs. Rio Hondo (noon at BSP Field 2), Mercedes vs. Los Fresnos (2 p.m. at BSP Field 2), PSJA Memorial vs. Edcouch-Elsa (4 p.m. at BSP Field 3), Laredo LBJ at Pace (4 p.m.), PSJA High at Porter (4 p.m.) and Laredo United South vs. Sharyland High (4 p.m. at BSP Field 4).

Tournament action continues at 10 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

WHAT’S ON TAP

Elsewhere in the tournament, several area schools will prepare for notable matchups, starting with Lyford, which will look to continue its hot start with a matchup against Port Isabel at 10 a.m. and then a rematch with Edinburg High at noon.

The Lady Bulldogs are fresh off a 5-0 tournament run in the Port Isabel-Los Fresnos event, and on Tuesday, beat Edinburg High 8-4.

Rio Hondo will also be in action as it takes on Mercedes at 10 a.m. today followed by a noon tussle with Edinburg Vela.

San Benito enters the round-robin event with a few big games on the slate. The Lady ’Hounds will meet Port Isabel at 2 p.m. followed by a big matchup against Edinburg High at 4 p.m. On Friday, San Benito will play Rio Hondo, followed by Rio Grande City, and on Saturday, it will be arguably the biggest game of the tournament when San Benito takes on Edinburg Vela at noon.

Santa Rosa gets its play started with a 10 a.m. game against Edcouch-Elsa, followed by a matchup with Harlingen High at noon. The Lady Cardinals will meet Edcouch-Elsa at 4 p.m.

By ROY HESS | Staff Writer

The Rivera Raiders are starting the second round of District 32-6A soccer much better than they began the first round earlier this month.

The Raiders rallied from a 1-0 first-half deficit to defeat Hanna 2-1 in overtime Tuesday evening at the Golden Eagles’ field.

Rivera lost at home to Hanna 1-0 to open 32-6A competition Feb. 1.

The nightcap of Tuesday’s doubleheader between the Rivera and Hanna girls was postponed after the Lady Raiders’ bus reportedly had an accident en route to Hanna for the game. The severity of the accident was not immediately known.

Lady Eagles coach Eliseo Guzman said the game may be rescheduled for today at Hanna, possibly at 5:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, there were plenty of smiles all around for the Raiders after they got past the Eagles, their city rivals.

“To be honest, I think we were intimidated by Hanna when we played them the first time,” Rivera coach Salvador Garcia said. “Yes, we got intimated, and I told our guys (before this matchup), ‘If you play with confidence, it’s going to be a different outcome to the game,’ and it was.

“I think, for the most part tonight, we kept our discipline tactically,” Garcia added. “Hanna had no big chances (to score), just a mistake by us on a set play that they scored on. Other than that, they had no chances. We had a few good chances that came our way.”

Rivera remains tied with Harlingen South for the district lead with a 4-2 record and 12 points. South, which beat Los Fresnos 4-1 on Tuesday, has the same 4-2 record with 12 points as well.

The Hawks and Raiders play next Tuesday at Harlingen South. Before that, though, Rivera is at home against Los Fresnos and South is at San Benito on Friday.

The Eagles got on the scoreboard first against the Raiders Tuesday just five minutes into the match when a long free kick from the right side was headed in from close range by Roberto Palomo for a 1-0 lead.

The Raiders tied the score at 1 on an “autogol.” With 10 minutes left in the first half, a Hanna defender attempted to clear the ball from his team’s goalmouth, but his strong kick went off a teammate, carried backwards and landed in the net.

The score remained deadlocked though 80 minutes of regulation, so two 10-minute halves of OT were played.

Three minutes into the first half of OT, Rivera took a direct kick from the right side. The ball came to Micheal Esquivel, who was positioned near the left post. He headed it into the corner of the goal without much room to spare to give the Raiders the goal that eventually won the game, even though they had to finish the contest with only 10 players.

One of the Raiders picked up his second yellow card of the match with five minutes remaining, and Rivera had to play the rest of the way one man down.

“Tonight was just our night,” Garcia said. “Even though we went down to 10 men, we kept our poise. I think Hanna got a little frustrated because there were no spaces (to get off a good shot).

“We’re lucky we got the three points (for the win), and now, we’ve got to move on,” the Rivera coach added. “That’s the way it is.”

ROY HESS | Staff Writer

PORT ISABEL — Martin Vasquez probably surprised his teammates on the Sharyland High baseball team, and quite possibly himself, by smashing a pair of home runs to spark the Rattlers to Saturday’s championship of the 19th annual Port Isabel-Los Fresnos Invitational Tournament.

With Vasquez, a junior first baseman, batting 2-for-3 with five RBIs thanks to his two over-the-wall dingers, Sharyland High defeated Los Fresnos 12-2 in five innings for the tournament title. The Rattlers’ Abraham Alvarez added a solo homer and batted 2-for-2 with two RBIs to also highlight the win.

The championship game was played at Port Isabel.

“We haven’t been a long-ball hitting team, but we had three (homers) today, and of course, Martin had two of them, so that definitely stood out,” Sharyland High coach Bart Bickerton said. “Those were some pretty big shots.”

The win improved the Rattlers to 5-0 on the season. Los Fresnos slipped to 4-1.

Vasquez, who is playing his second season on the varsity squad, said the last time he had a multiple-homer game like Saturday’s was in youth league competition.

“It’s pretty cool to do something like that,” said Vasquez, who was named the tournament MVP. “It’s something special. You just try hard, and that’s all. It feels pretty good.

“This is a good win for us, but we need to keep working hard,” Vasquez added. “This is a great team win.”

The Rattlers were the home team. They led 3-0 after one inning, 6-2 after two frames, 7-2 after three and 11-2 after four before adding their 12th run on a sacrifice fly to deep center field to end the game on the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth with two outs.

“Sharyland hit the ball well and put a lot of pressure on us, so they deserved to win,” Falcons coach Rene Morales said. “They were a lot better team than we were today.”

Vasquez clouted a two-run homer over the left-field wall during the bottom of the second to make it 6-2. He added a three-run shot over the same left-field wall during the fourth to give his team a 10-2 advantage.

Alvarez led off the bottom of the third and hit a solo shot over the left-field wall. His homer made it 7-2. He smashed the first pitch he saw from a Los Fresnos reliever who had just entered the game.

“I’m pretty sure Los Fresnos didn’t use their better pitchers in this game, but we were fortunate that we could go with our ace,” Bickerton said. “We were in a good position (as far as our pitching), and we planned it out pretty well. We didn’t have to use any of our other pitchers, so we were in good shape.”

Going the distance for the win for the Rattlers was Andy Lozano, who finished with five strikeouts and no walks. He gave up seven hits.

Javier Gutierrez, the first of three Los Fresnos pitchers, took the loss.

The Rattlers collected 10 hits. Besides Vasquez and Alvarez, other Rattlers with a pair of hits were Saul Soto and Randy Garcia.

No. 9 batter Carlos Perez was the only one with two hits for the Falcons.

Joining Vasquez on the all-tournament team were Kike Cienfuegos and Juan Lopez of Sharyland High, Johnny Cadengo and Isaac Franco of Los Fresnos, and Joey Ramirez of Donna North.

Donna North defeated Roma 5-3 in the third-place game earlier Saturday.

In the tournament semifinals Friday, Sharyland High beat Donna North 12-3 and Los Fresnos downed Roma 9-0.