STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

PORT ISABEL — Los Fresnos volleyball coach Becky Woods approached each day of the Volley at the Beach tournament with caution, guarding against overconfidence.

In a rematch of their pool play round, the Lady Falcons had an opportunity to avenge Friday’s loss to Corpus Christi Carroll in the championship game, but found the Lady Tigers’ heavy hitters an obstacle too formidable to overcome Saturday night, falling 25-22, 25-16.

Woods was still very pleased with her team’s performance overall, with the exception of blocking, which was exposed by the height and length of a strong Carroll squad.

“They’re a good team, they’re a good squad,” Woods said. “They’re going to do well up there in the Corpus area. We played a really good team (from) out of the Valley.”

She added that Los Fresnos did have a good day serving against Carroll. With Los Fresnos trailing 14-13 during the first game, Jasmin Garcia recorded a service ace to pull even. She broke an 18-all tie with a block up front.

The Lady Tigers regained the lead after kills from Vanessa Quiroga and Jaedyn Degon put Carroll back ahead 21-20, prompting a timeout, and they won four of the next six points to take the first game.

“They would swing it around, and they cut the ball sharply,” Woods said. “Our blockers couldn’t adjust to that.”

Quiroga, Degon, and Kiah Barron gave Los Fresnos trouble up front, putting the Lady Falcons in a 6-1 hole to open the second game. This was compounded with the absence of Jasmin Garcia, who was benched for much of the second game.

Los Fresnos received a much-needed boost when a kill from Gio Godoy stopped a Carroll run that had swelled the Lady Tigers’ lead to 14-6. The Lady Falcons chipped away at the margin and narrowed it 16-10 with the inspired play of Caydence Castillo and Tate Halford, but Los Fresnos was ultimately flummoxed by Carroll’s elite play near and above the net.

The Lady Falcons will continue non-district action at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Brownsville Porter.

“Nobody in the Valley beat us, so that’s what I’m happy about,” Woods said. “We’ll learn from here. It’s a stepping stone. We’ll start Monday fresh and see what happens Tuesday night.”

The Hanna Lady Golden Eagles competed for third place. Their earlier match with Corpus Christi Carroll was among the most competitive of the tournament. The Lady Eagles at one point led Game 2 13-11, but the Lady Tigers rallied with three straight points after a timeout to take a 24-19 advantage and put Hanna on the brink of elimination. Odalys Gonzalez’s shot was blocked to give Carroll the 25-20 victory in the second game.

Earlier, Hanna defeated Lopez in crosstown action, 25-20, 25-20. The Lady Lobos topped La Feria 25-17, 25-20 and Weslaco East 25-22, 25-17 in the gold consolation bracket.

In the third-place match, Hanna took the first game against PSJA Southwest 25-18 before dropping the next two, 25-23 and 15-8.

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

PORT ISABEL — Adrian Nino’s patience bore fruit for the Port Isabel Tarpons during their first scrimmage as he delivered the game-tying touchdown late in a 6-6 tie with Pace on Friday night at Tarpon Stadium.

The teams alternated 10-play drives on offense and defense before simulating game action by playing one 12-minute quarter.

Nino had what would have been a game-tying 30-yard touchdown run erased at the 2:40 mark of the scrimmage due to a holding call.

“This was a good performance tonight against a 5A team,” Port Isabel coach Jason Strunk said. “The thing I was most impressed by was our defense. … That’s the mark of a championship football team. We know it’s the first scrimmage, but those are the things we want to see.”

The Vikings’ defense held firm on the penultimate Port Isabel possession that looked to be enough to give Pace the 6-0 win, but the Tarpons forced a fumble, recovered by Michael Perez with 1:05 to play.

Junior quarterback Joey Krieghbaum marched Port Isabel down the field after the turnover to set up Nino for the score.

Strunk was impressed by Krieghbaum’s poise in orchestrating the scrimmage’s final drive, but he wasn’t pleased with the team’s discipline offensively, as the Tarpons racked up 12 penalties.

“We’re working on some new positions, having a new starting quarterback on varsity,” Strunk said. “We’re searching for some running back help, and it’s a work in progress right now.”

Nonetheless, Port Isabel’s strong running game found the holes in a porous Pace front seven, exploding for several plays that went for a gain of at least 50 yards.

For Pace, quarterback Jose Banda went deep often and had a strong showing, connecting for one touchdown pass and several other long passes with multiple Vikings receivers.

On the defensive side of the ball, Strunk said safety Jake Pinkerton and inside linebacker Zaid Calderon were standouts for the Tarpons.

“It was a good night all the way around,” Strunk said. “We’ll take that effort, from our defense especially.”

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

PORT ISABEL — One of the consequences of age and experience in coaching is a generational gap between the student-athletes they supervise.

In the case of Los Fresnos volleyball coach Becky Woods and her team, that manifests itself in music. Woods has seen the tastes of her student-athletes change with the times, but her love for the music of the 1970s and 1980s has remained constant.

While the Lady Falcons do have plenty of modern music in their playlists, before games they began to pay homage to their coach’s preferences with ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’, which gained a new audience when it was featured in the 2008 film “Mamma Mia!”

“We had a scrimmage here, and we just started playing it,” junior outside hitter Tate Halford said. “That was the first song we all danced to. Once we played the song, we played good. We all sing to it.”

In making the hit song their pregame anthem, the Los Fresnos girls have found another way to build a bond with each other and with their coach, invigorating the roster with their Zumba dancing and youthful energy. They also took the ABBA song title seriously during their warmups prior to their match against Corpus Christi Carroll, dancing to Rednex’s “Cotton Eye Joe.”

“I feel like when you dance, it breaks all the ice,” Halford said. “Everybody gets to know everybody, and that just helps.”

The fun-loving Lady Falcons went 2-1 on Friday, dropping the first match to Carroll (24-26, 18-25) before taking down St. Joseph (25-16, 25-13) and La Feria.

Woods cautioned her team against complacency and said she thought Los Fresnos looked tired and let its guard down against Carroll.

“I know we’re a good team and I know what they’re capable of doing,” Woods said. “It’s up to them to put their skills to use, and to get down and want to win the game.”

The Lady Falcons rebounded in their next two matches. Los Fresnos started off with an 8-1 run during their final pool play match against La Feria and went on to take the first game 25-16.

In the second game, senior Jasmin Garcia helped the Lady Falcons seize control with an emphatic spike that led to a kill and a 6-1 Los Fresnos advantage. The lead ballooned to 11-2 before La Feria narrowed the margin to 14-9. Halford helped stem the tide and ended the Lionettes’ rally with kills of her own.

Los Fresnos worked to set up Garcia with another chance for a match point. Looking to return a La Feria volley, she wound up and faked out the La Feria front line before tipping the ball lightly over the net for the match-clinching kill, 25-12. In her fourth season with Los Fresnos, Garcia said rising to the occasion in big moments comes naturally to her.

“I just hit,” Garcia. “Every time I’m aggressive, I take it out on the ball.”

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

PORT ISABEL — Hanna volleyball coach Ansgar Hagemann and the Lady Eagles know what they have in Odalys Gonzalez – one of the most dominant middle blockers in the Rio Grande Valley.

What Hanna intends to sort out during the Volley at the Beach tournament is how to fill out the rest of the squad around their top playmaker.

“Having Odalys on our team is very helpful,” Hagemann said. “She’s a player that can decide a match. If she goes on a run, she’s almost unstoppable. But we want to build a team that can support her. We want to get more kills as a team, and not be dependent on one player.”

The Lady Eagles rebounded after dropping their first pool play game against PSJA Southwest (11-25, 20-25) to top Santa Rosa (25-23, 25-20).

“We enjoyed the day,” Hagemann said. “But we want to play a different game. So we’re still working on that. We have a brand new varsity squad, and we’re going to iron out some wrinkles over the next couple weeks.”

In order to squeak by the Lady Warriors in the first game, Hanna needed a star performance from its best player. Gonzalez sparked her team to rally back from a 17-11 deficit to take an 18-17 lead in the first game. The Lady Eagles opened up a 16-3 lead in the second game to cap their second pool play match.

Hanna libero Rebekah Schlatter made a couple of key digs that led to kills by Gonzalez and outside hitter Joanna Garza.

Against Rio Hondo in its third match, Hanna went up 16-8 in the first game and did not surrender its lead. But the Lady Bobcats gave the Lady Eagles one of their toughest games of the day, as Hanna hung on for a 25-22 win to seal the match.

Rio Hondo took its first lead in the back end of the tight contest at 11-10. The teams traded points, and the Lady Bobcats went up 21-19 after two straight Hanna errors were slammed into the net. The Lady Eagles surged ahead thanks to the strong play of Garza and Gonzalez, and Esmer Fuentes delivered a service ace to clinch the victory in straight sets for Hanna.

“We want to have the whole team on the move,” Hagemann said. “That’s what we’re working on. Single players are stepping in in moments, but we really want the whole team to do that… That’s the ultimate goal.”

Also on Thursday, Lopez, which earned wins over Weslaco East (25-20, 25-22), Monte Alto (25-11, 25-11), and Port Isabel (25-9, 25-16) and PSJA Southwest were the only teams to emerge undefeated from the day’s games.

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

LOS FRESNOS — Major milestones tend to be a tough act to follow, but the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons were up to the task.

So it was when the Los Fresnos commemorated volleyball coach Becky Wood’s 700th career victory prior to Tuesday night’s game against McAllen Rowe by handing out signs to spectators inspired by the simple piece of paper Wilt Chamberlain held up in an iconic photograph following his 100-point game.

It was a fitting gesture for a team that appeared very much interested in making Woods’ 704th win just as memorable, triumphing 3-2 in five sets 25-14, 20-25, 17-25, 25-18, 15-9.

The LFCISD board also presented Woods with a plaque in recognition of her achievement.

The Lady Falcons (9-2) appeared on track to sweep the Lady Warriors after opening the match on a 7-0 run in a strong first game, but McAllen Rowe shook off the jitters to lead by as many as eight points in Set 2.

“We were on fire (in the first game),” Woods said. “The spark was there, the energy was there. I just wish we would have carried it over into the second game.”

The Lady Falcons returned just two starters on this year’s team, and Woods said she was impressed with the new squad’s debut on its home floor. The balanced Los Fresnos lineup featured Ari Gallardo, Mia Brown and libero Eleyne Rios, each of whom recorded multiple kills.

This depth was evident when Los Fresnos overcame a deflating loss in the third game by taking an early 10-7 advantage into Game 4. Jasmin Garcia in the front row and Clarissa Esquibel in the back row were the catalysts for the Lady Falcons in building a lead that eventually bloomed to 16-9. An emphatic block by middle blocker Gio Godoy made the score 18-10. A point from Tate Halford and another Garcia spike put Los Fresnos in command up 24-18.

Woods said home court played a crucial role in the Lady Falcons’ ability to turn the match in their favor during the fourth game.

“When we won Game 4, I asked the girls, ‘Serve or side?’ We practice on (the east side of the gym) faithfully all the time just for that reason alone. If we get pushed to a Game 5, we want to play on our home side.”

Woods said that while she expected that her team keep the same intensity to establish the tone earlier in the match, she was pleased with her team’s determined approach after falling behind 2-1 in games.

Garcia’s soft touch was the game-winning point to force a fifth set. After charging out to 5-1 and 12-6 fifth-set leads, Garcia and the Lady Falcons captured the final game with a ferocious spike for a match-point kill.

“I was just hoping that she would rotate back in,” Woods said. “I saw where the rotation was, and I knew she was coming back in as soon as we had sideout. When she came back in, I knew if we just could get it to her, she would put it away.”

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

The defending boys and girls District 32-6A champion Hanna cross country team opened August with practice early Thursday morning, before the peak of the scorching midday sun.

The Eagles, led by coach Olaya Teran, are embracing the target on their backs after their successful campaign in 2018.

Teran has set the standard high for both the Eagles and Lady Eagles, who turned heads with their surprising district victory over Harlingen High, who along with Los Fresnos should contend to be Hanna’s toughest competition in 32-6A.

Two of the top Hanna boys — John Abrego and Felipe Parra — finished in the top six in the district last season. While six of the seven spots in the Eagles’ lineup have been solidified, including juniors Marcos Tellez and Aaron Hinojosa and sophomore Sam Zamora, the final spot is up for grabs as the beginning of the school year approaches.

“ We’re not looking for (one) leader,” Abrego said. “We’re looking for teamwork. Each of us as a team will lean upon each other to pursue our goals.”

Abrego, a sophomore, said he hopes to follow up his breakout freshman season by finishing in under 17 minutes in the 3-mile this season. Teran said Abrego’s progression was unexpected and suggests that Hanna may be able to find another star to emerge in a similar way this season.

One of the few seniors on a young squad, Parra said he’s been impressed by the newcomers thus far.

“ For such a young roster, a lot of these guys have a maturity level that you could describe them as seniors,” Parra said. “We have John, Marcos and Aaron. Each and every single one of us can pull weight from one another and become the top runner for the team.”

The Lady Eagles will also lean heavily on its youth this season as it seeks to replace the speed of Nadia Sifuentes and Cecilia Tellez, the top two performers on the 2018 team.

Shannon Perez is a senior who finished just outside the top 10 at the district meet last season and has taken up the leadership mantle. Along with senior America Alvear and juniors Alexia Perez and Rebeca Lopez, the Hanna girls have several cornerstones with varsity experience, but the Lady Eagles will be looking to newcomers to emerge as contributors to their starting seven.

Teran said Emily Morales and Brissa Stenson, freshman transfers from Edinburg Vela, have had a strong start to the preseason and could make an impact for the varsity team.

“ We’re focusing on (collectively) getting our pace faster,” Perez said. “So we can advance as a team to regionals instead of individually.”

After their workout, Teran debriefed her team on their running program, emphasizing the importance of attendance at practice and making time to get long runs in early in the morning to log a sufficient mileage to be conditioned for the most brutal stretch of the season – August and September.

“ The people that come to practice are the ones that are more successful,” Teran said. “It’s a hard sport, they’re here early in the morning in the summer and it’s hot. They’re gonna be fixin’ to run a lot.”

The Eagles open their season on Saturday, Aug. 24 at San Benito’s Dog Pound Invitational.

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

LOS FRESNOS — Los Fresnos coach Rene Morales consistently praised his senior class for their role in taking the Falcons to the regional quarterfinal of the Class 6A University Interscholastic League baseball playoffs.

One of those key contributors was left fielder Lee Trevino, who was one of the team’s most reliable run-producers during the 2019 season.

At the conclusion of the 2018 football season, Trevino went straight to the batting cages to get in extra practice hitting off a tee.

The offseason preparation paid off for him, as he was named to the Brownsville Herald’s All-Metro First Team and will continue his baseball career at Schreiner University in Kerrville.

The Mountaineers compete at the NCAA Division III level in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.

In 76 at-bats in 2019, Trevino hit .250 with a .408 on-base percentage and an .816 OPS. He recorded 19 hits, 16 RBIs, and scored 16 runs.

“The welcoming environment that was brought from the academic and athletic standpoint is what sold me,” said Trevino, who intends to study either pre-law or become a registered nurse. “I felt so comfortable and at home. I knew that Schreiner University was the right fit for me. And on the plus side, my brother is a current student at Schreiner so I will have him around to show me the ropes. I know I will have a great time in Kerrville and I am really looking forward to competing and having fun with my new teammates and coaches. I will give it all I got and represent Los Fresnos and the Valley.”

At Schreiner, Trevino will become the second player from the Rio Grande Valley on the team’s current roster, joining Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Aaron Recio.

Now that he has fulfilled his dream of signing to play college baseball, Trevino was able to reflect fondly upon the advice that his coaches and parents gave him: “You control your own destiny; you are the writer of your own book.”

Trevino expressed a sentiment similar to his peers in the Class of 2018, who desired to leave an impression on the program that helped develop them.

“This last season really kicked the gears into working as hard as I could to leaving a lasting statement on the team and future athletes to which they can carry on into doing bigger and better things,” Trevino said. “I knew this was my last hoorah as my dad was always telling me, so I needed to shine and give it my best in order to be noticed and to succeed and make my dreams come true.”

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

Brownsville Veterans Memorial alumnus and former University of Houston pitcher Fred Villarreal Jr. made his pro debut with the Class A Everett Aquasox on Thursday night in Everett, Wash.

The Seattle Mariners’ 25th-round draft selection picked up right where he left off as one of the top collegiate closers in the country.

“For some reason it felt like I hadn’t stopped playing,” Villarreal Jr. said. “I hadn’t pitched since (the American Athletic Conference) tournament, which was (in late May). It feels like not one thing changed. I’m still playing the same exact game I’ve been playing since I was 12 years old. … The only thing that changes is the environment, and I just block all of that out anyway.”

He tossed a scoreless eighth inning in his first appearance with the organization. He allowed a single and a walk, and struck out one. Eleven of his 18 pitches were strikes.

Villarreal Jr. was on his way to a perfect inning when a fluky infield hit briefly put him in a jam.

“I got two quick outs, and then our infield was playing a pull-side shift,” Villarreal Jr. said. “Our second baseman was playing close to the shortstop, and I got a weak ground ball. If I knew our infield was playing that shift, I probably could have had that ball. It was a straight, slow ground ball to second, and it got counted as a hit.”

He came back to get a called third strike against Vancouver’s Cameron Eden to end the inning without surrendering a run. Villarreal Jr. said he learned from the experience to trust his coaches and not concern himself with things outside his control when he takes the mound.

While he leaned on his accumulated knowledge from hundreds of innings at the highest levels he could reach at younger ages, Villarreal Jr. stands by the disciplined process that has helped him elevate his game as he continues to mature.

Villarreal Jr. woke up at 6 a.m. Thursday and arrived at Everett’s Funko Field at noon, seven hours before first pitch. After a treatment session with the training staff and lunch, he attended a pitchers-only meeting and began playing catch five hours before gametime. The pitchers then join the rest of the squad in the outfield to shag fly balls during batting practice. Every hour is purposefully structured, a welcome atmosphere for a detailed planner like Villarreal Jr.

“It’s always a full schedule,” Villarreal Jr. said. “It’s the same thing every single day.”

Villarreal Jr. said he attributes his success to his regimented routine and ability to focus on the tasks directly in front of him.

“As we used to say in Houston, ‘Be where we are,’” Villarreal Jr. said. “As in, be in the present moment. Because I feel like where people lose themselves is when they look too far ahead and they have that view that’s so far away that they don’t know how to get there. How I achieved all of my success was taking it a day at a time, an hour at a time, because it all adds up.

“This is a job, which is crazy to say. At first I used to pay to play in all these tournaments, and now I get paid to play this game.”

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

Kevin Ledesma always kept his alma mater and his hometown close to his heart.

In 2011, Ledesma quarterbacked the Harlingen High Cardinals run to the fourth round of the playoffs and etched a permanent place in Harlingen lore.

Now, Ledesma will return to the program that launched both his playing and coaching career after a Harlingen CISD connection helped Ledesma land at Lyford.

“I was kind of looking around, and (former Harlingen High football coach) Israel Gonzalez ended up taking me with him to Lyford,” Ledesma said.

The outgoing Lyford head baseball coach and running backs coach with the football program eventually joined the Cardinals as a teaching assistant.

Ledesma announced Wednesday in a tweet that he had accepted a teaching position at HCISD’s Cano Freshman Academy. In the message, he thanked Lyford athletic director Israel Gonzalez and his staff and expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to coach the Bulldogs. Under Ledesma in 2019, Lyford finished 18-4 and 9-0 in District 32-3A title, and the Bulldogs earned their first postseason win in baseball since 1994 with a 4-3 bi-district victory over Falfurrias.

“Being a product of HCISD prepared me for the roles I took on at Lyford,” Ledesma said. “I feel like I’m going to bring that back to Harlingen High. Growing up, the ultimate goal was to be a leader, and being a part of that 2011 team that everybody talks about was a big part of that. Leaving is bittersweet, I liked it at Lyford; it was tough to leave there. But that’s what everybody dreams of, coming home.”

He said he was proud of what the Bulldogs accomplished in just two seasons.

“It was just one of those things, the mindset needed to be changed,” Ledesma said. “Anyone who inherits that group (at Lyford) is going to get an awesome group of kids.”

Ledesma will be the offensive coordinator for the Navy freshmen and a physical education teacher at Cano. He will continue to coach baseball as a varsity assistant under Armando Rangel.

“I talked a little with (Rangel) about the things we’ll be able to do,” Ledesman said. “We have a really good team coming back and it will be fun to see what we can do, and just to continue to grow as a mentor and leader.”

Though Ledesma was able to cement his legacy as a player, he hopes to be remembered similarly as a coach.

“(Harlingen High football coach Manny Gomez) introduced me today during our strength and conditioning, and talking with the freshman class, it was just great to be back home. Our goal is always to win a district championship.”

By STEFAN MODRICH | Staff Writer

BROWNSVILLE— Fred Villarreal Jr. methodically planned out his dream of playing professional baseball.

But the former Brownsville Veterans Memorial star did not pencil in any shortcuts on his path to signing a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners, which the team officially announced June 18.

“It’s always been a childhood dream to play where I’m at right now,” Villarreal said. “I know my parents are proud, and as a son, it’s always awesome to put a smile on their face.”

His parents, Fred Villarreal Sr., and Maria Villarreal, instilled humility and a strong worth ethic in their son, never taking his talents for granted. His father is a 30-year veteran of Carling Technologies, and his mother managed an MRI clinic for several years before transitioning to in-home health marketing.

At a young age, Villarreal Jr. wasn’t shy about telling anyone who would listen about his ambitions.

“He promised a house to everyone,” Maria said. “To his grandmas, to the housekeeper, to everybody. He wanted to be big. He would say, ‘I’m going to be a professional player.’ He would have a fever and say ‘Mom, I’m still going to pitch.’”

But as diligent and determined as he was, turning down his first contract offer from the Tampa Bay Rays in 2016 to play college ball with the University of Houston was not an easy choice for the highly coveted right-handed pitcher.

“At the beginning, he wanted to go (sign a professional contract with Tampa Bay),” Villarreal Sr. said. “For me, I wanted him to go to college, but we told him, ‘It’s your decision.’ We were behind him wherever he went. (Playing college baseball) was the best decision he could make.”

The emphasis on obtaining a college education was as important to Villarreal Jr. as it was to his parents. His oldest brother, Troy, is a pharmacy technician and his cousin, Danny, is a music student at the University of Texas at Austin.

Villarreal Jr. chose to follow Troy and his mother into the medical field to study public health.

“The whole plan for me was, how I got drafted out of high school, that was a huge accomplishment,” Villarreal Jr. said. “If I were to take that, who knows what could happen? … The right thing to do was to start school, see how far I could get and get drafted again.”

Villarreal Jr. and his 93 mph fastball drew the eyes of several major league scouts, as well as Oklahoma State, Miami and Tulane. Meanwhile, the University of Houston was rising under coach Todd Whitting, and the Cougars went on to capture three of the past five American Athletic Conference regular season titles. Villarreal Jr. wanted to be a part of UH’s success while also fulfilling his desire to play and attend school closer to home.

Whitting first saw Villarreal Jr. at a Perfect Game event in Atlanta.

“I immediately fell in love with him and liked the way he competed,” Whitting said. “I liked his stuff and his mound presence. For me, the first time I saw him play, it was a no-brainer.”

Villarreal Jr. also played on the Houston Banditos, an elite travel team that has alumni like St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt among its ranks.

When Villarreal Jr. tore his serratus anterior, a rib muscle originating at the side of his chest, he realized just how prescient his decision was to defer his professional dream. Now just a semester away from earning his bachelor’s degree, his future remains as bright off the field as his prospects are on the mound.

“Coming back, I played my worst I ever had,” he said. “To pitch at a high level, there’s a lot of things you have to do right. For me it’s all feel. I played that summer, and it’s all feel. I came back for my junior year with a huge chip on my shoulder, like this is the year. I had a great year, happy to have put myself in a spot to get drafted again, my parents are happy. All this was for my parents.”

Villarreal Jr. and his family recognized that he could overcome the talent gap between himself and some of his peers with consistent effort.

“How I grew up, I was not always the most talented, I’d say,” Villarreal Jr. said. “It just took a lot of work with me and my father, all credit to my father, he pushed me every day to improve.”

All of the motivation Villarreal Jr. needed was supplied internally.

“Fred would never say, ‘I wanted to be better than (another player),’” Maria Villarreal said. “It was a constant competition with himself.”

Whitting said he thought Villarreal made a significant leap during his junior year under the tutelage of pitching coach Terry Rooney, who joined the UH staff two seasons ago.

Much like his habit of working out before school started at Brownsville Veterans, Villarreal put in the work at Houston to set himself apart — throwing “shadow bullpens” to refine his delivery without putting additional stress on his arm and focusing on preparing an optimal diet to maximize his gains in the weight room.

“His biggest gains and progress came this year,” Whitting said. “His stuff was always there. He matured a lot on and off the field. … It’s really fun to see a kid like Fred when he engages with himself personally, and devotes himself to getting better, and that’s what he did. When you work that hard, success is going to follow,” Whitting said. “He ended up being one of the top closers in the country for us.”

The culmination of Villarreal Jr.’s hard work resulted in being the UH closer being named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s Stopper of the Year Award watchlist and the AAC All-Conference Second Team. Now, Villarreal has taken his signature mohawk and his talents to the Pacific Northwest.

“Once he started going above and beyond and working outside of what was required, that’s when you really jump to the next level,” Whitting said. “You’ve got to tip your hat to him for doing that, because not all players take it upon themselves to do a little bit extra, not just the bare minimum for getting themselves better. He’s always had a great mentality, he’s kind of like a bulldog out there. He’s extremely focused. When you have the gift that he has, the ability that he has and that makeup, you’re going to get a pretty good player.”

The plan for Villarreal Jr. now is to ease into the Everett AquaSox system, after logging 59 innings in 2019 as the closer for the Cougars. Closers warm up often, even when they do not get called in to pitch, and that can take a toll on a young arm.

Despite being thousands of miles away from home, Brownsville has been and will continue to be on his mind as he embarks on the next phase of his baseball career.

Before he left for Peoria, Ariz., to complete a physical and sign his rookie contract with the Mariners organization, Villarreal Jr. posted a message on Facebook sharing his desire to “put Brownsville on the map” and “build a powerhouse of athletes” when he returns home, along with local coach Sammy Hernandez.

Above all, Villarreal Jr. is still his mother’s son. Hosanna World Changers, the church the Villarreal family attends, has recently completed the construction of a baseball field. The site off of Dr. Hugh Emerson Road now can sow the seeds of player development that he hopes to grow through his mentorship and instruction.

“A lot of kids look up to him,” Maria Villarreal said. “He already has those little fans. I told Freddy, ‘You can do your camps there, and we can pray before with the kids.’ He knows what it takes. He’s the perfect person to tell them, to encourage them to work hard. To be better than themselves.”