FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
After the team’s 14-4 loss to Weslaco East on Tuesday, Harlingen Cardinals head baseball coach Bryan Aughney’s advice to his team was to simply forget about it, know exactly what it had done wrong, learn from it, but “wash it” and get ready for the next one.
Prior to the game, the Cardinals were undefeated in District 32-6A play and had scored 26 runs while giving up just five, all while playing an impressive 19 innings of error-free ball.
Then, in one game, the team committed 10 errors, which led to 14 runs by the Wildcats on Tuesday.
“We were disappointed because it was definitely something that was out of our norm,” said Aughney. “Whether we overlooked our opponent and didn’t get ourselves as mentally prepared as we could, I just told them that it’s baseball and those things are going to happen. You have to approach the game the same everyday. Once we can do that, we have the capability to be a really, really good team.
“We just let one error turn into another, turn into another before it eventually snowballed on us. As a ballclub we have to dust ourselves off and just get ready for the next one. But give Weslaco East some credit. Every time we made a mistake they were aggressive on the bases and were really able to capitalize.”
However, in a very competitive District 32-6A, Aughney know that the next one will be just as hard as the last. Today the Cardinals host a tough Los Fresnos team that also comes into the game with a record of 3-1.
“Los Fresnos is coming off of a hard-fought game against Brownsville Hanna so we are just two good teams going at it,” said Aughney. “I fully expect a tight ball game that is hopefully played cleanly by both sides, but it’s probably going to come down to who gets a big hit here and there.”
Currently in District 32-6A, Harlingen, Los Fresnos and Brownsville Hanna sit atop the district standings with records of 3-1. Weslaco High and Weslaco East follow closely behind at 2-2. Meanwhile, San Benito, Harlingen South and Brownsville Rivera all sit at 1-3.
Aughney is aware of just how tough the district will be this season.
“In my five years here, this is as much parity and competitiveness in the district that we’ve had,” he said. “There’s no one dominate arm like Brownsville Veterans’ Fred Villarreal, but every team has got one guy that is really tough. From the teams we’ve played, teams have had a good depth in the bullpen and our district is getting better.
“Every game is going to be competitive and you can’t sleep on anybody and expect to walk in and roll anybody over.”