BY SAUL BERRIOS-THOMAS | STAFF WRITER
LAREDO — McAllen High senior pitcher Ramiro Maldonado was almost out of the second inning.
He had two outs and a full count against Churchill junior left fielder Andy de Leon, but on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, de Leon drew a walk and sparked a two-out rally for Churchill. The Chargers sent 11 men to the plate in the inning, using four hits, three walks and an error to plate six runs.
Churchill used the massive lead to cruise to an 8-1 win and complete a series sweep in Game 2 of the Class 6A Region IV semifinals on Saturday at Uni-Trade Stadium.
The walk wasn’t the only time the Bulldogs almost escaped the second inning. Senior shortstop Jordan Cardenas was next to the plate, and he hit a hot shot to freshman third baseman Aaron Nixon. Nixon initially bobbled the ball, then decided not to make the throw to keep de Leon from advancing to third.
Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and Churchill leading 2-0, senior center fielder Jordan Billups hit a ball to McHi senior shortstop Roy Quintanilla, who tossed the ball to senior second baseman Keola Zamora. Zamora stepped on the bag and then started to jog off the field, as the inning would have been over with the out. But, to McHi’s surprise, the umpire at second called the runner safe at the base.
“I definitely feel like I touched the bag,” Zamora said. “I just tried to get my foot out of the way before the runner got there. I just wanted to get my foot out of there, that way I wouldn’t get injured. … All (the umpire) kept saying was, ‘You were way off.’”
The safe call allowed the inning to continue, allowed the run scored on the play to count, and allowed the Chargers to continue building a lead.
Later in the inning, the umpires made another call that McAllen High coaches and players questioned. Sophomore right fielder Hudson Head was behind in the count 1-2 when Maldonado delivered a pitch that forced a swing. The ball bounced in the dirt, but junior catcher Nate Quintanilla caught it. Again, the umpire made a late call that McHi did not expect.
“The umpire said he fouled it off,” McHi coach Eliseo Pompa said. “We told him the ball hit the ground. He said, ‘No, coach.’ Even the third base umpire, I asked him, ‘What did you see?’ He said ‘Coach, I saw the ball hit the bat.’ It didn’t hit the bat. It hit the ground, and our catcher caught it.”
Many McHi players were visibly upset after the foul tip call.
“It’s just unfortunate that sometimes you leave a game thinking, ‘Well, maybe if this call would have gone our way…’” Pompa said. “It would have been a close game. They score six runs in that second inning. They didn’t score again until the bottom of the sixth.”
The Bulldogs didn’t help themselves by leaving a small village on base throughout the game. McHi had nine hits to Churchill’s seven, but the Bulldogs left 11 runners on base.
“It hurts a lot, because we just needed to manufacture runs,” Zamora said. “It’s really frustrating, because we just needed to get the hits at the right time.”
Churchill junior starting pitcher Landry Wideman, a Texas A&M commit, allowed seven hits with two hit batsmen and a walk in five innings, with only three strikeouts.
Churchill coach Alan Hill said he knew he could count on Wideman in the sticky situations, even if he didn’t have his best stuff.
“That’s been him for two years,” Hill said. “He’s had some spots where he looks like he’s cruising, and then all of a sudden he will walk a guy, or hit a guy, or leave a couple pitches up in the zone and they get hit. But, it seems like a lot more times than not, he finds a way to compete his butt off and gets the job done.”
McHi’s lone run came in the top of the fourth, when Nixon hit a leadoff double and junior right fielder Robbie Maldonado hit a single to drive him in.
Churchill added a run in the sixth when junior second baseman Sam Serchay reached on a leadoff double and was driven in by senior pinch hitter Court Jaquess.
Churchill advances to face San Antonio Reagan in the Region IV finals.
“It’s going to be a dogfight,” Hill said. “We are about 20 miles apart, and these kids grew up and played together their whole lives. … There are going to be a couple thousand people there, and it’s going to be a dogfight. “
McAllen High has 12 seniors departing its varsity roster but boasts plenty of talent returning. Ace Abanny Garcia will be heading into his senior season after a stellar junior campaign. Nate Quintanilla will be back to help the pitching staff from behind the plate. Nixon will enter his sophomore campaign hoping to take on more of a leadership role, he said. In all, five of Saturday’s starting nine will be returning next year.
“We are going to kill in district,” Nixon said. “We have a lot of guys coming up, and that is going to help. We are going to be great next year. Watch.”
Despite the disheartening loss and the large crop of seniors graduating, the Bulldogs were able to relish some fond memories from the great season after the game.
“One of my favorite memories is when we had team nights,” Zamora said. “We would go to each other’s houses and just eat a lot, munch out.”
“The bus rides are the best,” Nixon added. “The team, after the game, eating together. It was a great season overall.”
“I remember the tournament in San Antonio,” Pompa said. “All the lighting delays we had, and going on the bus and watching movies. Also hitting a home run in La Joya with two outs (in the seventh) to tie the game and eventually win it in extras. A lot of things happened this year that, for me, I will remember. Like I told our kids, ‘You always remember your high school years.’ They will remember this year.”