By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Chargers are the BISD tournament champions after defeating the Valley View Tigers 9-3 on Saturday at Brownsville Lopez.
“It feels good, we played really well today,” Chargers coach Adam Vera said. “With all that wind today, we got some balls in the air and three of them went out. That was good to see.”
The Chargers again took care of business in the early innings. Two home runs highlighted their four-run first.
“I did not wait for anything, I saw it and went for it,” Chargers first baseman Eloy Garcia said about his one-pitch home run during the first inning.
Brownsville Veterans’ sophomore Oscar Rodriguez also went yard in the inning. The sophomore received a tip from a coach, to which he attributed his home run.
“A lot to work on. We are not finished,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also beautifully picked off a runner attempting to steal second from behind the plate to get the Chargers out of an inning.
Brownsville Veterans senior Marlon Rodriguez was on the mound for the Chargers and picked up a win. He was throwing really well in the early innings.
Junior Jason Villareal came in to close out the game and also hit a home run to give himself some extra cushion on the mound.
The Tigers almost looked like they were going to mount a comeback or at least put a bit more pressure on the Chargers after scoring three runs and getting runners in scoring position late in the game.
“We won four games in a row to get here,” Tigers coach Rick Hernandez said. “It takes a lot of discipline and dedication to come out here and play hard every day, especially in this wind.”
Hernandez recognized his pitching for helping his team get to the championship.
Brownsville Veterans was all smiles after the tournament. The 2021 co-District 32-5A champions are now 8-1-1 to begin the season.
“We cannot become complacent,” Vera said. “We can still get better, and we have to get better. Our work is not done. We need to build from this and keep going forward.”