The Harlingen South Hawks baseball team wasn’t exactly thrown together this year, but they did have to quickly retool prior to the start of the season.
South’s young Hawks (15-5, 11-3) weren’t fazed during the regular season and now find themselves going into their best-of-three bi-district playoff series with the Edinburg North Cougars, which begins Thursday, a prepared and motivated team.
The Hawks, while confident, are putting no pressure on themselves, nor are they letting their postseason results define their season.
“I don’t think a three-game series in the first or second round is going to determine what the kids have done this year, South head coach Tony Leal said. “I think they’ve done an outstanding job and they’ve beat some great teams. They lost to some teams, but they were good teams.”
Making the playoffs in a loaded District 32-6A was a tall order for the Hawks, who finished second behind Brownsville Veterans and ahead of Brownsville Hanna and San Benito.
That district lineup of opponents only adds to the Hawks’ resume from this year, which includes handing Veterans Memorial its only loss in district play and beating a Bishop team that was ranked as the best 3A team in the state at the start of the season.
Still, having a team that isn’t dependent on a star or two is probably one of Leal’s proudest accomplishments of the year.
“The best part of this team is that these guys stay together,” Leal said. “I don’t consider anyone to be a superstar or anything like that, but we have kids who play together. They’re all very coachable and it’s been an enjoyable season.”
When South comes up against Edinburg North, they will see a Cougars team that came in third in an equally tough District 31-6A and a team the Hawks feel is equal to them.
Still, the Hawks will rely on the trust they have in their pitching and defense to pull them through what could be a long weekend series.
“I feel confident going in to this series against a well-coached team. We know that not one person has to be the hero because we play as one team,” catcher Jake Martinez said. “The one thing this team does is trust on defense. We pitchers are not selfish in trying to get strikeouts. We let teams put the ball in play so that our defense can shine.”
A three-game series seems to work best for the Hawks as they can rebound should they have a slow start.
However, the Hawks don’t plan on having to overcome playoff nerves, even with inexperienced players.
“We are trying to just focus one game at a time. We’re close as a team and we want to win and for that we need to stay focused,” said South’s Jacob Atkinson. “Everyone knows their role on this team and we’re on the same page. We need to make sure that the younger guys don’t get down on themselves. However, they all know what they have to do.”
Game 1 is at 7 p.m. Thursday at Harlingen field. Game 2 is at 7 p.m. on Friday in Edinburg and, if necessary, Game 3 will be back in Harlingen at 2 p.m. on Saturday.