By ANDREW CRUM | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
LOS FRESNOS — Los Fresnos trailed late, but never lost hope against Harlingen South.
The Falcons rallied to tie the game in bottom of the seventh inning and George Villafranca drew a based-loaded walk to give them a 3-2 walk off victory over the Hawks in a District 32-6A game Tuesday.
“Whenever we’re down and it’s late, I’ve come to understand this team is always going to come back, no matter what,” Villafranca said. “It’s a bold thing to say, but I trust my guys. I didn’t have any worries … I think Coach had more worries than me.
“I calmed myself and said if he puts it there I’m going to swing as hard as I can, if he doesn’t, I might as well walk.”
Los Fresnos trailed 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh but Sebastian Ledezma started the rally with a single to center field. JJ Sanchez followed with a bunt single and Carlos Perez came through with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2. Charles Chapa and Victor Montemayor drew back-to-back walks to load the bases.
Villafranca was patient at the plate and drew another walk that brought home the game winner.
“I’m proud of my kids of the way they came back. They kept believing what we’re doing,” Los Fresnos coach Rene Morales said. “We finally got a couple clutch hits that we needed and a couple walks at the end … and that was the outcome of the game.”
Not to be forgotten in the final inning, Villafranca probably saved a run with his defense with a diving catch for the third out in the top of the seventh. He was 0 for 3 until he came through in his final at-bat to keep the Falcons a perfect 3-0 in District 32-6A. The loss drops Harlingen South to 1-2 in district play.
Through three innings it was a pitchers duel as Los Fresnos’ Cristian Hernandez battled the Hawks’ Trey Vento on the mound, but neither would factor into the eventual decision.
Harlingen South finally broke the scoreless tie with a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, Nick Muniz reached on an error to start the sixth inning and Dylan Carreon came through with a two-out RBI single to give the Hawks a 2-0 advantage.
The Falcons got on the board and cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth after Joseph Munoz had an RBI single to center.
But it was Villafranca who used his glove to make a difference and then capped the final-inning rally with his final at-bat to keep Los Fresnos rolling along in District 32-6A.
“We didn’t execute on the small ball like we needed to do to get a few more runs,” Harlingen South coach Christopher Gracia said of a few missed opportunities in the late innings. “We execute on a few more bunts, we have two or three more runs and that helps out.
“We’ll keep working on that, but we just have to get ready for them … we play them again in a few days. We’ll be alright, we just have to bounce back.”
Victor Montemayor earned the win for the Falcons after pitching the seventh and he allowed no runs on no hits, walked one and struck out one.
Nick Muniz took the loss after he allowed two runs on two hits, walked three and struck out none in 1 1/3 innings for the Hawks.
Gracia wasn’t going to dwell on the loss with another game against Los Fresnos coming up Friday at home.
“We’ll see what cost us and work on that in practice the next couple days, but we have to be ready for the next one,” he said. “If we can split with these guys, that puts us in a good spot. We have to keep doing the things that we’re doing right and try to fix the things we’re doing wrong … keep playing hard, keep running hard and good things will happen eventually.
“We can’t put our heads down and we have to move forward.”
Morales knows almost every game is going to be this way, but he believes in his team.
“This is going to be a tough district and every game is going to be close,” he said. “We have to keep doing what we’re doing and keep getting better … swinging the bat, playing defense and throwing strikes, that’s the name of the game.
“We have to keep doing the little things and keep getting better.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.