By ANDREW CRUM | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
LOS FRESNOS — What a difference a year makes.
Last season, Los Fresnos felt it missed its shot to advance to the regional quarterfinals. The Falcons were in control during Game 1 and 2, but San Antonio Southwest rallied during the late innings of both games to sweep the series.
This season, Los Fresnos couldn’t have started its area series worse. The Falcons’ pitching and defense let them down and the bats weren’t much better in a 12-2, 5-inning loss in Game 1 last Thursday in Mission. But the difference from last year is that Los Fresnos didn’t panic. The Falcons regrouped and took Game 2, 12-5, at home last Friday and finished the series with a 9-3 win in Game 3 last Saturday on the road.
“It’s a really big relief,” senior outfielder George Villafranca said. “Getting the (series) win against Mission just validates everything we’ve been doing since we were four years old. When we lost (Game 1), everyone was upset. But the next day the entire team changed their mindset about what we were going to go about it.
“I feel pretty proud of my coach, it validates how he’s made a program at this school. He builds them up from freshman year up through senior year and we’re an example of that. We’ve been working this whole time to get to this point.”
Los Fresnos opens the regional quarterfinals at 7 p.m. tonight against Edinburg Vela in a best-of-three baseball series at PSJA High. Game 2 is at 7 p.m. Friday at Los Fresnos and Game 3, if necessary, is at 2 p.m. Saturday at PSJA High.
“For us not to make it last year, it was hard on us,” senior pitcher Victor Montemayor said. “So to make it this year, it’s really great, it’s exciting.”
The Falcons have their work cut out for them against the Sabercats, who haven’t lost in two months and have now won 17 in a row, including series sweeps in the first two rounds of the postseason.
Los Fresnos has had a tougher time in the playoffs so far, but that adversity has helped boast its confidence, as it gets ready for its next test.
“The last couple of series, we’ve been down, but these guys battled back up,” Los Fresnos coach Rene Morales said. “It’s been great with these guys battling back and getting ready for the next game. These guys don’t want the season to end; they’re playing hard and playing with a lot of confidence.
“It feels great to get to this point, these kids want to continue doing what we’re doing and it’s all about them.”
The Falcons senior class has been working toward this moment for the last few years. Now that it’s here, they hope to seize the opportunity.
“We know what it takes to get here and go beyond, I think that’s what we’ve put into this season,” senior first baseman Hugo Sanchez said. “I think we have to approach it the same way. It’s our last year so we’re going to keep playing at a hundred percent every game, for sure. Honestly, I feel like this is a winnable series and we can continue on in the playoffs.
Morales compares the season to a book and hopes his team can continue to write another chapter this week. As the heat has risen deeper into the postseason, Los Fresnos is loose and ready to add more to its history book.
“As we keep going, it gets more intense and we’re just out here having fun and playing hard for each other,” Morales said. “It’s going to be a great series, we’re playing with a lot of confidence. (Edinburg Vela) is good. The best team is going to win every night so I think these guys are ready to go. They’re not nervous, we’re going to go out and play hard and see what happens.”
The program has continued to experience success, but its not finished yet.
“We keep building, we just want to keep making history,” Morales said. “If we win, we’ll move on and write another chapter in our books. The more we win, the more history we make.”
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.