McALLEN — The McAllen Rowe Warriors faced a tall task in their Region IV-5A bi-district matchup — a one-game playoff against state-ranked Weslaco East, the District 32-5A champion.
The Warriors were unphased, however, and took down the Wildcats 7-0 on Saturday at McAllen Memorial High School to punch their ticket to the area round of the playoffs for the second season in a row.
McAllen Rowe (20-11) moves on to face Corpus Christi Ray (30-5) in the area round. Game details are to be determined.
“First off, hats off to Coach (Mike Brown) and his program over there. Those guys did a hell of a job this year and we wish them the best,” Rowe head coach Mike Segovia said. “As far as us, coming into this week, we knew the arm that was on the mound so we came up with a plan, an approach at the plate, and today, fortunately for us, the execution was there. The boys stuck to the plan and execution was almost flawless today. Hats off to the coaching staff and our boys, I’m really proud of those guys.”
Rowe’s Branden Leon went 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs to lead the Warriors offensively. Nathan Charles and Matthew Gonzalez also drove in one run each.
The Warriors threw two pitchers and both were equally effective. Ramiro Campos pitched 3.1 shutout innings, allowing five hits and one walk. Javier Garcia took over in the fourth inning and gave up just one hit and one walk, striking out seven across the final 3.2 innings.
“We worked hard for this. We were doubted early in the season because we started slow, but we came away with eight straight wins, practiced hard this week and came out with the win tonight,” Leon said.