By ANDREW CRUM and JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writers
Port Isabel and Los Fresnos, will play hosts to the 16th annual Port Isabel/Los Fresnos baseball tournament starting today and continuing through Saturday.
Along with the tourney co-hosts, Weslaco East, PSJA Southwest, Lopez, Sharyland Pioneer, Corpus Christi London, Edcouch-Elsa, Tuloso Midway, Lyford, Rio Hondo, Edinburg Economedes, La Joya Juarez Lincoln, Progreso, Donna and Zapata will be competing within the brackets in games played at Port Isabel and Los Fresnos.
The championship is set for 3:45 p.m. Saturday at Port Isabel.
The Tarpons started the season with a win over Lyford on Monday. Port Isabel comes into the tournament with some confidence despite some early-season injuries.
“We feel good … confident … but right now we have some pitchers hurt,” Tarpons coach Robert Holland said. “We have been throwing some younger kids. It’s going to hurt us, but it’s good for them, they get experience. They have to compete and hopefully we’ll get those kids back in a couple weeks.
Holland isn’t letting those injuries take his team out of the running for the title of their own tournament.
“Our kids are going to compete,” he aded. “They’re dedicated, we don’t expect anything different.”
GROWING UP
Los Fresnos also started the season with a victory after posting a shutout of Porter.
“We played pretty good on Monday, we still need a lot of work,” Los Fresnos coach Rene Morales said. “We executed well and they grew up a little. We’re still young and still working to get better and better every game we play.
“The first (win) is always the best one. Once you get the first one, you want to build on that.”
The Falcons are ready to compete in the annual event that will feature some different squads this year. A few teams have joined the fray and a few others return after being absent in recent years. For Los Fresnos, it will be a way to help figure out where players will help the team the most.
“The kids are excited,” Morales said. “It’s going to be a tough tournament. There’s some different teams on both sides of the bracket. We’re still not set on the lineup, so it gives some kids different opportunities to see what they can do.”
GETTING STARTED
A few other baseball teams will also be playing in tournaments around the Rio Grande Valley.
Hanna, Rivera and Porter will compete among 15 other schools starting today through Saturday at the McAllen High tournament.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial begins play at the Border tournament, also beginning today and continuing through Saturday in Laredo.
SOFTBALL:
COMING TOGETHER
Los Fresnos sits at 7-0-1 after a week of play.
Coach Traci Blackman is somewhat surprised by how well the Lady Falcons have played considering their pre-season scrimmages didn’t go exactly as planned.
But after an undefeated start to the season, which includes a South San Tournament championship, the girls are starting to gel.
“I know the girls have the talent, but a lot of them haven’t played together before,” Blackman said. “Six of them haven’t played any varsity, and we were trying to find that chemistry. It was with hitting that we were struggling.”
The Lady Falcons have improved their hitting and fielding on a daily basis, and playing eight games early in the season has apparently helped the girls come together.
“I think that’s a big deal,” Blackman said. “I’m not a huge fan of three-day tournaments, but they’re getting the games in and I think that helps out.”
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.