By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
At one point the Pace Vikings led 5-1.
But then came the top of the second inning for the Valley View Tigers and whatever momentum the Vikings had built quickly disappeared.
Valley View sent 14 batters to the plate in the top of the second and scored 10 runs to rally and eventually win going away 19-6 in five innings against the Vikings on Thursday at Pace in the opener of a Class 5A best-of-three bi-district series.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 7 p.m. today at View View. If a third game is necessary, it will be played at 2 p.m. Saturday at Pace.
“It was a difficult game in the early part of it, but thank goodness our boys came back and our pitching and bats started coming around,” Valley View coach Mario Gonzalez said. “Those 10 runs (in the second) helped us get back on track.
“We have our No. 1 pitcher on the mound for Game 2,” Gonzalez added. “We feel good about that. Our No. 1 guy has done a great job all season, so we’ll see what happens in Game 2.”
The Tigers are District 31-5A champions and improved to 22-6-1 with Thursday’s victory.
The Vikings are the fourth-place team from District 32-5A.
Pace trailed 1-0 on a top-of-the-first RBI single by Valley View’s Edy Reyes. The Vikings then scored five runs in the bottom of the frame on a pair of bases-loaded walks and a three-run triple to deep center field by Chris Rodriguez. The bases became loaded with no outs due to three straight fielding errors by the Tigers to start the bottom of the first.
But after that, there was no stopping Valley View.
Leading 11-5 following the completion of two innings, the Tigers added three runs in the top of the third and five more in the fifth.
Pace’s sixth run came on an RBI double to deep center field by Jose Banda in the fourth, which closed the gap to 14-6.
Valley View’s Aldo Trevino went the distance on the mound for the victory while the Vikings used two hurlers.
Trevino threw a five-hitter while fanning one batter and walking two.
The Vikings’ two pitchers, starter Banda and reliever Rodriguez, combined to give up 16 hits and issue four walks while striking out three batters.
Esteban Palomo was the top performer at the plate for the Tigers, batting 3-for-4 with a single, a double and a triple, accounting for four RBIs. Teammate Reyes also batted 3-for-4 with a double and two singles and finished with one RBI.
Leadoff batter Angel Gomez went 2-for-2 at the plate to spark the Vikings.