DENNIS SILVA II | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Rene Ramirez’s quick-trigger swing during the seventh inning Thursday brought with it the winning runs for Roma’s 4-2 Class 5A bi-district play-off win against Brownsville Porter at Mission High. It also delivered a nice piece of history.
The junior right-fielder’s two-out, two-run single up the middle broke a 2-all tie and drove the Gladiators (11-13) past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 11 appearances under coach Roque Cortinas. The Gladiators have not made the area round of the playoffs since 1994.
“I was thinking I need to make a hit,” Ramirez said of his dramatic at-bat. “If I didn’t, they could win. The pitch I hit, I knew I had to hit the ball. I couldn’t wait any longer.
“I had to put it in the outfield. It came, I hit it, and I just saw it go.”
Until that point, it had been an intense matchup. Each club’s offense was consistent putting the ball in play, and yet each club’s pitcher was consistent overcoming rough patches.
After Porter (17-6) courtesy runner Lupe Soto scored on a throwing error during the first inning, Roma responded with two runs in the fourth —an Alex Mascorro solo bomb to left center, his first of the year, and a Jon Michael Roberson two-out RBI single.
Porter tied the game in the fifth when Andy Flores scored on a groundout. Roberson, Roma’s sophomore ace, and Jose Perez, Porter’s senior ace, held steady until the seventh, when Ramirez came through in a methodical inning.
“Motivation drove us,” Ramirez said. “They won 13 straight games and we were the last team to get in (in District 31-5A). We want to get past the second round. They were in our way.”
After Roberson struck out to lead the seventh, the Gladiators went as follows: single, walk, flyout, single, Ramirez’s hit, walk, flyout. The inning forced Perez, who entered the game with an 8-1 record and 1.83 ERA, to throw a lot of pitches and he was eventually removed late in the frame.
“We wanted a pitch to hit,” Cortinas said. “We knew their pitcher was a little wild, so if we were patient and swung at strikes we could get something.”
Perez allowed 10 hits, struck out eight and walked five. Roma scouted him well. Cortinas said he had his players lay off Perez’s high fastballs and just let him throw.
“He doesn’t walk people like that, and I wanna say three of the four runs (surrendered) were guys he had walked,” Porter coach Bart Bickerton said of Perez. “He just doesn’t do that. He was a bit out of character tonight, but it’s tough for a bunch of kids who had never been to the playoffs before. Your first trip usually ends like this. It’s tough.”
But Porter did not lack chances. In the bottom of the seventh, with the bases loaded and two outs, the Cowboys struck out to end the threat. It was similar to the fifth inning, when Porter put two on with no outs before three Cowboys went down in succession.
“We had opportunities,” Bickerton said. “We had guys on third base plenty of times and the kid struck us out when he needed to.”
Roberson allowed six hits, struck out nine and walked four. Knowing most of Porter’s lineup consisted of inside hitters, he mostly threw outside, using a tough fastball that painted the corners.
“We played the way we’ve been playing all season long,” Roberson said. “I wasn’t expecting to lose at any point. I have too much confidence in myself and my team. They always push me to do my best, and my best is what I try and give them.”
For Cortinas, it was more than enough.
“It was exactly what we thought it’d be coming in,” Cortinas said. “It was going to be one of those games. I know the kind of team we have, and the district we play in prepared us to go against district champions.
“They were the home team, so we were worried that whoever was going to have the last at-bat would win it. But I knew if we could just score, we’d have a chance. And we did.”