KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
The time has come. The final week of softball’s regular season is all but wrapped up and playoff spots have been secured.
Seniors will take their final trot onto the diamond, emotions will be high, legendary moments will be made and hearts will be broken. Indeed, it is time for the postseason.
Here is what we know so far in the Class 6A playoffs:
All matchups will be best-of-three series beginning as early as next Thursday. Exact times, dates and game locations are still to be determined.
Weslaco will take on PSJA Memorial, Edinburg North will play Harlingen South, San Benito faces Edinburg Vela and Edinburg High takes on Weslaco East.
Weslaco and Edinburg High enter the playoffs as two of the hottest teams in the RGV.
Weslaco (13-1) won eight straight to close out the regular season as the outright District 32-6A champs while Edinburg High was a perfect 14-0 in District 31-6A.
Last season, 31-6A completed a clean sweep of 32-6A in bi-district. The big upset was PSJA Memorial beating two-time state semifinalist San Benito in three games.
Both Edinburg North and Weslaco made the deepest runs last year. Edinburg North reached the regional semifinals before bowing out to New Braunfels Canyon, while Weslaco reached the UIL state final four for the first time in program history where they lost in the semifinals.
STILL SOME WORK LEFT TO DO: While the regular season wrapped up in Class 6A on Tuesday, in Class 4A things don’t wrap up until Friday.
In District 32-4A, Zapata picked up a big win against Rio Hondo on Tuesday. The win clinched a playoff berth for the Lady Hawks and also handed Rio Hondo (12-1) its first district loss of the season. Fortunately for the Lady Cats, they already clinched a postseason berth and the league championship last week.
Meanwhile, Raymondville improved its record to 9-4 after an 11-9 win in eight innings against Hidalgo on Tuesday.
Rio Hondo has the top spot locked up and it’s now a three-way tie for second place with Zapata, Hidalgo and Raymondville all with 9-4 marks.
All three teams clinched playoff berths with their wins Tuesday so it will now take the final game of the season to determine the seedings.
Raymondville will play Zapata, Rio Hondo hosts Port Isabel and Hidalgo squares off against La Feria.