The Los Fresnos Falcons baseball team is headed to the second round of the playoffs after defeating the Weslaco High Panthers in the bi-district round, 2-1. The games were played on April 30 at Los Fresnos, with Game 2 and Game 3 on May 1 in Weslaco.
The Falcons went into the playoffs with a 20-13-1 overall record, and a perfect 8-0 record district record in 32-6A. After being undefeated district champs, the Falcons headed into the postseason with momentum to face up against the Panthers.
The Panthers finished their regular season with a 16-16-1 record finishing 4th in their district with a 5-6 record. They fell short to Economedes in a seeding game but they looked for revenge since they lost to the Falcons during spring break.
The Falcons lost game 1 of the series with a score of 3-0 with dominant pitching for both sides but a few clutch hits for the Panthers gave them the win.
Game 2 was a thriller, the Falcons fell behind early in the game to a 4-0 panther lead, but answered back in the 7th to tie up the game sending it into extras. It wasn’t until the 12th inning where the Falcons got runners on base and ended up scoring two runs to give them the lead, which they held onto to win 6-4, which tied up the series.
Senior Orlando Rivera said that the loss really helped him and the team come even closer and battle harder.
“We had to come out attacking right off the bat and score as soon as possible and to keep on fighting until the final out,” Rivera said.
Game 3 was played that same night after the four hour Game 3. Both teams were tired but the Falcons didn’t let that affect them. They used that momentum to battle and score six runs and reverse sweep the Panthers, winning 6-2, claiming the Bi-District championship.
Senior Joaquín Alvarado believes that the momentum going into Game 3 pushed them to being a good ball club.
“The momentum we had from game 2 allowed us to capitalize the team sticking together and fighting and maintaining our positive energy which allowed us to come out victorious,” Alvarado said.
The Falcons will now face the Laredo United South Panthers in a best of 3 series to try and keep their season alive. Game 1 is May 7 in Los Fresnos, with Game 2 and 3 in Laredo on May 9.