The Valley’s 5A and 6A teams start the area round today after battling against each other and in one certain case, over coming a Coastal Bend team.
The Valley could guarantee itself spots in the fourth round, but will have to overcome some tough teams.
Class 6A
PSJA High (25-5-1) vs. SA O’Connor (20-11)
The Bears face the 2022 6A state champs, San Antonio O’Connor, in a one-game playoff tonight.
PSJA High has a decent shot against the fourth-place team from District 29-6A. The San Antonio district swept 30-6A in bi-district.
O’Connor beat 30-6A’s district champions Eagle Pass in three games last round, winning the decisive game 10-2.
The Bears took down the defending regional champions San Benito in round one. The Greyhounds are rebuilding like O’Connor, but like San Benito was – still dangerous because of great coaching and talented players.
O’Connor went 1-5 against the big dogs in 29-6A, Brennan, Holmes and Harlan. The Panthers were in some of those games though.
PSJA High’s senior pitcher Arianna Hernandez struck out 10 batters against San Benito while freshman slugger Arianna Lugo went 3-for-4 with a HR.
The Bears on paper have the easiest route of the Class 6A teams to the third round.
La Joya High (23-3) vs. SA Harlan (24-6)
The Coyotes, District 31-6A’s undefeated champs, swept Los Fresnos in the first round, but the Falcons brought it in Game 2 – only losing 3-2.
La Joya High’s Alayali Alaniz drove in the winning run in the seventh. Coyotes pitcher Arlette Hernandez hit a home run and came in to win the game by striking out eight and not allowing a run in three innings of work.
The Coyotes are going to need another strong start to the series against Harlan.
Harlan has only played one Valley team and that was Harlingen South, one of the best. The South Hawks won 2-1 against the Harlan Hawks.
Harlan looks tough on paper. Hawks senior Prisais Quintero has eight home runs with a .486 batting average and starting pitcher Aubrey Flores has 1.16 era on 23 appearances and 211 Ks on the season.
La Joya High has one of the best all-around players in the Valley with Hernandez and a terrific team that can hit and play defense.
Game 1 tonight is at La Joya High.
Harlingen High (20-13) vs. SA Brennan (24-5)
The Cardinals have the hardest task on paper against 29-6A’s champs after sweeping Edinburg North in bi-district.
Laredo LBJ almost pulled Game 2 away from Brennan, only losing 3-2. Brennan’s ace is Bryannah Campos.
Campos has an ERA of 1.06 and will be facing off against Harlingen High’s Abigail Garcia at least one game in the circle.
Garcia threw a complete game in Game 1 against Edinburg North while underclassmen Destiny Delgado and Amaris Gomez have had terrific performances at the plate in the bi-district series.
All three games will be played in Beeville.
Weslaco High (27-4) vs. SA Holmes (18-9-1)
Weslaco High’s second round opponent is the No. 2 seed out of 29-6A, SA Holmes.
The Panthers haven’t had a challenge since beating PSJA High during Spring Break. The Bears had beaten the Panthers earlier in the season, 4-0.
Weslaco High is one of the Valley’s best chances at returning to state, but the opponent toughness went from 0-to-60 with Holmes based on what the Panthers have faced the last two months.
Holmes’ losses in district came to Brennan and Harlan. The Huskies lost the three games by a combined total of five runs. Holmes wasn’t blowing many teams out though in district when winning.
Senior pitcher Nevaeh Herrera struck out 11 batters against Laredo United in a single-game playoff to help give the Huskies the 4-1 victory.
Weslaco High pitcher Madelynn Cantu was terrific in the post season last year as a freshman and has 20 wins so far this year. The Panthers lineup is great from top-to-bottom, so if Cantu can keep the Huskies off the board, expect the bats to come through.
This series is to be played in Zapata.
Class 5A
Five Valley teams are still in play in 5A because La Joya Palmview took down a 29-5A team in round one.
La Joya Palmview (24-8) vs. Sharyland Pioneer (23-8-1)
The Diamondbacks walked it off against the 5A team from the Valley that went the furthest in 2023, Mercedes, while the Lobos took care of Gregory-Portland.
Palmview pitcher Arianna Alaniz has been one of the best in the nation, state, Valley, etc., all season and carried that momentum in the playoffs after striking out 27 batters and only allowing three hits in 14 innings of work to help the Lobos sweep the Wildcats.
Pioneer and Palmview faced off earlier this season in the PSJA tournament. The Lobos came out on top 2-1 in a game that only went four innings.
It could be close again when the two teams meet starting at 6 p.m. today at Pioneer.
Harlingen South (27-2) vs. Victoria East (17-18-1)
The Hawks 22-game win steak is on the line in the area round against Victoria East, the No. 2 seed out of 29-5A.
The Titans are in the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and swept Laredo Nixon in round one to create the meeting with Harlingen South.
The Hawks cruised past Edinburg Vela in round one and are one of the Valley’s best chances on paper to advance to round three.
Harlingen South’s Kailee Silva blasted two homers in Game 2 against Edinburg Vela. The Hawks have power all over the lineup and terrific pitching.
The Titans have thrown a few pitchers throughout the season and have power in their line up with 10 HRs from Mia De Los Santos.
The Hawks and Titans don’t start their series until Friday.
PSJA North (19-13) vs. CC Carroll (25–7-3)
PSJA North suffered its first loss on the softball field in Game 1 to Weslaco East.
The Raiders and Wildcats battled late into Game 2 until PSJA North pulled away and then cruised in Game 3 to set up one of the most intriguing series of the weekend against CC Carroll.
The Raiders scored 11 runs in the first inning of Game 3 to blow the game open.
The Tigers blew a nine-run lead last season against Mercedes in the third round, and returned a lot of those players this season as they took the No. 3 seed out of 29-5A.
PSJA North can’t afford a slow start to a series this round because they host the Tigers at 6 p.m. tonight in Pharr, going back to Corpus on Saturday and a game behind could be problematic.
The winner of this series meets the winner of Harlingen South and Victoria East in round two.
Brownsville Lopez (25-2) vs. CC Veterans Memorial
Brownsville Lopez cruised against McAllen high in round one, with two run-rule victories and so did Veterans Memorial with wins over Mission Veterans.
The Eagles put up a combined total of 40 runs on the Patriots to set up another intriguing 5A series that will feature a game in the Valley.
Brownsville Lopez has only lost two games this season and that is to Harlingen South.
Lobos junior Jenny Shank threw 20 strikeouts last series in 10.2 innings and will need to be strong against Corpus Christi’s best 5A program this season.
The Eagles have played a really strong schedule and went toe-to-toe with some of the best teams in state.
The Lobos and Eagles meet at 5:30 p.m. tonight at Cabaniss before returning to Brownsville Lopez for Game 2.
