McALLEN — McAllen Memorial has rallied around the phrase “Why not us?” this season.
The Mustangs have defied the odds all year long, first by clinching a playoff spot in a brutal district, then winning two postseason series against Brownsville Porter and Corpus Christi Veterans.
On Saturday, the McAllen Memorial Mustangs made program history by winning Game 3 of their Region IV-5A quarterfinal playoff series against crosstown rival McAllen High 12-2 in six innings at McAllen Memorial High School to punch their ticket next week’s regional semifinals, the furthest the Mustangs have ever advanced in the postseason.
“This is just exciting — to come back home to my alma mater and be able to do it here for the first time in my career. It’s my third shot at it and I’ve always lost that Game 3, and this time it worked out for us so I’m super excited for those young boys,” said Mustangs’ head coach Roque Cortinas, a McAllen Memorial alumnus.
McAllen Memorial (24-13) will meet Kerrville Tivy (18-18) in next week’s regional semifinals. Playoff details are to be determined. McAllen High’s season ends at 23-15 overall.
“It just feels great making history. We all believed in each other from the start,” Memorial sophomore pitcher Hugo Rodriguez said. “A lot of people counted us out, but we just stuck to ourselves and did what we believed we could do.”
The Mustangs exploded offensively with a seven-run second inning off five hits, two walks, two hit batters and one passed ball to take a commanding 8-0 lead after two.
“We had a talk about it in our clubhouse before and we just said this is what we wanted. I thought we had the upper-hand with the pitching we had left, so let’s just come out at home and give a good show,” Cortinas said.
Erik Serrano added an RBI single during the bottom of the fourth, Jacob Sanchez drove in one on an RBI single to left field and Gael Aguirre scored another on a sacrifice fly to right field for an 11-2 advantage after five.
Memorial shortstop Jose Rivera ended the game with a hard hit grounder that stayed just inside the third base line and rolled into left field for a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the sixth for the 10-run rule. Rivera hit a two-run home run in Game 1 against McHi, drove in Memorial’s only two runs on a two-run double in Game 2, and came through again on Saturday with the walk-off.
“(Rivera) has been our MVP all year, no doubt. He steps up every time we need him. Extremely hard-working kid and he deserves everything he gets,” Cortinas said of Rivera.
Memorial’s sophomore left-handed pitcher Rodriguez suffered an early injury that sidelined him for the majority of the season. He returned last week in relief against Corpus Christi Veterans and pitched well, which gave Cortinas the confidence to hand him the ball in the decisive Game 3.
On Saturday, with a spot in the regional semifinals on the line, Rodriguez pitched 4 2/3 innings with two earned runs off three hits and six walks while striking out nine. RJ Rios finished the game with three strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings.
“I just believed in God’s process to get me healed and I never gave up and kept working my butt off to get back on the mound. My team never gave up on me and I never gave up on them,” he said. “Everyone counted us out but we never counted each other out.”
“He was tremendous — it goes back to his preparation for his craft. He works his butt off,” Cortinas said of Rodriguez. “At the end you could tell he was out of gas, but his heart kept going and he gave us all he had and it was enough.”
