Check out the story from the Dallas Morning News.

Barbosa’s Take

I had a conversation with Browsnville Porter coach Tony Barbosa about why Valley athletes are not picked up by D-I schools more offten.

He thinks many kids lack the dedication to work out during the offseason. He said there are few that work at their game constantly but too many athletes don’t care as much as they should.

I agree somewhat. I think the talent pool is not deep enough to really challenge the top athletes in the Valley. But I would like to see more recruits down here.

All-Valley Baseball

The Monitor’s best of the best in baseball comes out Sunday. It was tough. This might have been my toughest team to pick. I tried to spread it around but I kept coming back to certain teams. Make sure to check it out. I’m sure i’ll get feedback.

Reagan was the No. 5 team in the country. I doubt United was on anyone’s national radar. 

The funny thing is that I don’t think the Longhorns were better than Sharyland, the team they beat in the regional quarters. I don’t think they were better than their regional semis opponent, Austin Westlake. On paper, the Longhorns were definitley not better than Reagan.

United got hot at the right time and was the better team when it mattered the most.

Here is the Laredo Morning Times story and here is the San Antonio Express News story

If you want to play in the majors, Georgia seems like a good jumping off point.  I am a sucker for these in-depth sports stories, although one might disagree how in-depth the story really is.

 This is where I am from

Here is a feature from the Whittier Daily News did on St. Paul High School, the local private school from the area I grew up in California. The Swordsmen are in the CIF Southern Section Division V championship, but they get to recruit because its a private school.

My high school, El Rancho, is similar to the Valley. The Dons always get bumped out of the playoffs early in every sport no matter how well they do during the regular season but they have recently won state titles in soccer.

On a side note, Texas has a better much more organized playoff system. I still don’t undertsand why there are so many champions for each sport in California. There are like 15 champs in Southern California and another 15 in Northern California. Maybe because there are so many schools. I don’t know. 

As far as how I select the team there are a number of ways. I look to see how well the player’s team did. I ask coaches what they think about certain players. I look at all-district lists. Because it is baseball — a stat-driven sport — I  look at a player’s numbers.

As far as MaxPreps, I don’t really follow the Web site very much because not every team in the Valley does a god job of updating their stats. But it is helpful.

I hope that helps. 

Can Laredo United be the next Harlingen South?

The Longhorns didn’t get a one-game series this week so I think an upset will be tough agianst San Antonio Reagan. Just ask McAllen High.

Even if their joureny ends this weekend, at least they got to play at Whataburger Field, which is one of best minor league ball parks to compete in.

But if the McAllen High-San Antonio Reagan series was only a one-game playoff, the season would have been extended by at least one week.

I am not sure how it went down when deciding the series length. I would think that the Bulldogs would have wanted a one-game shot. Usually the underdog would rather try their chances with just one game.

If it was just one game, the Bulldogs would be getting ready for Laredo United this week.

I know La Joya was going to play only one game against Reagan. United played only one against Sharyland and Austin Westlake, and we see where that got the Longhorns.

When not the favorite go with one is my philosphy. 

McHi had a good run. Last one standing in the Valley is something to hang your hat on.

All-Valley

I am turning my attention to picking the All-Valley team. I was just looking over a few names last week and its going to be tough choosing the MVP and Newcomer of the year.

My head hurt just thinking about it. There are a lot of good, legit players in the Valley.

Good Reading

A former Monitor writer, who now works for the San Bernardino Sun in California, wrote a tribute to his father, who recently past away.

His father was an avid reader of The Monitor and followed PSJA High religously.

Click here for the column.

The reason I am not covering the McHi series with Reagan is because The Monitor is on a strict no-traveling-out-of-the-Valley policy at the moment. It is something that has nothing to do with me or the sports department. This was a decision made by the higher ups and our corporate offices in California. 

Believe me, I wish I could have been out there covering it but I am just not allowed. If you would like to know more, feel free to call me and I will direct you to the proper person who will explain the situation.

We undertand it is important that is why we made arrangements to have the series covered by one of our stringers. Erik Quintero has been writing for us for months and his story will be on rgvsports.com and on the front of The Monitor sports page.

If they win the series, I will cover the Bulldosg through the week again and then we will do our best to make sure they will be covered next weekend.

Hope to here from you again Robin Welch.

THE GAME

The Bulldogs just keep surprising. I think it would be one of the biggest upsets in Valley playoff history in any sport.

I know Harlingen South made it all the way last year but I am not sure anyone the Hawks beat to get there was as highly ranked as Reagan is.  If anyone knows, please let me know. Also, the Hawks were a senior ball club and the Bulldogs are very young.

The Bulldogs still have a lot of work to do. Last year, they won Game 1 of their reginal semifinal but lost Games 2 and 3 the next day.

In case you missed it, here is the story that ran in The Monitor today.

Here is also the story from the San Antonio Express News.

All the young guys came through again for th Bulldogs. Sophomore Alvaro Moreno was solid on the mound. Freshman Armando Garza was 2-for-3 and feshman Omar Pompa, the coach’s grandson, had a big two-run producing single.

The Bulldogs are going to be good the next coulple of years.

TRACK & FIELD

While I was surfing the Express News  Web site I ran into this story about Weslaco girls track coach Pablo Almaguer.

This is high school baseball so you never know but Reagan sounds like the real deal. 

Check out my game advance here.

The Bulldogs don’t seem really worried about Reagan, which is a good thing. I assume they will be nervous but as they said in my advance, they are just trying to go out there and have some fun.

I’m not going to cover the series but we’ll have our Costal Bend correspondent on the assingment. 

RGVSports The Magazine

This year, the Valley Freedom Newspapers are coming out with a quarterly magazine. First one out will be August 1. You can also by a subscription that will be delivered to you. Check out RGVSports.com or E-mail me at prasmussen@themonitor.com for more details.

I was doing an on-camera interview with McAllen High’s Marshall Miller when suddenly Robert Quintero, who the team calls Bacon, walked in front of the camera.

I’ve been doing these on-camera interviews for months now and that was the first time anyone had ever walked in front of my shot.

I just hope they could edit it out before it makes it to RGVSports.com. The funny thing was that even after he walked in front of the camera, he didn’t acknowledge me or that there was a camera.

Shoelace-Gate

I got to the bottom as to why Miller kept tying his shoe before he stepped up to the mound to pitch in each inning during Game 3 of their regional quarterfinal against La Joya.

Miller said he tied his shoe in the first inning and thought it helped. Baseball players can be superstitious so he decided to tie his shoe before every inning, despite the displeasure from the La Joya crowd.

I guess it helped since the Bulldogs won.

The heat is killing everyone

McHi needs to get used to the heat because its supposed to be hot this weekend.

The Bulldogs had been practicing in the evening, but because Wednesday is a church night practice was moved to after school.

Some of the players were complaining about how hot it was. I let them know they better get used to it.

I would have to agree, especially when it comes to Pompa.

After McHi got pushed around on Friday and then faced the daunting task of beating the Coyotes twice in La Joya, where they had not lost all season, I didn’t think the Bulldogs were going to pull it off.

I have no idea how Pompa got his team to win Games 2 and 3.

I was impressed with both the Bulldogs’ pitchers Saturday, Marshall Miller and James Franz. Miller has to be the MVP with the Game 3 win and Game 2 save. (I didn’t get to write this in my game story but there was nice play in Game 1 by the Bulldogs to get La Joya’s Leo Gonzalez in a rundown on the third base line for the first out of the crucial seventh inning).

The young guys came through for the Bulldogs too. Freshman Omar Pompa drove in the Game-winning run in Game 2 and sophomore Tim Ford, a first-year varsity player, had the eventual game-winning hit in Game 3.

McHi plays the state’s second-ranked team, San Antonio Reagan, next. Check out this story on Reagan.

Shoelace Problems

I forgot to ask Marshall this but I couldn’t understand why he had to keep tying his cleats before every inning. Couldn’t he just double-knot them?

Freebie

I got a a free CD of the music the La Joya press box plays during the games. This is significant because softball writer Jason McDaniel brags about how he always gets a free CD when he attends softball games in La Joya. Just to prove he is not that special, I just asked for one.

Kingsville has experienced more rain. Since it is only a one-game series, it wouldn’t be much trouble to move the game back one day if the field is not up to par of if there is bad weather. The Kingsville A&M baseball team is on the road.

If they can’t play Saturday, they would have to do it Monday. Time and place would have to probably be determined.

The McHi-La Joya series would be a little tricky. A rain out might force the teams into a one-game playoff on Saturday.

At 7 p.m. today there is a 50 percent chance of rain. There is a greater chance for rain in the morning on Saturday than in the afternoon.

McHi Tacos

I am not sure if Bulldogs coach Eliseo Pompa was just promoting the fajita tacos they sell at Ted Uhlaender Field or if he knew that I have priased the tacos in the past, but he made sure to remind me to buy tacos at the game.

As I said before, McHi and Hidalgo have the best tacos.

Laredo United-Sharyland

I’ve heard United was looking for revenge after it was beat by double-digits in the La Joya tourney by Sharyland.

In that game United didn’t have its ace on the mound.

Check out this Laredo Morning Times story on the Longhorns’  sweep of Brownsville Porter.