Valley baseball teams see season come to a close

The last two remaining baseball teams from the Rio Grande Valley had their seasons come to an end this past weekend. 

The PSJA Bears and the La Joya Palmview Lobos posted historic runs, but were defeated in their respective conferences.

For the Bears, they competed against the Dripping Springs Tigers in the Region IV-6A DII Finals — aka the Elite Eight — at Steve Chapman Field in Calallen. The series came down to three games, with PSJA playing convincingly and winning the first game 6-4.

The remaining two games in the series didn’t go the Bears’ way as the Tigers took both dubs to advance onto the next round. Game 2 had the Tigers holding the Bears to one run — capping the win 4-1. Game 3, Dripping Springs put up four runs and held PSJA to two — sealing the win 4-2.

“Our historic playoff run came to an end Saturday as our Bears fought with heart and pride in the Region IV-6A DII Finals against Dripping Springs,” the high school wrote in a Facebook post. 

The PSJA Bears finish the season at 31-4-1.

In the Region IV-5A DI Finals, the La Joya Palmview Lobos had a three-game series against the Smithson Valley Rangers at Coastal Bend College in Beeville. 

The Lobos — similar to the PSJA Bears — took the series’ first game with a convincing 7-0 dub against the Rangers. However, Smithson Valley would then recuperate from the shutout and win the following games. Game 2 had Smithson Valley tying the series with an 8-2 victory. Then, they returned the favor with their own 7-0 win in Game 3. 

The Lobos tacked on an impressive 26-10 record this season.

“La Joya ISD is proud beyond words. This is more than a season — this was history in the making,” the district said in a Facebook post.
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Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect results from both baseball series.