The greatest moment in RGV high school sports history

5 months ago 134

Andrea Ortiz is suddenly a cliché.

That’s how much her name has been said since Saturday evening. The pace is not slowing down, either. If it’s not a household name yet, it will be shortly, and for quite a long time.

In what arguably could be the greatest and most significant moment high school sports moment ever in the Rio Grande Valley, Ortiz put an exclamation point as the final punctuation of the story, hitting a dramatic grand slam while her Weslaco High Panthers trailed 9-7 against Waco Midway for the UIL Class 6A softball state championship.

It’s Class 6A, the largest schools in Texas. It was the biggest moment of the more-than-month-long state tournament. It deserved big drama. It earned big drama. It was as if Ortiz and the Lady Panthers directed the made-for-the-big-screen-moment. Some even are saying it may have been the biggest moment in UIL softball history.

The grand slam gave Weslaco the first softball championship in Valley history. Not even Stephen Spielberg could’ve written or created such a fantasy world with that type of ending.

Down 9-7, Ortiz’s one swing turned it into a celebration. The only concern was whether or not she would pass her own teammates on the base paths as they all celebrated wildly, each sprinting to reach home plate. They must’ve pinched themselves when they got there — was this really real, did this truly happen?

11-9, game over. Weslaco Panthers, Class 6A state champions.

Prior to that, Ortiz wasn’t having what she would consider a magical individual postseason performance. In the state semifinal against Denton Guyer, she threw her helmet down in frustration after striking out during one at-bat. Later during that 13-inning heart attack, Ortiz laid down a bunt that advanced a runner to second with the game tied. Ema Galvan singled and brought Romy Nuñez home from second.

So, it would be fair to say and Ortiz had the most impact with her big hit and most critical “non hit” for Weslaco en route to becoming queens of the ballpark. It took big hits all season, during the playoffs, during the state semifinal matchup and, throughout that seventh inning where Panther after Panther turned clutch.

But at the plate in the seventh, less than a day after her bunt, none of that mattered. Going into that last inning, none of the girls wanted to make the final out. If you look at the boxscore today, there’s still just one out; there will never be more than that.

Ortiz came to the plate for the fourth time in the game. Waco pitcher Lanee Brown couldn’t have asked for much more. Here was a batter who was not only 0-for-3 at the plate, but Brown had struck her out twice already.

This is when all the other clichés came forward — things like never ever give up, time to step up, play with your heart, you’ve got to want it more — the same phrases that coaches tell kids (and the media) thousands of times. None of these, however, were clichés anymore. They were real life.