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Worth repeating: Brownsville tops Johnstown twice, reaches title game

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Brownsville, Texas, awoke Tuesday morning and knew its mission for the day would be to beat Johnstown and then beat Johnstown again.

Done and done.

Brownsville rode the pitching of Javier Garcia to a 2-1 win in Game 1, and its bats came alive for six runs in the nightcap for a 6-2 victory that clinched a berth in the Pony League World Series title game tonight (6 p.m.) opposite Youngstown, Ohio.

Brownsville is the first Texas team to play in a Pony League World Series final in 10 years.

With his tournament on the line, Garcia gave his team the performance it needed Tuesday, giving up just one unearned run on four hits over six innings while striking out seven and walking just one. Garcia was the driving force in Brownsville’s 2-1. In nine innings this tournament, Garcia has struck out 14 batters and hasn’t allowed an earned run.

Garcia is the top shark in a sea of arms that have combined to give up just five runs in four tournament games.

“He’s our ace,” Brownsville assistant coach Juan Garza said. “Not to take away from the other pitchers; this boy has brought us here. He’s the one that got us here. Now, we’re one step away from getting into the championship.”

“It was a hard team to face, so I had to be on my A-game,” Garcia said. “I had to hit my spots.”

Gracia hit his spots. He didn’t give up a single base hit, and the one Johnstown run that came across against him was unearned, set up on an error by shortstop Nehemiah Garcia.

“He locates his fastball, which sets up his changeup and his breaking ball,” Johnstown assistant Matt Smearman said. “He keeps the hitters off-balance. Hitters were working behind in a lot of counts, so he was definitely able to command the zone against us today.”

The plan was for Garcia to go out and finish what he started. When he went out to the mound for the seventh, things got confusing.

It turned out that before the possible at-bat for Garcia in the sixth, Brownsville planned to pinch-hit for Garcia and informed the official scorer of that plan. But PONY’s substitution rule is that if a pitcher is subbed out, even in theory, he cannot return to the mound.

Garcia wanted to come out of the game about as much as your average six-year-old wants to eat Brussel Sprouts.

So Brownsville called on Ruben Lopez Jr, the manager’s son and namesake, to finish it off. He did just that, retiring the side on four batters.

“To come from catching to pitching and put on that performance, it’s just great,” Garza said. “That just shows you the heart that the kids have.”

Bowers took the loss, allowing two runs on four hits over a six-inning, complete game.

Lopez Jr.’s heroics were far from over.

In Game 2, the manager’s son was the latest Brownsville pitcher to shine, giving up the two runs on two hits over four innings, striking out six and walking two.

“He was incredible,” Ruben Lopez Sr. said.

“Just emotional,” Lopez Jr. said. “I do for my family, for my friends. My mom.”

Brownsville drew first blood in the top of the third on an RBI single by Lopez Jr., scoring Jesus Rios. Brownsville added on later in the inning when Jorge Garza Jr. came in on Chris Ramos’s sac fly.

Johnstown’s bats awoke in the bottom of the third. After leadoff man Chase Williamson doubled for the team’s first hit of the game, Aaron Smearman did the same to drive in two runs and tie the score.

Brownsville knows how to face adversity and came right back with four runs in the top of the fourth on a sac fly by Etziel Gonzalez, a double by Jorge Garza Jr., and a two-run single by Nehemiah Garcia.

Whysong took the loss for Johnstown, giving up four runs – two earned – over 1.1 innings in relief.

“They knew they couldn’t make any mistakes,” Lopez Sr. said. “They were all in.”

Despite the loss, Johnstown manager Brian Oleksa was proud of how the tournament went.

“Awe, man, it was a blast for our kids,” he said. “We came a long way, however, it didn’t go in our favor.

Now, Brownsville is on to the championship game for the first time ever, where Youngstown awaits.

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