[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 13285-13286]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         THE CALALLEN WILDCATS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. SOLOMON P. ORTIZ

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 28, 2000

  Mr. ORTIZ. Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to the Calallen Wildcats, 
the 2000 Texas High School Class 4-A Baseball Champions. In a herculean 
effort in the sixth inning of the final game they came from behind, 
sending the game into extra innings to win.
  In the championship game, they fell behind, rallying to a tie in the 
sixth inning, sending the game into extra innings before winning the 
state championship. The young men who won this championship deserve 
great credit for holding together to bring home this important win. 
Some of the seniors on this winning team have been playing together 
since they were 5 years old, so they have been a team longer than most 
baseball teams have played together.
  I am proud of the 4-A champs; these players kissed medals and fought 
back tears as they savored their win. This was the sixth time in the 
past eight years that the Wildcats made it to the state's final four 
teams, but this was the first to come home with the state Class 4-A 
title.
  These young players played and enjoyed this series for themselves, 
the perfect ending

[[Page 13286]]

to a season in which the Wildcats first won 38 games, then earned the 
No. 1 ranking in Texas and finally won a state championship. Calallen 
is the first South Texas team to win a state championship since Orange 
Grove claimed the 3-A title in 1994.
  These young men didn't just play ball well. They had to be patient 
for years. They fell short of the title in 1998 and again in 1999, but 
the third time was a charm. Their game was canceled due to rain Friday. 
We have had a drought for years in South Texas, and the two other rain 
delays they sat through seemed pretty cruel. But they never gave up.
  But when an opposing hitter grounded out, the Calallen Wildcats at 
long last became Class 4-A state champions in extra innings. Nothing, 
including the rain, could dampen the Wildcats fans' excitement. They 
waited through two rain delays. They stood and cheered the team on, 
even as rain poured down on the field and stadium.
  When the Wildcats won, the joy was palatable as far away as the 
players' hometown. A WalMart employee got the call that Calallen had 
won from a Kingsville manager who attended the game. She immediately 
made an announcement over the store loudspeaker and shoppers stopped to 
cheer, clap and wipe tears from their eyes. It was a beautiful moment.
  This victory belongs to the entire community. They all pulled 
together, hoped together, and prayed together and the Calallen Wildcats 
came back to Corpus Christi as the State Champions. These guys learned 
the important lesson of knowing that champions must have patience, 
skill, and heart. They learned that victory comes from within.
  I want to include the leadership of the school and the coaches in 
this victory: Superintendent Dr. James Warlick, Principal Mike 
Sandroussi, Athletic Director Phil Danaher, and Coaches Steve Chapman, 
Danny Fogg, Dough Edwards, and Mark Soto.
  I ask my colleagues to join me today in offering our congratulations 
to a team of outstanding young men and outstanding young ball players, 
the 2000 Texas High School Class 4-A Baseball Champions.

                          ____________________