Tuesday, June 13, 2000

Team's faith a constant companion

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Moody's Brian Garza celebrates in the sixth inning Monday after driving in the Trojans' only two runs in a 3-2 loss in the Class 5A title game.

AUSTIN - "Si quieres puedes (If you want to, you can)"
   - written underneath the bill of Gene Flores' cap.
   These guys wanted to. They really did.
   With every pitch, Flores fought. With every Moody at-bat, Brian Garza prayed, either silently to himself on the dugout bench or as he kneeled on the dugout steps here at Disch-Falk Field, the little laminated drawing of Jesus Christ placed in front of him on the artificial turf.
   Moody's 3-2 loss in the state championship game was a bitter pill to swallow. It put a somber cap on what otherwise may have been the school's finest baseball season.
   But there were two themes - Moody's spirituality, and Moody's inspiration it drew from a movie - that dominated the last three weeks of this season, a season which began with a loss and ended with a loss. What was found in between, though, explains what makes Moody baseball what it is.
   Year in and year out, the Trojans are warriors. And they are filled with a deeper faith.
   Faith: A constant companion
   "I prayed for everyone who came up to bat," Garza said. "I asked Jesus to be with them. I was praying for Gene on the mound. I was asking Jesus to be with him."
   The little Jesus drawing was as constant a companion to Garza as the rains were to this year's state tournament. Time and again, Garza would hold the drawing out to his teammates' faces - "Come on. Big smooch," he'd say - so that they would kiss it.
   And even as he delivered Moody's biggest hit, a two-strike, two-out, two-run single with bases loaded to tie the game in the sixth inning, Garza was asking for higher intervention.
   "Even when there were two strikes on me with two outs, I was at the plate, praying to God," he said. "The catcher probably heard me."
   As Trojans were crossing the plate, and the crowd was screaming and the cheerleaders were jumping on top of the team's dugout, Garza stood on first base, pointing to the heavens, and shouted: "Thank you, God!"
   He then took the Jesus drawing out from inside his batting helmet and showed it to his teammates as he smiled and nodded.
   Believing together
   Part inspiration, part faith, part spirituality, part magic, this year's Trojans were a tight bunch. They ascended to the nation's No. 3 ranking, they climbed to the No. 1 spot in the state. They won together.
   And, Monday, they lost together.
   But they never lost their faith.
   "You've always got to have your faith," coach Steve Castillo told his huddled players after the loss. "Have faith in yourself. Believe in yourself."
   He then led them in prayer, even as The Woodlands was receiving gold medals for its state championship.
   Castillo prayed for God to bless his team, to take them to a better place than this. He prayed that the more than 2,000 Moody fans who traveled to see the game be returned to Corpus Christi safely.
   Spirituality has been a constant thread for Moody teams through the years. Catcher David Castillo kept a small, simple white cross on the back of his cap throughout the season, drawn on with Liquid Paper. He wore No. 7 because his father said it was God's number. Flores kept a gold angel pin on his cap, right next to the big M in front.
   On Sunday, Steve Castillo and some of his players attended Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral in downtown Austin, where they heard the priest talk of the same elements that have gone side by side with Moody baseball: unity, spirit, faith.
   New traditions
   What sparked the ritual of Garza's drawing in the dugout? A loss: the no-hit, 1-0 defeat in Game 1 to Rowe in McAllen during the regional semifinals.
   The next day, Castillo assembled his staff and players and took the team to see "The Gladiator," Russell Crowe's epic movie about warriors, victories, losses and life.
   Before Moody bounced back to win the second and third games of that series, Rene Recio and Garza wrote "Not Yet" on the underside of their bills. It was a reference to the movie, and it meant that this team was not yet ready to die.
   At the same time, Garza began taking his Jesus drawing into the dugout.
   The Trojans never lost again - until Monday - and neither player forgot about the two sources of inspiration.
   "The last three weeks have been the best weeks of batting practice I've ever had, and they've been the best hitting games I've had," Garza said. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm that type of guy."
   End of a season
   At times, the Trojans were gladiators this season. They won games easily and they won games hard. They dominated to the tune of a 38-4-1 record. They did not want it to end.
   Si quieres puedes. They did want to. Badly. This time, they just couldn't.
   "Faith plays a big role with our teams," Steve Castillo said. "Look at the world. There are too many people who don't have faith anymore. This team has been pretty tight with its spirituality and faith.
   "But all Moody teams have been like that," he said. "Parents are role-models, and we've had good parents in the Moody community. Some kids don't ever get to see the good side of life. We want ours to."
   'Just be gladiators'
   "Strength and Honor," a sign on the dugout wall read, "We will prevail."
   It is a line from "The Gladiator." Assistant coach Corky Gallegos made the sign and has placed it on the wall for every Moody game since that Rowe loss.
   Three minutes before the first pitch Monday, Castillo assembled his team at first base. They all scooped up a bit of the red dirt and smeared it into their hands.
   It was the same thing Crowe did in the movie, just before going into battle. This time, it was Castillo's Trojans who were about to go into the war.
   "Just be gladiators," Castillo told them.
   This season, they were.
   On Monday, as fans were saying goodbye to the team on the side of the field and another Moody baseball season came to a close at the state tournament, Gallegos remained in the dugout, lost in thought.
   He then got up, quietly removed the sign from the wall, and tucked it neatly back into his coaching bag.
  
  
  

 
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