Saturday, May 27, 2000

Trojans' triumph fun from any vantage point

These are the worst seats at Cabaniss Field. And, on nights like this, the best.
   At about 7:20 p.m. Friday, Sylvia Tristan and her sons, J.D. and Danny Alanis, filed through the Cabaniss gates in hopes of watching a Moody High School victory.
   While they certainly got that, they also got much more: a packed stadium of about 3,200 fans -- mostly Moody's -- that forced the family into these seats in left-center field.
   Here, on the green, faded wood bleachers, are where the most loyal of the loyal sit.
   Here, more than 400 feet away from home plate, maybe the wind blows just a little stronger. But you can still hear the pop of the catcher's glove and you can still see the lift of the ball after the crack of a hitter's bat.
   And besides, during these kinds of games, no seat in the outfield was a bad one. The Trojan bats saw to that.
   ''I got here 40 minutes early. I figured it was enough time," said Danny Alanis, 23. He attended Miller and King high schools, but has been watching Moody baseball games since he was five.
   ''I've had to sit out here before, many times," he said. He was in the almost exact same seat last week for Moody's victory over San Antonio Taft. ''I like it out here sometimes because you can see the pitcher. You can see the strikes."
   His brother, J.D., a 1992 graduate of Miller, played baseball for Moody as a freshman, for Carroll as a sophomore and for the Buccaneers as a junior and senior.
   When they arrived Friday, Danny told J.D. that Moody would score 10 runs. The prediction turned out to be gold.
   Together, the family watches Moody games and goes back to past Trojan teams, wondering which one was best. Danny thinks it was the 1995 bunch that featured Joe Luis Lopez.
   J.D. is partial to the 1987 crew that included Eric Hawkins, Steve Perales and Lenny Amaya. Tristan likes the 1981 state tournament team.
   They are part of what makes the Moody community what it is.
   When they yell from the stands, the players hear.
   ''That's why the home court or the home field is so important. The players feed off their energy," said Moody coach Steve Castillo. ''It's a big crowd.''
   The Trojans beat McAllen Rowe on their own merits Friday night. They pounded out 10 runs, scored 15 runs and finished it all in five innings. But there were about 3,000 reasons in the stands, in some small part, why Moody will live to see another baseball day.
   This victory, of course, could not take away what happened -- or, more importantly -- what did not happen, on Wednesday, when the team's meteoric rise through state and national high school baseball polls was in danger of going poof almost as quickly as the phantom foul ball that blew up chalk in McAllen.
   Wednesday's 1-0 no-hit loss is here to stay.
   But then again, fans hope, so are the Trojans.
   ''Hey!" a woman shouted, ''anybody going to Robstown tomorrow needs one of these?" She was holding four blue and gold pom-poms.
   This was life in the nosebleed seats, where every crack of the bat brought the fans to their feet, where every pop fly to the outfield brought jeers to an opposing fielder, and where every home run even down the third-base line made those in left-center believe they had a chance at catching it.
   Friday night, under a coat of humidity and pressure of playoff elimination, the Trojans stood up and told the rest of Region IV and the remainder of Class 5A: Come and get us.
   Today, the Trojans find themselves seven innings away from standing with the remaining seven teams across Texas in Class 5A, all fighting for a ticket to Austin.
   Now, it is on to Robstown.
   ''I'll be there," said Danny Alanis. As they filed out of the stands Friday, he grasped his brother from behind. ''See!'' he yelled, ''I told you they were going to throw up 10 runs tonight."
   Moody's faithful will trek to Robstown today, just as they crowded into the parking lots and streets along Cabaniss Field on Friday, and scream. Scream for their Trojans. Scream for a victory.
   Scream, once more, with feeling.
  
  
  

 
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