By Thomas Jones, Sports Editor

SAN ANTONIO – Jim Darilek is an old-school baseball guy, through and through. He usually greets a win with a shrug and a slightly critical eye.  

But after his team dominated a savvy Laredo United bunch to reach the Class 5A Region IV finals, Darilek let loose a whoop of joy that echoed off the stands at Keefe Memorial Stadium.

His boys had just earned the program’s biggest win in a decade, and Darilek understood that the ramifications went beyond reaching the next round.

“We broke through!” he shouted to no one in particular, but everyone turned to listen. Darilek doesn’t often raise his voice in celebration.

Then again, Darilek and the Chaps haven’t often reached the regional finals. 

Teams from South Texas have been like mesquite thorns in the side of Darilek since Westlake began its string of four consecutive district titles in 2006. In each of the past two seasons while competing in Region IV, the Chaps won three series before falling to a team from the border in the regional semifinals. 

The border’s particular brand of small ball seemed to pester Westlake just enough to prevent the Chaps from reaching that next level. Before last week’s single-game regional semifinal win over Laredo United, Westlake had a 9-2 playoff-series record over the past three seasons. Seven of those wins were against teams from San Antonio, and two came against Corpus Christi Ray; the two losses came against Harlingen South (2007) and Laredo United (2008).

History, however, couldn’t stop this year’s Chaps from reaching the regional finals for the first time in a decade.

Darilek has long admired small ball, that strategic mindset valuing aggressive base running and scattered scoring. He understands how relentlessness on the bags can wear down a foe’s psyche; he witnessed Harlingen South and Laredo United use the method to beat his Chaps.

Last week, the Chaps whipped United at its own game. 

With James Ferguson on the mound and two Westlake runs on the scoreboard by the end of the third inning, United slowly bowed to the constant pressure applied by the Chaps. The Longhorns abandoned their patient style at the plate – their beloved small ball – and tried to hammer their way back into the game.

“We were swinging away instead of being patient; we were playing gorilla ball instead of small ball, and that’s what cost us,” Laredo United star Luis Pollorena said.

After reversing recent history with the win over Laredo United, Darilek and the Chaps now hope history holds course. 

Westlake hasn’t lost a playoff series to a San Antonio-area school since falling to Reagan in 2003. The Chaps’ opponent this week? Yep, Reagan.

Let the history lessons continue.