Paschal win caps off Fort Worth baseball tournament that continues to honor star pitcher

Even though cold weather forced cancellation of all of Friday’s schedule, the 6th Annual Drew Medford Memorial Tournament was in full force on Thursday and Saturday culminating in the awarding of two dozen $1,000 scholarships, one for a player on each of the baseball teams participating in the tournament.

Drew Medford was a district MVP, all-state and honorable mention All-America baseball player at Paschal High School and had signed to play baseball at TCU. Medford, a likely pro prospect, was less than a week away from starting his college classes before he was killed in a one-car automobile accident on Chisholm Trail Parkway in August of 2016.

In its first five years, the DMMT has awarded more than $120,000 for local baseball players through the generosity of its sponsors and community supporters. Since that original six-team tournament in 2017, the field expanded to 12 teams in 2018, 16 in 2019, 20 in 2020 and 2021 and now 24 in 2022.

Scholarship recipients are chosen by the coach of each participating team, and the player must embody the characteristics of the tournament’s namesake.

“We tell the coaches to pick a player that has the same characteristics as Drew,” said Paschal head coach Clint Dunham. “Hard working and loves the game of baseball. A team leader, super competitive, and a guy you want as your teammate and by your side.”

Drew’s senior year was Dunham’s first year at Paschal as an assistant coach, a post that he held for three years before becoming the head coach.

“We had a great team that year,” said Dunham. “Drew took that team three rounds deep in the playoffs before we got knocked off by Amarillo and that’s the furthest we had gone in a long, long time.”

Before Medford’s passing, the tournament used to be called the Paschal-Heights Tournament which Arlington Heights ran. When Drew passed away the schools decided to put it in his name.

Seven sites hosted the tournament including Paschal, Arlington Heights, Mansfield Legacy, Mansfield Summit, Aledo, Country Day and Trinity Valley.

A total of 39 games were played capped by the annual Paschal-Fort Worth Arlington Heights contest, this year at Paschal, held immediately after the ceremony to award the scholarships.

Dunham added that this new group of Panthers kept the tradition alive and brought out the 2016 cream uniforms for the game against Heights, Medford’s favorite rival.

“There’s no better way to honor Drew than by wearing ‘his uniform,’” said Dunham. “It was his favorite look so we pull them out once a year, for this game. The kids love throwing them on.”

This year’s game was all Paschal early.

The Panthers scored twice in the first and third innings and three times in the second.

Gabriel Saldivar went 2 for 3 at the plate for Paschal, scoring twice and driving in three runs. Saldivar’s single to left in the third drove in Chris Darner and Charlie Cocanower, who doubled, to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead.

Arlington Heights scored three times in the fifth on a two-run single to left by Jacob Lax, scoring Javi Alvarez and Cade Smith. Lax scored on an error later in the inning.

The Yellow Jackets cut the lead to 7-4 in the top of the seventh on a RBI single by Aaron Montanez, but Paschal pitcher Nico Vasquez, who played for Arlington Heights in the game last season before transferring, got a come backer from Smith to end the threat.

“This is as big as a playoff game for the kids,” said Dunham. “If you ask the seniors when they leave, what was their favorite part of the year and they usually say the Paschal-Heights game. We only play once each year, in this tournament, so that makes it even that much more special.”

“My brother was the most amazing person, I think anyone here would say, that they’ve ever met,” added Julia Medford, Drew’s sister. “He was kindhearted, loving and passionate about everything he did. He was very outgoing and such a happy person from when he was a baby all the way unto adulthood.”

Julia, a Specialist in the U.S. Army and the middle child of the five Medford siblings, said Drew was the youngest with a really large age gap, about 20 years, between the oldest and Drew, but that all five of the siblings were best friends.

“This tournament means everything to us,” said Julia Medford. “Having Drew taken from us at such a young age, this tournament has been able to keep his life, legacy and everything that he was...alive.

“Everything that he did as a person in the 18 years of life that he had on this earth, we’re able to cherish that through this tournament.”

“I think it’s one of the most unique tournaments I’ve ever seen in high school baseball,” added Dunham. “The scholarships are given, but in the finale tonight you’ll have 500 to 1,000 people. It’s a 100-year-old rivalry strapped to one of the coolest tournaments so you can’t beat it.”

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Estevan Flores, Aledo

Marshall Ku, Fort Worth All Saints

Yahir Arroyo, Arlington

Aiden Orr, Fort Worth Arlington Heights

Kyle Smith, Arlington Martin

Kurt Kimmel, Fort Worth Country Day

Jack Britton, Colleyville Covenant

Ramiro Montiel, Duncanville

Zach Harsh, Keller Fossil Ridge

Josh Ortiz, Hurst L.D. Bell

Matthew Brandt, Mansfield

Carter Olson, Mansfield Lake Ridge

Given King, Mansfield Legacy

Tekoa Woods, Mansfield Summit

Kevin Schoneboom, Mansfield Timberview

Colton Clawson, Midlothian

Devon Ashcraft, Fort Worth Nolan Catholic

John Paul Hinojosa, Jr., Fort Worth Paschal

Caleb Bergman, Plano East

Jordan Guerra, South Grand Prairie

Johnny Donoso, Temple

Ryne Rodriguez, Fort Worth Trinity Valley

Jacob Cruz, Waxahachie

Joshua Goree, Weatherford

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

at Fort Worth Paschal

Arlington 8, FW Paschal 1

Arlington 6, FW Trinity Valley 4

FW Trinity Valley 6, Plano East 4

FW Paschal 8, Plano East 2

at Fort Worth Arlington Heights

FW Arlington Heights 2, Temple 2 (tie)

Arlington Martin 5, Temple 4

Arlington Martin 2, Duncanville 1

FW Arlington Heights 9, Duncanville 9 (tie)

at Mansfield Summit

Hurst L.D. Bell 7, Mansfield Summit 0

Midlothian 4, Hurst L.D. Bell 4 (tie)

FW All Saints 4, Waxahachie 2

Waxahachie 8, Mansfield Summit 3

at Mansfield Legacy

Mansfield Legacy 6, South Grand Prairie 3

Mansfield 8, South Grand Prairie 7

Mansfield Legacy 6, Mansfield 2

at Fort Worth Country Day

FW Country Day 10, Keller Fossil Ridge 2

Keller Fossil Ridge 8, Mansfield Timberview 6

Colleyville Covenant 7, Mansfield Timberview 6

FW Country Day 6, Colleyville Covenant 2

at Aledo

Aledo 6, FW Nolan Catholic 5

Mansfield Lake Ridge 6, FW Nolan Catholic 0

Mansfield Lake Ridge 3, Weatherford 3 (tie)

Aledo 7, Weatherford 6

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

at Fort Worth Paschal

FW Country Day 7, Temple 5

FW Paschal 9, Temple 1

FW Paschal 7, FW Arlington Heights 4

at Fort Worth Arlington Heights

Arlington Martin 7, FW Nolan Catholic 0

Colleyville Covenant 1, Plano East 0

Plano East 3, Waxahachie 3

at Mansfield Summit

Keller Fossil Ridge 7, Mansfield Summit 1

Arlington 11, Midlothian 4

Mansfield Summit 5, Midlothian 5 (tie)

at Mansfield Legacy

Mansfield Legacy 8, Duncanville 7

Mansfield Legacy 5, Weatherford 3

at Fort Worth Trinity Valley

FW Trinity Valley 3, Mansfield Timberview 2

Mansfield 6, FW All Saints 2

Hurst L.D. Bell 8, FW All Saints 7

at Aledo

Aledo 1, South Grand Prairie 0

Aledo 5, Mansfield Lake Ridge 3

This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 6:00 AM.