By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
McALLEN — If McAllen Memorial intends to compete for a district title, it understands it can’t allow a game to slip away, especially in the fashion things unraveled in the seventh inning Tuesday.
Leading by three runs going into the seventh, the Lady Mustangs’ chances of preserving that cushion with only three outs remaining seemed very likely, given that pitcher Daisy Gonzalez hadn’t allowed a run since the first inning and the defense behind her did its part to keep runners away from third base.
But McHi put up four runs to go ahead and force a bottom half of that seventh and final inning. With the game tied and one runner on base, though, Angelly Reyna whacked the first go-ahead run of her four-year career, driving in Aileen Rodriguez from second base to give McAllen Memorial a 7-6 come-from-behind win at home.
“We knew (after giving up a 5-2 lead in the seventh) that we shouldn’t shut it down, and we didn’t,” said Reyna, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, with one run and two RBIs. “We didn’t put our heads down and that’s how we came through.”
All season, Memorial (15-2, 3-1) has chased McAllen Rowe for first place in district. Any loss — especially one in which it squandered a lead late in the game — can certainly dampened that hope, considering the upward trajectory Rowe (10-5, 5-0) is on.
Memorial, though, can rest assured that it didn’t lose any ground in the standings on Tuesday, thanks in part to the Reyna RBI and the Jay Ibarra run off Rodriguez’s grounder to tie the game at 6-6.
“We just got to keep our composure as a team,” Memorial coach Audra Benavidez said. “We need to realize that teams are going to give us their A-games. People are never going to shut down because no one has anything to lose. I tell them, they’re the ones that have more to lose. Keeping their composure and maturity level on the bats, and playing errorless games, that’s what’s going to win us ballgames.”
The Memorial rally was its second of the night, after bouncing back from a five-hit, two-run opening inning that did little to rattle Gonzalez or Benavidez’ confidence in her ace.
“I just told her, it’s going to be about location,” Benavidez said with regard to her pitches. “‘You’re not going to strike out a lot. They have a good-hitting ball club. It’s about your location and letting your defense do the work.’”
Through the next five innings, that’s what happened. No McHi hitter reached third base, and Memorial steadily piled on the runs from the fourth inning going forward.
Gonzalez did, in fact, record only one strikeout, as Benavidez suspected she would. But the pitcher nonetheless picked up the victory, improving her record in the circle to 12-1 overall, 3-0 in district.
“A lot of teams would fold” in that situation, Benavidez said, “so I’m proud of every single one of them.”
If there was anything McHi (6-10, 2-3) can take solace in Tuesday, it’s the seventh-inning rally. Youth and inexperience has been the Lady Bulldogs’ biggest challenge this season. They graduated nine seniors and returned only three starters. And while they generally start off games strong, McHi coach Ruth Garcia said, they haven’t protected leads as well as they need to.
“For us, it’s just about finishing the game,” Garcia said. “That was one thing they did today. They knocked on the door, and the result wasn’t in our favor but it was an excellent run.
“Our girls are peaking right now. Although on paper and in our record it doesn’t reflect in the greatness of this team, I tell them it’s a matter of time before the tide turns. It’s a process.”