By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Los Fresnos took an early lead but didn’t hold on.
Edinburg North scored four unanswered runs during the last three innings to defeat the Lady Falcons 5-3 in Game 1 of a Class 6A bi-district softball playoff series Thursday.
“We told the girls coming in they’re a good team and it’s going to boil down to which team makes the most errors,” Los Fresnos coach Traci Blackman said. “And (Thursday) we did. The ones we made cost us a few runs.”
Los Fresnos and Edinburg North play tonight in Game 2 at 7 p.m. at Edinburg North.
The Lady Cougars got on the board during the first inning. Klari Lopez led off with a double and scored on a single by Jaqui Chapa to give Edinburg North a 1-0 lead.
Los Fresnos answered during the bottom half of the inning. Vicky Rodriguez hit a double to drive in Karina Gonzalez, Stephanie Perez scored on an error and Rodriguez scored on a throwing error by the Lady Cougars to give the Lady Falcons a 3-1 lead.
“This team’s not going to quit, we’re going to keep battling,” Edinburg North coach Richard Tressler said. “Nobody was saying anything and throwing it away, and we gave them all three runs.”
But that’s all Los Fresnos got as North pitcher Jackie Longoria kept the Lady Falcons off-balance the rest of the night. Longoria pitched seven innings, allowed three runs on five hits, walked two and struck out six in the victory.
The Lady Cougars started their comeback during the fifth inning, scoring a run on a passed ball to cut the deficit to 3-2.
One inning later, North took a 4-3 lead on a two-run double by Andreah Ruiz, and it added another run in the seventh on a single by Chapa, her second of the game, to take a 5-3 lead.
“We battled back and hit the ball hard. Several of the balls we hit were right at people,” Tresslersaid. “(Los Fresnos) made plays, I give them credit. We executed and moved some runners over. We got several big clutch hits that we needed.”
Lady Falconspitcher Mariseta Gaytan pitched all seven innings, allowed five runs on nine hits, walked one and struck out two.
Nothing will change for North in today’s game.
“The focus is going to be on our offense again, continue to swing the bats the way we are,” Tressler said. “We’re playing steady defense, making the routine plays defensively.”
The Lady Falcons need to get their offense production going to even the series.
“(Today) we’re going to have to clean it up and play better,” Blackman said. “We’ve got to get more runners in scoring position, we just have to go out and do a better job. We’ve got to put the ball in play and play better overall.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.