By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
With the District 32-6A season winding down, each game holds added weight for teams in the hunt for a spot in the postseason.
The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers are among the teams that need favorable outcomes down the stretch. Entering Friday’s game against Harlingen High, the Lady Chargers trailed the Lady Cardinals by one game.
Brownsville Veterans can thank timely hitting and fortuitous bounces for giving it a chance to play meaningful games during the final week of the season. During the bottom of the seventh inning, a pair of hits from the bottom of the Lady Chargers’ batting order, an RBI double by freshman Cassie Valdez and a wild pitch by Harlingen High’s pitcher may have saved their season.
“I truly believed we were going to win that game no matter what,” Brownsville Veterans coach Ray Cardenas said. “I knew we were going to find a way. We were hitting balls right at them, but I knew that sooner or later we were going to have the fortune to get a few hits together.”
Following the completion of the contest, Brownsville Veterans owned a 6-6 district record, tying them with the Lady Cardinals.
Later that evening, Cardenas and his team had their eyes on another important game: Hanna-Harlingen South.
The game that went 10 innings and ended with the Lady Hawks grabbing a 3-2 win over the Lady Eagles mildly cleared the playoff picture.
With the loss, Hanna dropped to 5-7 in district and Harlingen South improved to 7-5, preventing a potential four-team tie to start the final week.
For the two teams at 6-6 — Brownsville Veterans and Harlingen High — their remaining two games could decide whether they will play beyond the regular season.
Brownsville Veterans takes on Los Fresnos at 7 p.m. tonight in Los Fresnos and plays Lopez at 7 p.m. Friday at Lopez.
Harlingen High plays host to Lopez at 7 p.m. tonight and takes on Harlingen South at 7 p.m. Friday at South.
ROOM TO SPARE
With two games remaining in the District 32-6A season, the San Benito Lady Greyhounds secured the No. 1 seed in the postseason with a 17-0 win over Lopez on Friday.
The Lady Greyhounds boast a 12-0 district record and are next trailed by Los Fresnos, which sits at 10-2. Though it is possible for the Lady Falcons to tie San Benito’s record during the final week and share the district title, the Lady Greyhounds own the tiebreaker for playoff seeding by sweeping the season series with a 4-1 win March 10 and a 4-0 victory April 7.
CONTINUING THE DREAM
Los Fresnos Lady Falcons third baseman and pitcher Karina Gonzalez will be furthering her softball career after graduation.
The senior is scheduled to sign a letter of intent to attend Graceland University in Iowa to play softball. The ceremony is set to take place at 2 p.m. today at the Los Fresnos lecture hall.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.