FREDDY GONZALEZ | Staff Writer
CORPUS CHRISTI — It was another stellar performance by Crystal Castillo as the senior ace led the San Benito Lady Greyhounds to a decisive 4-2 victory over the New Braunfels Canyon Cougaretts on Friday night in Game 1 of the Region IV-6A finals.
Castillo recorded nine strikeouts and went 1 for 2 at the plate.
“Like it’s been all season long, Crystal was awesome against these guys, who have won state before,” said San Benito head coach Elias Martinez. “The way she came out and preformed… She had a great defense behind her and I couldn’t be more proud of them.
“But its only Game 1 and we were in their shoes last week, and we were able to pull it out so by no means is this series over.”
Last week against San Antonio O’Connor, the Lady Greyhounds lost Game 1 but won the next two games to book their place in the Elite 8.
Another standout player for the Lady ’Hounds was center fielder Stephanie Contreras, who scored two runs and had one RBI on the night.
In the bottom of the first inning, Contreras scored the first run after teammate Jav’anna Gonzalez singled to center to get the large traveling contingency of San Benito fans off their seats.
However, the Lady ’Hounds made their biggest leap of the night in the bottom of the fifth to extend the lead to 4-0.
After Audrey Huerta walked and Castillo reached base on an error, Contreras once again blasted a ball deep into left field scoring Huerta for the 2-0 lead.
With bases loaded and one out, Canyon’s star pitcher Brooke Vestal threw a wild pitch that scored pinch runner Kim McCommas pushing the lead to three.
Two pitches later, second baseman Melanie Gonzalez hit a sacrifice to center scoring Contreras and closing out a big inning for the Lady ’Hounds.
“We talked about that we can’t run ourselves out of innings, so every opportunity that we have we have to take advantage it and we were able to and in some cases we weren’t able to,” said Coach Martinez. “We still have tomorrow, but it’s going to be a great series.”
After getting back a run in the top of the six, the Cougaretts cut the lead in half after Angelica Camacho scored Abby Konecki to make it 4-2.
However, Castillo closed the night out with a strikeout sealing the Game 1 victory.
Game 2 is scheduled to begin a 2 p.m. today and, if necessary, Game 3 will begin 30 minutes afterward.