By FREDDY GONZALEZ
Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Make no mistake about it, the Lady Hawks are limping into their bi-district game against Edinburg North today.
After claiming the third seed in District 32-6A, South will play the District 31-6A second-seeded Lady Cougars in Edcouch-Elsa at 6:30 p.m. tonight.
From the beginning of the season Harlingen South head coach Omar Pedroza’s biggest worry was injuries. Having already lost one player before the season even began, Pedroza hoped to keep injuries to a minimum.
Unfortunately for him, the injury bug hit — and it hit hard.
It devastated Pedroza’s projected lineup, forcing him to play a game of chess with his squad and move players around to fill in gaps.
Today, when the Lady Hawks walk onto Benny Layton Memorial Stadium, they will do so with five starters out for the match and with at least three others playing through nagging injuries.
“Our district is tough,” said Pedroza. “I know the playoffs are tough and, traditionally, Edinburg North has always been a good team. They’ve always made the playoffs and they’re always fighting for district titles, just like us.
“But I think because of the fact that our district is so tough, we’re ready to face a tough team because we’re used playing tough teams. What counts against us is the amount of kids we’ve got hurt.”
And the injuries indeed piled up.
For instance junior sweeper Emily Velasquez suffered a stress fracture on her left leg during a game against Harlingen and was ruled out for the remainder of the season. Senior Cassandra Torres was hurt all season but admits, “Its Ok, my sister took my spot and she’s really good”.
In junior Caitlin Warner’s case a nagging injury incurred during preseason finally caught up with her.
“In the very first game of our first tournament in Houston I threw in the ball really far, putting a lot of stress on my back,” said Warner. “So for the rest of the games, I kept throwing in the ball. But in the game against Lopez, I took a really bad fall on my right hip causing my hips to go completely out of line.”
But as Pedroza admits, “everybody is dealing with injuries during these times.”
This season, the Lady Hawks will try to improve on last season’s performance that saw the team defeat Edinburg High 8-0 before bowing out in the area round of the playoffs to Del Rio 3-1.
The year prior to that, Harlingen South defeated McAllen Rowe 2-1 and Laredo United 6-0 before losing to McAllen Memorial in the third round 4-3 in OT.