By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
Fielding mistakes and a lack of offense were too much for Brownsville Veterans Memorial to overcome Friday.
The Lady Chargers lost to the Weslaco High Lady Panthers 5-0 in Game 2 of a Class 6A bi-district series at Brownsville Veterans.
Brownsville Veterans (23-7) committed four errors in the game, which led to runs in the first, second and seventh innings for Weslaco High.
“We came out and we just didn’t execute on defense,” Brownsville Veterans coach Ray Cardenas said. “We had a miscue in the outfield and threw the wrong base and had another ball go by us. It was those little mental errors and the speed of their runners really puts the pressure on you as a defense to execute flawlessly and at the beginning of the game, and we didn’t.”
Weslaco High pitcher Taylor Tafolla made things difficult for the Lady Chargers at the plate, and finished the game with four strikeouts, one hit and a walk.
Tafolla had a no-hitter through six innings until Cassie Valdez smacked a one-out single to shallow left field during the bottom of the seventh.
“She did a great job,” Weslaco High Mario Rodriguez said. “Taylor’s a warrior. She’s coming back from an injury, so whatever we can get is a bonus.”
Weslaco High’s junior pitcher has 14 strikeouts and only three hits allowed in 14 innings during the series.
Freshman Mia Anzaldua gave up seven hits and two walks in seven innings while finishing with six strikeouts for Brownsville Veterans.
Weslaco High grabbed the early leading during a three-run first inning. Alyssa Escamilla led off with a triple and scored the next at-bat on a single by Charlene De Anda.
Tafolla knocked in De Anda with a one-out triple and scored later in the inning on an error.
The Lady Panthers plated another run during the second when Helen Gonzalez scored on a Brownsville Veterans fielding error.
Escamilla scored her second run of the game and Weslaco High’s final run of the night in the seventh.
Weslaco High’s win sets up a Game 3 showdown starting at 5 p.m. today at Weslaco High.
“Solid defense and we got to hit the ball. We’ll work on that (today) before we drive up there,” Cardenas said. “I have confidence in our girls. They’ve been here before. They’ve faced some extremely good pitchers and stuff like that, so they’re not about to go ahead and call the series over. They’re going to come out (today) with everything they’ve got.
“They’re going to represent the Chargers. They’re going to represent Memorial. I think we’ll be okay.”
Joshua McKinney covers high school sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @joshuabvherald.