By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Rio Grande City ace Anikah Garcia has played softball long enough to reach one certainty in the sport.
“You can’t win ball games without an offense,” she said.
That especially holds true early on for the Lady Rattlers, who have gotten off to a 1-2 start following Friday’s action at the Mission Fastpitch Tournament at Bentsen Palm Park.
Even though it returns much of the same players that helped it make the playoffs for the first time in four seasons in 2015, RGC has struggled to keep its offense up to speed with its defense.
The Lady Rattlers beat PSJA Southwest 14-0 in the season opener, but have since lost two in a row by slim margins.
Across the lineup, Rio Grande City has players capable of getting on base. But on their base-running has bit of a question mark as they enter the third and final day of the tournament.
“Their base-running needs to be more aggressive and smarter,” coach Nicole Smedley said. “They have all the skill and talent in the world, but I want them to want it more.”
The heightened expectations, in part, stem from last year’s postseason run, when they played Mercedes competitively in the bi-district round. Now, more is expected from the Lady Rattlers, who have eight upperclassmen on the roster. They beat Southwest handily and lost 4-3 in each of their first two outings in the Mission Fastpitch tournament.
“I’m the type of coach that’s never satisfied,” Smedley said. “There’s always room for improvement. Even though it was a no-hitter and we we won (the non-district opener) 14-0, I still want to see us sharper and work on the little things that’s going to make us better when we play tougher teams.”
For now, Smedley is pleased with the defense, which has allowed just six runs through the first three games, while Garcia is showing much of the same promise from a year ago.
The junior is a three-year lettermen, having grown from a nervous freshman to a confident ace that took command as a sophomore and inspired much of last year’s postseason run.
It’s that level of team accomplishment, Smedley said, that has the Lady Rattlers “pickier” about how they evaluate their performances now.
“This year, it’s a matter of tweaking it up a notch,” she said.
What Rio Grande City hopes to see over the next couple of weeks, as it gears up for District 31-5A, is more consistency at the plate.
The team has strung together hits from the meat of its batting order, but it’s come sporadically. While the Lady Rattlers have shown potential of hitting line drives one after another, they’re hoping to establish some momentum with it.
Still, Nadine Rios, the team’s standout shortstop, is encouraged by their early showing. They’ve been competitive each game, despite playing without injured second baseman Katelyn Ramirez, who was cleared Friday, and Samantha Lopez, a third baseman who is still in season with the basketball team.
Those openings have allowed Smedley to experiment with some lineup changes. Kassidy Ramirez, who generally plays left field, pitched on Friday, and RGC was able to make other adjustments as it feels out its roster.
Through it all, Rios has been the model of consistency. She’s a capable hitter, slapper and bunter, and defensively she’s covered plenty of ground at shortstop. She said last year’s playoff appearance went a long way toward boosting the team’s confidence, while keeping it hungry to do better this year.
“It was really eye-opening,” Rios said. “It gave us something to look forward to. It gave the girls the confidence that we can actually do this.
“Since we made it to first round, it’ll push us to want to be bi-district champions. And then, who knows?”