By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
The reigning RGVSports.com All-Valley newcomer of the year showed no letdown in the start to her sophomore season.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial’s Cassie Valdez was nearly unhittable and the Lady Chargers backed her with a pair of runs during the fourth inning to take a 2-0 victory over Edinburg Vela on Tuesday night in a non-district game at Brownsville Veterans.
“That girl has been working so hard in the offseason,” Brownsville Veterans coach Ray Cardenas said. “Her goal is to become a Division I pitcher. She is working extremely hard to accomplish that. You can tell from the improvement from last year to this year, as dominant as she was, you can tell she’s at another level.
“Everything she did (Tuesday) goes back to the dedication she has for her sport. She knows she has to keeping working and she has.”
Valdez went the distance, allowing no runs on just one hit (a seventh-inning infield single), one walk and 18 strikeouts for the Lady Chargers in the win.
“I felt great. My team was behind me, talking to me, giving me words of confidence,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking about the crowd or the girls. I was just pitching my game and doing what I was supposed to do. I relaxed and had a great game.”
Through the first few innings, Brownsville Veterans and Edinburg Vela were locked in a pitcher’s duel as Valdez and Shayla Abbott kept putting zeros on the opponent’s scoreboard.
The Lady Chargers broke a scoreless tie during the fourth. Sarah Sandoval singled and advanced to third on a Harley Morales single, and she scored on an errant throw by the Edinburg Vela catcher to put the Lady Chargers on the board. Two batters later, Kiana Silva hit a single to center field that scored another run to give Brownsville Veterans a 2-0 lead.
“We knew it was going to be tough,” Cardenas said. “It came through in that one inning. (Abbott) is a great pitcher and we knew it was going to be hard to score, and they made it difficult for us.”
That is all Valdez needed. The sophomore didn’t allow a runner past second base and didn’t allow a hit until Edinburg Vela’s Areisy Carrsuo beat out an infield shot to the shortstop during the seventh inning.
“Just adjusting, (Valdez) has a great inside pitch, it really got us,” Edinburg Vela coach Belinda Trevino said. “We didn’t adjust enough at the plate, so if we can just get past that mental block, we’ll be all right.”
Abbott was impressive as well on the mound, but a few mistakes cost the Lady Sabercats. She took the loss, allowing two runs (one earned) on seven hits, no walks and eight strikeouts.
The Lady Sabercats’ coach was pleased with her team’s effort.
“A little mistake here and a little mistake there, but as a team we are where we need to be,” Trevino said. “We can only improve from here. We can only learn from those mistakes.
“For the first game, the way we played, I couldn’t be happier.”
Cardenas said his team expected a tight game with Edinburg Vela.
“I thought we hit the ball well, we just couldn’t get that one big hit,” he said. “We knew they are a talented, well-coached team and we knew it was going to be a battle.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.