BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
WESLACO — A combination of timely hitting and strong pitching catapulted the Weslaco High Lady Panthers to a 12-2 victory in five innings over the Brownsville Hanna Lady Eagles at Weslaco Softball Field on Tuesday night.
Senior pitcher Taylor Tafolla gave up two runs on a home run to Hanna’s Ariana Arceneaux in the first inning but settled down in the next three. Changing speeds on the Hanna hitters, Tafolla allowed only one more hit and struck out four Lady Eagles in that span.
“The hit that caused the two runs — she (Arceneaux) was a really tall batter, and we threw a riser at her,” Tafolla said. “We probably should have went at her hands. It was just that one bad pitch. I’m pretty sure that if I had thrown something else, that probably wouldn’t have happened. But I learned from my mistake and I didn’t throw it at her anymore.”
Weslaco answered with three runs in the bottom half of the first, capped off by a two-run single by senior third baseman Jenny Guillen. Guillen stepped to the plate three more times and registered three additional run-scoring hits: an RBI double in the third, an RBI single in the fourth and another RBI double in the fifth that would give the Lady Panthers a 10-run advantage and end the game.
“In my first two at-bats, I was down to two strikes,” Guillen said. “My thinking was to just get on base. I trusted my teammates to bring me in, and that’s what they did.”
Weslaco ended the game by scoring the game’s final 12 runs, with at least one Lady Panther crossing the plate in every inning. Weslaco coach Mario Rodriguez wasn’t surprised by his bats waking up after a two-run deficit.
“Those are things we work on in practice every day,” Rodriguez said. “You’re hoping that you can put two or three hits together and bring a run in here and there and play solid defense.”
Weslaco improves to 12-2 overall with a 2-0 record in District 32-6A competition. However, Rodriguez isn’t ready to make any declarations about where his club stands in March.
“It’s still early, but we feel pretty good about ourselves,” Rodriguez said. “There’s still a lot of games to be played. Anything can happen in this district, which is a very tough district we’re in. We’re taking it one game at a time.”