BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
The journey began in 2000. Ramon Arciba enrolled his daughter Samantha, then 5 years old, into a softball team through the City of Edinburg’s Parks and Recreation department. It had to be softball, because a T-ball team did not exist.
Arciba volunteered to be one of his daughter’s coaches who helped pitch to the young girls. Halfway through his daughter’s first season, her head coach decided to quit the team.
“No one else was willing to step up, so I took the (head coaching) role,” Arciba said. “We didn’t win one game that season, but I got hooked on the sport and decided to keep going with it.”
Samantha started playing travel ball when she was nine. Her team would go to places like Corpus Christi, Kingsville and San Antonio and would “get beat pretty bad by those teams,” according to Arciba. Not long after, Arciba had an idea to bring he and his daughter closer together.
In 2006, he formed an organization called RGV Venom softball and ran it for three years. Then, he joined forces with another travel team, RGV Heat, and coached part time alongside Heat head coach Kevin Kanipe for four years. In the meantime, Arciba completed his education with a degree in kinesiology while working as a teacher full time to support his wife and two children.
“I’d get home at 10 or 11 p.m., stay up until about two or three in the morning doing homework and then get up at 6:30 a.m. and do it all over again,” Arciba said.
As he continued to split time with the travel softball team, Arciba began his teaching career at PFC David Ybarra Middle School in Edcouch. He worked there for five years before getting the opportunity to work at Edinburg’s South Middle School in 2013. Arciba helped get their softball program off the ground last year, and his seventh and eighth grade teams both went undefeated and won district titles.
When the Edinburg High softball job opened up, Arciba wasn’t sure if he’d get it. Edinburg High is the same place where his daughter Samantha played softball. She helped the program make three trips to the Sweet 16 in four seasons.
“My wife was the one who kept telling me, ‘You’re qualified for the job. Give it a shot,’” Arciba said.
Under Arciba’s direction, the Lady Bobcats own the best overall record in the Valley at 18-2 and a perfect 7-0 district record. Edinburg High will host Edinburg Economedes on Friday night.
LA JOYA LANDMARK
La Joya High coach Carlos Rodriguez is a historical figure in Lady Coyotes softball because he is exactly that: history. Rodriguez is the first and only softball coach since La Joya High (17-4, 4-2) began fielding a team in the 1994-95 school year. Rodriguez earned his 400th victory as a coach after his Lady Coyotes ran past La Joya Palmview 19-5 on Tuesday night.
“It (the 400th win) was good for the program,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve had a lot of good athletes and coaches come by here. Of course, our support system is outstanding, from our administration and athletic department to the groundskeeper. Everybody pitches in and wants to see our student-athletes succeed.”
La Joya will be back in action at Mission High on Friday night.
NO TURNING BACK
Sharyland Pioneer (16-4, 9-0) is on a roll. Recognizing their nine-game winning streak in district play on its own might unintentionally minimize the achievements the Lady Diamondbacks have amassed. In those nine games, Pioneer has shut out six opponents, including the last four in a row. The last time Pioneer gave up a run was in a 9-6 win over Sharyland High back on March 13. Since then, the team has outscored the competition 59-0 in four games and 123-11 in all nine district games combined.
“We’re doing OK,” Pioneer coach Orlando Garcia said. “I think a big part of it is the contributions that all of our girls have been putting into our team.”
For a team that has demolished opponents, the last thing Garcia wants to do is to practice his team more than he needs to.
“We do not run long practices,” Garcia said. “My practices are structured like so: we do what needs to be done for a particular day, and we go home. If that’s an hour, an hour and a half, or two hours, so be it. We want to make sure the girls are going to be fresh for us when we get to the playoffs.”
Pioneer will travel to Laredo Nixon on Friday night.