By MARK MOLINA,STAFF WRITER
With the wind gusting both the Lady Lobo and Edcouch Elsa Lady Jacket defenses struggled with routine plays throughout their game.
But it was the Lady Jacket bats that would see them through the as they put up seven runs in the top of the fourth inning and never looked back, defeating the Lady Lobos 11-7 in a District 32-5A contest Tuesday night at Lopez high school.
After trailing 3-0 through three complete innings, Edcouch Elsa scored runs in three of the next four innings.
It proved too much for the Lopez lineup, who couldn’t get going against Lady Jacket starter Jazlyn Lara, who picked up the win after pitching a full seven innings.
“We did not hit the ball and we did not get the production we wanted,” Lopez head coach Jesse Martinez said following the loss. “We had a couple of good hits and we got a little over anxious trying to hit against this kid and she did a good job keeping the ball away from the playte. The girls tried to do what they couldn’t and unfortunately we came up short.
“Edcouch Elsa did hit the ball and I was impressed with their hitting.”
On the night, Edcouch Elsa recorded 12 hits and nine earned runs.
With the Lady Jacket win and the Lopez loss, both teams are tied for thrid place with 5-3 records after spliting the district series.
“We told the girls that it was a big game and that if they wanted it, they had to come out aggressively ann hitting the ball better and taking better pitches,” Lady Jacket head coach Ruth Flores said. “They did their job. Tt took us a while to get started, but once we did, our confidence built.
“Now we’re tied with Lopez and hopefully we can take care of the rest of the district — I’m excited by the way we played.”
While Lopez didn’t record a hit until the fifth inning, Edcouch Elsa errors opened the door for early run in the top of the first.
Already leading 1-0 after an earlier error of the Lady Jackets, Lady Lobo Savannah Shank reached first on an error at first base, allowing Aileen Castillo and Lexi Castro to come across to make it a 3-0 game.
Lara hit the next two batters to load the bases, but they were left stranded as Lopez couldn’t get any more runs across in the inning.
“The wind played a factor for both teams tonight,” Flores said. “I told the girls to just stay patient and just do their job.”
The patience would pay off as neither team would get anything going until the top of the fourth when Edcouch opened it up.
With two on and no outs, Lady Jacket Jackie Alvarado hit a double to deep left field to bring in two runs and make it a one-run game.
After a hit-by-pitch and an error on Lopez loaded the bases, Odessa Mata hit a double of her own to bring in two more runs and give Edcouch Elsa a 4-3 lead.
The Lady Jackets would bring in three more runs and push their lead to 7-3 in an inning where they racked up five hits and the Lady Lobos committed three errors.
“Edcouch got the timely hits and they hit it hard,” Martinez said. “They hit it in the gap when they needed to and unfortunately, we had a few errors when we didn’t need them. We just couldn’t come back from it.”
Both teams would exchange runs in the fith and sixth innings and Lopez never got withing four runs.
Lara finished the night giving up just two hits and three earned runs, while her defense committed six errors, allowing four more unearned runs to cross.
For Lopez, starting pitcher Kassi Rubio took the loss, giving up 11 hits, seven earned runs and picked up one strikeout in five innings of work, before being replaced by relief pitcher Alex Castro for the final two innings.
Lexi Castro went 1 for 3 with two RBIs, while Alex Castro was 1 for 3 with a walk and an RBI for Lopez.
For the Lady Jackets, Alvarado was 2 for 4 with three RBIs.