BY TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
WESLACO — A general sense of disbelief ran through the stands and press box deep into Tuesday’s game.
The powerful, perennial playoff contending Weslaco High Lady Panthers were up just a couple runs against scrappy rival Weslaco East in a matchup usually dominated by big brother. Lady Panthers backers seemed miffed they were not up by a dozen, and Lady Wildcats fans were somewhat surprised their team was still in it.
But by the seventh inning, order was restored.
Pitchers Taylor Tafolla and Ashley Sada combined to pitch a three-hit shutout at home and Jenny Guillen smacked a home run to left-center to help the Lady Panthers notch a tough, 3-0 victory over crosstown rival Weslaco East on Tuesday night.
“No disrespect to Weslaco East, they have a good little ball club over there, but we just didn’t play up to our potential,” Wesalco coach Mario Rodriguez said. “We relied on our pitching and defense to get out of this one, and we were lucky to do so.”
Indeed they did. Tafolla pitched the game’s first three innings and gave up just one hit and three walks, racking up three strikeouts. Rodriguez inserted Sada in the top of the fourth with a 1-0 lead, and she faced the game’s remaining 15 batters. She struck out six, walked none and surrendered just two hits.
Meanwhile, the Lady Panthers’ defense tightened up and helped strand six runners, not letting any past second base. Weslaco East threatened a few times in the second, third and fifth innings but could not complete the job.
Rodriguez said he has the luxury of some really good pitchers and doesn’t feel the need, at this point in the season, to make a pitcher go the distance. Sada was masterful in her last two innings, seemingly getting better as the night went on. She sat down the last seven batters consecutively.
Weslaco East coach Adalberto Guerra said the Lady Wildcats (4-4, 13-8) had their chances, but they have to move on to the next game.
“We’ve got six games left. We are still in the hunt, still in fourth place, hopefully,” he said. “We are working hard. Let’s see where we go from here.”
The Lady Panthers (7-1, 17-3), on the other hand, keep marching along. Even though they won with defense, Guillen, Charlene DeAnda and Andrey Escamilla provided the offensive punch the Lady Panthers needed. DeAnda went 2 for 3 with a double, triple and a scored run. Escamilla, the catcher, went 2 for 3, belting a triple and a single and posting one RBI.
Escamilla said Weslaco will have nights like Tuesday. The squad just has to grind through them and get situated before the playoffs.
“Coming into this game, coach was just being open to new ideas, putting people in new positions,” Escamilla said about the team’s performance. “I think he was trying to get a lineup that will fit the rest of the season and something that will work for us down the line.”