BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
In addition to San Benito’s critical 3-2 road victory against Weslaco, there was a sense that something more was on the line on Tuesday night. Perhaps it was Valley Supremacy. With three state semifinal appearances between them since 2013, two of the Valley’s most consistent and prolific programs were meeting on the same field for the first time as district mates since the UIL placed them in District 32-6A in January 2016.
For San Benito coach Kristy Leal, Tuesday did mean something more.
“I played here (at Weslaco) and Coach (Mario) Rod(riguez) was my coach,” Leal said. “I bleed purple – let’s put it that way. Now (at San Benito), I bleed purple with a little bit of gold.”
Leal played two seasons of softball first at Howard College in Big Spring and then at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa. After graduation from UTPB, Leal was accepted into graduate school at the University of Texas at El Paso where she also worked as a compliance graduate assistant inside UTEP’s athletic department. However, Leal’s itch to be on a softball diamond again had to be scratched. Following a year as a softball assistant at Donna, Leal took another softball assistant position at her alma mater alongside Rodriguez in 2014. A year later, Leal was hired to be the head softball coach at San Benito.
“Coach Leal was a player for me, an assistant with me. Hell, she lives here in Weslaco so I see her a lot,” Weslaco coach Mario Rodriguez said. “We’ve scrimmaged before, so it wasn’t anything like a welcoming back party. For us, it’s just another opponent we needed to face. And it was a quality opponent.”
Rodriguez was not interested in the hypothetical ramifications that an early-season district game could generate among fans.
“There’s still a lot of softball left. The winner of this game, whether it was us or them, it doesn’t catapult or guarantee you anything,” Rodriguez said. “You got to get hot at the right time. It’s just another way to prepare ourselves to get better.”
“The way I look at the game, and the way I tell my kids to look at it, is that every game is the same,” Leal said. “We’re going up against every opponent the same exact way. I’m not looking towards the future at a district championship. I’m looking forward to winning every game that is in front of us.”
Leal remembers her time as an assistant at Weslaco fondly, but it’s all business now as the coach of the Lady Greyhounds.
“It’s always nice coming back to Weslaco,” Leal said. “This is my home, but right now, my heart is in San Benito. I’m going to do my best to work for the Lady Hounds and get them some W’s over there.”
RIO HONDO ROLLING
A month ago, Rio Hondo (14-4, 6-0) wrapped up their first ever early-season tournament championship after defeating Edinburg High 7-4 in the La Joya Tournament championship game. Not much has changed since then. The Lady Bobcats have won eight games in a row with six of them coming in District 32-4A competition.
“That (La Joya) tournament really brought the kids together,” Rio Hondo coach Brett Esparza said. “We’ve tried to teach them to be selfless and let everyone be truly proud of each other when something good happens to any one of us. We’ve had different girls step up and be the hero on different days. We’ve tried to set up new goals for each other.”
One of those goals Esparza has urged his team to aim for is to not allow any district game reach the seventh inning. Esparza’s thinking is not one of superiority, but of self-awareness.
“On any given day, we’ve got to be at our best,” Esparza said. “We’ve walked around with a bulls-eye on our backs the last three years. So we expect to opponents to play us at their best.”
PSJA MEMORIAL TURNAROUND
Under first year coach Gilberto Rodriguez, the Lady Wolverines made their first playoff appearance in program history before bowing out in the regional quarterfinals to Edinburg North in 2016. Now in year two, PSJA Memorial (13-7, 4-1) has already won more regular season games than they did all of last season (12) and are looking to do some more damage with half of district play already in the books.
“My team is very young with seven sophomores and six freshmen,” Rodriguez said. “Their chemistry and confidence level has skyrocketed since the beginning of the season. The younger players weren’t ready for varsity softball at the start, but once I told them, ‘All girls are the same. Go out there and have fun,’ it’s been different.”
The Lady Wolverines are tied for second in District 31-6A with Edinburg North who they will face Friday night at 7 p.m. on Edinburg North’s home turf.