NATHANIEL MATA | THE MONITOR
WESLACO — Weslaco High needed only a sliver of opportunity to capitalize on early mistakes and hammer McAllen Memorial 11-0 in four innings Tuesday on opening night for both teams.
McAllen Memorial almost escaped the bottom of the first inning with no damage and a scoreless tie. Instead, with two outs, a strikeout turned into opportunity for the Panthers, who used a five-run inning to jump-start their offensive night.
“It was the first non-district game, and we were going to come in and give it our all,” Weslaco junior Ashley Sada said. “Once we started scoring runs, we got the momentum going and kept scoring runs and making contact.”
Sada was the winning pitcher with six strikeouts while also going 3 for 3 and collecting 5 RBIs as a hitter.
In the bottom of the first with one runner on base and Audrey Escamilla at the plate, Memorial’s Kayla Dow threw a pitch well inside that Escamilla chased for strike three. The Panthers cleanup hitter swung and missed, but the ball bounced off her arm and away from the catcher’s reach.
A case of opening-day jitters could have been to blame when none of the players moved on the live ball until yells came from the crowd and dugouts.
Escamilla’s speed was too much for Mustangs catcher Sasha Uribe to record the out. Weslaco’s Alyssa Escamilla scored the game’s first run on the play.
Five more batters reached the plate in the half-inning, and the runs piled up. Sada hit a single but reached third base as the Mustangs weren’t able to get Laurynn DeAnda out at home plate.
Amberly Barrera, the inning’s eighth hitter, reached base thanks to an error. Sada touched home to make the score 5-0 on the unearned run.
The start was a tough break for Dow, a sophomore who played shortstop last year but is transitioning to the rubber for the Mustangs.
Memorial coach Audra Benavidez said the game was a learning experience against solid hitting for her relatively young group and 10th-grade starter.
“We like to reassure her,” Benavides said of Dow. “That first half-inning, we told them exactly what it was. We should have been out of the inning with no runs. She needs to go through it so she knows what’s going on. She needs to know that we have confidence in her ,because we do.”
Dow was one of only two Mustangs to reach base with a hit.
Along with Sada, Weslaco leadoff hitter Helen Gonzalez made solid contact at the plate, notching a single and a triple in the game.
Alyssa Escamilla reached base all three at-bats with three singles, including two of the bunt variety.
Sada was pleased with her team’s ability to pounce on opportunities and turn them into production.
“Whenever we have the opportunity, we always come through,” Sada said. “It feels amazing to do what I planned to do on both hitting and pitching. Hopefully, it keeps going.”
Panthers coach Mario Rodriguez was hardly shocked that his pitcher tossed the shutout in the first game of the year.
“She had a good outing,” Rodriguez said. “I guess we take it for granted that we expect that from her or whoever is pitching for us. They all know they had a good defense behind them.”
The defensive player who stood out was third basemen Luna, who made a diving play before throwing out the Memorial batter.
“It’s still early in the season,” Rodriguez said. “All the teams are trying to put the pieces to the puzzle together. What I liked was the fact that situations presented themselves, and we took advantage of them.”