BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
After the retirement of Weslaco East softball coach Adalberto Guerra, Weslaco ISD tabbed Victoria Vasquez to take over the role last summer.
Vasquez is a familiar face around the East campus and the Weslaco community. She spent 10 years as a coach for the Weslaco Krush, a U-14 softball travel team, before going back to school for her teaching degree and joining Guerra’s coaching staff at East in 2016.
While Vasquez is returning from last year’s staff, the Wildcats have formed a new identity.
“We’re playing with more of a defensive and aggressive baserunning bent,” Vasquez said. “We have six new coaches on our staff, and the girls have bought into our system. We’re not playing safe. We’re asking the girls to dive for the ball instead of letting the ball bounce in front of them. We’re a lot more aggressive.”
As first-year coaching gigs go, Vasquez stepped into an enviable position. The Wildcats return 12 players, including pitchers Amanda Aguirre and Jasmine Garcia along with two other seniors, from the 2017 team that qualified for the playoffs.
“Those seniors have really stepped in and helped lead the team on the field and in practices,” Vasquez said. “We wanted to get to them first, because they were under a different coaching style for three years. But they were eager to take the challenge on.”
Vasquez views Aguirre and Garcia as tentpoles of the Wildcats program.
“They are our one-two punch in the circle,” Vasquez said. “Mandy’s our ace. She does a hell of a job for us and in the dugout. That kid is just a workhorse. Jasmine is your textbook utility player. She has played every single position on the field so far this year. She can do it all. Wherever we need her, she’s ready to go and fill in a spot.”
The Wildcats are 13-5-2 overall with a 1-2 mark in District 32-6A. Weslaco East’s first three district games were against heavy hitters: Weslaco High, San Benito and Los Fresnos. The Wildcats lost to the Greyhounds in extra innings and on Tuesday defeated a Falcons team that appeared in the La Joya Tournament championship game on Feb. 24.
“If you go back and look at the books, we gave up one earned run (out of six total) in the San Benito game,” Vasquez said. “We had nine errors — five of them in the fifth inning. We told the girls afterward that they were right there with them.
“We know how competitive San Benito always is, but if we take away those errors, the game would have ended differently. Los Fresnos has excellent hitting, but our defense carried us, even after we made some errors. We faced three of the toughest teams in our district early, and I believe this will only help us get ready for every single game after that.”