CLAIRE CRUZ | Special to the Star
LYFORD — In a game plagued by errors, Lyford fought back for a 3-2 win to open its Class 3A bi-district playoff series with Banquete.
“We believe heavily in our faith and we say we will not be shaken, we’re going to stick together and that’s what we did,” Lyford head coach Joey Rios said. “No matter the ups and downs or the way the game turns, we’re going to keep playing. Adversity struck and we never sat down.”
Banquete jumped on the board in the first behind a two-out, RBI single from third baseman Zoe Urrea. Lyford answered in the second when shortstop Karla Medina reached on an error to start the inning and her pinch runner later scored on a bad Banquete throw.
Lyford pitcher Evelyn Ortiz held the Lady Dogs scoreless for three frames, but her defense faltered again in the fifth. Medina fielded a groundball off the bat of her shortstop counterpart Amaya Gomez cleanly, but her throw was dropped at second to load the bases. Banquete second baseman Alyssa Garza then hit a sacrifice fly on the first pitch of her at-bat to give the Lady Dogs a 2-1 lead.
The Lady Bulldogs went down quickly in the bottom half of that frame and it looked like they would follow suit in the sixth thanks to two outstanding defensive plays from Banquete.
With two down, Medina hit a routine grounder straight at Garza, but the ball rolled under her glove. Right fielder Leilani Salazar stepped up to the plate and delivered a hard-hit single to right-center field. Banquete’s center fielder misplayed the ball, and two rouge throws later, Medina and Salazar had both crossed home plate to give Lyford a 3-2 advantage.
“Man, I was so hyped,” Salazar said. “That’s the biggest hit of my season and I give all glory to God. I wouldn’t be able to do that without my coaches and my teammates motivating me.”
Banquete got two hits in the top of the seventh, but Ortiz forced consecutive fly ball outs to clinch the win for Lyford.
“I felt so much more comfortable (after the runs), I wasn’t as pressured and I was like, ‘okay, if they can do it, I can do it,’” Ortiz said. “They push me to be better and I had to be there for them as they were for me.”
Lyford will travel to Banquete on Saturday to close out the series. Game two will start at 11 a.m. and game three will follow, if needed.