BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
KINGSVILLE — The Edinburg Vela SaberCats needed to fine-tune two areas going into a must-win Game 2 against San Antonio Warren. Their offense had to do more than stack runners on base. They had to bring them home. Their reliable defense had to do more than cut down on mistakes. They had to eliminate them completely to have any hope of forcing a sudden-death Game 3.
An error, however, would be the SaberCats’ undoing once again, leading to a 4-3 loss to San Antonio Warren on Saturday at Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Warriors swept the best-of-three series and will face off with New Braunfels Canyon, another San Antonio-area school, in the Class 6A regional finals next week.
“There were some bang-bang plays and some close plays at home, but that’s the nature of the beast,” Edinburg Vela coach Jon Maples said. “We had to adapt on the fly, but it’s hard to do that when some calls were clearly there and they weren’t called. We had some good momentum, but there aren’t any excuses. We had our chances.”
San Antonio Warren’s Cassie Davis began the third inning with a stand-up triple. Lauren Garcia brought Davis home with a towering two-run blast to left field to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead.
The SaberCats (32-8) got on the board in the fourth, when junior Amber Guerra led off with a solo shot to left-center field, cutting the lead in half. The good times continued in the fifth. Vela loaded the bases with one out, and Guerra came through once more.
The junior lofted a single over the outstretched arm of Warren shortstop Austin Germain, plating two and helping the SaberCats go up 3-2. Edinburg Vela’s one-run lead marked the first time San Antonio Warren trailed during the 2018 postseason.
“She (Warren pitcher Annika Litterio) likes to pitch up in the zone,” Guerra said. “I saw her warming up, and I felt like this was my chance to put some runs up for my team.”
Guerra pinch hit and went 0 for 1 in Game 1, but Saturday marked her first appearance in the starting lineup since Vela’s bi-district series against Weslaco High.
“I knew it was going to be a tough game,” Guerra said. “I told myself, ‘Everything I do today is for my team.’ That mindset helped me do what I did today. Everything is for them.”
Vela pitcher Naomi Reyes tried to work through a sixth inning in which Warren put two runners in scoring position with one out. Warren’s Lauryn Hernandez hit a grounder to Vela second baseman Kameryn Casares, who fielded the ball but could not complete the throw to first accurately. The error allowed Briana Arredondo to score the game-tying run.
“These girls from Warren hustle down the line,” Maples said. “They’re uncanny. Coaches tell their players to hustle all the time, but all nine of them hustle down the line. They put pressure on you. They make you charge the ball and make a good throw. That’s how good Warren is, and they’re going to push (New Braunfels) Canyon this way. They’re going to hustle through any throw. Those things can start a rally.”
Davis started another Warren rally in the seventh with a single. Three batters later, second baseman Dynasty Harpel doubled in Davis to put the Warriors (27-5) in front to stay.
Reyes started her high school career as an Edinburg High Bobcat but ended as a SaberCat. She posted career highs in several pitching categories, and her softball career did not end Saturday. Reyes will move on to Texas Southern this fall.
“It’s sad, because I’m not going to be able to play with the same girls anymore,” Reyes said. “Our dugout was so much fun. The team bus is lit. We have our speakers blasting out music. If one speaker dies, we always have another one ready. It was so much fun, and I think that’s because coach Maples let us be like that. He knew what we had to do, and we knew what we had to do.”
By virtue of San Benito dropping a one-game playoff Friday night, the SaberCats were the last Valley team standing in the playoffs. The 2018 season will be remembered as the year Vela became a power player in Valley softball.
“We did our media day interviews at PSJA High before the year, and they asked us what our goals were. We told them we wanted to be the last team standing,” Maples said. “The people that believed in this team believed this was possible. Experiencing these four weeks with these girls was special.”