KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star
CORPUS CHRISTI — After dropping Game 2 of their area-round playoff series on Saturday, San Benito’s season was on the line in a winner-take-all Game 3 against San Antonio Southwest.
Trailing 4-2 in the sixth inning, San Benito needed a spark and got one. For a good portion of the series, the Lady Hounds’ offense couldn’t seem to get the big hit. That was until the magical sixth inning of Game 3.
San Benito swatted seven hits and plated seven runs to storm back and win 10-4 sending San Antonio Southwest packing. The Lady Hounds won the series 2-1 to advance to the regional quarterfinals for the first time since 2015.
The Lady Hounds will now meet Eagle Pass sometime next week.
“The girls did such a great job fighting through some tough innings,” said San Benito coach Denise Lira. “Southwest is a great team and we knew this series was going to be tough.”
The Lady Hounds fed off a triple by Audrey Huerta and a double by Deztiny Hernandez in the sixth inning.
Aaliyah Rangel got the rally going by getting hit by a pitch and later in the inning, Megan Ybarra and AJ Jasso reached on a pair of doubles.
“We are excited to be advancing to the next round,” Lira said. “We’re going to enjoy it, but we will be back to work on Monday.”
Senior Joanna Gonzalez is excited to be back in the third round for a second time in her career.
“It’s relieving,” said Gonzalez. “That word describes perfectly how I feel, not only because we won, but I know we fought as one team to come from behind with our backs against the wall right after losing Game 2.”