ROY HESS | Staff Writer
LA FERIA — The La Feria Lions broke into the win column in District 32-4A baseball Tuesday with a 12-2 victory in five innings against the Port Isabel Tarpons.
The win on their home diamond improved the Lions to 1-1 in district. La Feria was coming off a 6-5 setback against Progreso its 32-4A opener last week.
Port Isabel, coming off a loss to Raymondville at home in its district opener, slipped to 0-2 in 32-4A.
It felt great to win for the Lions after coming so close against the Red Ants, La Feria coach Jaime Acuna said.
“This feels good,” Acuna said. “Losing that first district game by one run was tough. We came in more focused tonight, got after it and hit the ball really well. That helped us a lot.
“I just think we hit the ball very well,” he added. “We were aggressive at the plate and we played very good defense. We had very few errors and we ran the bases well.”
After spotting the Tarpons a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, the Lions tallied five runs in the bottom of the first, two in the second, three in the third and two more to end things via the 10-run rule during the bottom of the fifth.
The Tarpons recorded their second run during the top of the fourth to make it 10-2 on an RBI sacrifice play by Alek Zermeno, but that was all the scoring they could muster.
“This game our bats came around,” said Roly Solis, a senior shortstop/pitcher who highlighted the Lions’ batting effort with a one-run, inside-the-park homer to deep center field with two outs in the bottom of the third. His home run made the score 10-1.
“I got my pitch and I couldn’t let it go (by),” added Solis, who previously had an inside-the-park homer as a freshman on the junior varsity for the Lions. “With my speed I was able to make it (around to the plate). I thought (while running the bases) I might be staying at third, but my coach waved me home, so I kept going and I made it.”
The Lions outhit the Tarpons 9-5. Leading the way at the plate for La Feria were Sabian Gonzalez (2-for-2, three RBIs) and Daniel Lopez (2-for-2).
Top batters for the Tarpons were Luis Bustamante (2-for-2) and Daniel Martinez (1-for-1 with an RBI).
E.J. Montalvo went the distance for La Feria to earn the pitching victory. Starter Matthew Cantu took the loss on the mound for the Tarpons.
Errors were a problem for Port Isabel as the Tarpons committed five of them. La Feria had two errors.
“We will get better,” Port Isabel coach Albert Barberena said.
District action continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Hidalgo is at La Feria and Port Isabel is at Grulla.