KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
SAN BENITO—For a second straight week, mother nature threw a wrench into the softball world.
With San Benito’s match up against Brownsville Hanna pushed to Wednesday, the Lady ’Hounds needed a spark and got one from their big bats in Jaelynn Huerta and Jordan Ramos.
The Lady Greyhounds offense took a four-run lead into the fourth inning, until Huerta and Ramos opened the flood gates. The five-run frame was highlighted by a three-run homer from Huerta that proved to be enough as San Benito rebounded with a 9-6 win over Brownsville Hanna.
“We need those timely hits to score those runs,” said San Benito coach Denise Lira. “We have talked about it before and our timely hitting helps build our leads early and whether they are big leads or small, it definitely gets our momentum going.”
Both Ramos and Huerta have been swinging hot bats and have become mainstays in the middle of the San Benito lineup. Ramos finished the night going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Huerta drove in four runs and went 1-for-3 at the plate.
Lead-off batter April Garcia scored three runs and checked in a 2-for-3 night along with Kari Cisneros who also went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored.
Senior pitcher Nana Carrizales started in the circle and was sharp for three innings, only yielding one base runner via a walk. Carrizales ran into trouble in the fifth inning after surrendering a three run homer to Alex Rivera that helped spark a Hanna rally.
Carrizales finished the night by tossing four innings, giving up six hits, four runs, walked two and struck out six. Sophomore hurler Jenessa Silva came in relief and retired the first five batters she faced and helped San Benito wiggle out a fifth inning jam.
“When I got the ball, coach Lira just told me to do my best,” said Silva. “I just needed to take time and realize the situation and figure out a way to help my team. When I go in to pitch, I don’t worry because I know I have a strong defense behind me and they will back me up and they did that tonight.”
Silva helped seal the win for San Benito, and gave up three hits and two runs — both in the seventh inning. She finished with three innings of work, giving up three hits and one walk.
“Nana did well for us again. She started for us and kept Hanna off balance,” Lira said. “Jenessa came in and did an amazing job and got us out of that jam in the fifth, but she did a great job on coming in and getting the job done and kept their batters off balance.”
Brownsville Hanna sits with a 2-1 district record, but will close out the first round with Los Fresnos, then Harlingen South.
“All of our games have been close,” said Hanna coach Greg Larson. “Tonight was close too and every game is crucial and it can go either way. Now we will prepare for Los Fresnos and they are a tough team and can hit the ball extremely well. So we have our work cut out for us and then we have Harlingen South after that.”
San Benito meanwhile will travel to Brownsville Rivera on Friday before wrapping up the first round of league play against Los Fresnos. Wednesday’s win was also a good way to respond after a tough loss against Harlingen South last Friday.
“We take every game with a one game at a time approach and we take each opponent seriously and we don’t take anyone lightly.” Said Lira.