BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Coming into the 2019 season, Harlingen South was widely considered one of the top softball teams in Valley.
The Hawks brought a sizable contingent of players who were a heartbeat away from playing in the Sweet Sixteen a season ago. The new District 32-6A shrunk by two teams, which appeared to open the door for South to run away with the district.
But that door closed earlier this month. San Benito and Los Fresnos beat South in back-to-back games, dropping the Hawks to a second-place finish they held on to entering the postseason.
“It’s a long season and you’re allowed to have a couple bad games,” Harlingen South coach Elias Martinez said. “Unfortunately, they were against quality teams, but that’s our district. Those losses helped prepare us for the playoffs.”
The Hawks walked into an environment full of Edinburg North supporters and non-ENHS softball fans alike to enjoy the only Upper Valley playoff game Wednesday. Harlingen South prevailed in an 11-1, five-inning victory over ENHS in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round series.
“Our girls are what I like to call blue-collar workers,” Martinez said. “They get up and they come to work. Nobody’s going to give us anything. We have to go out there and earn it, but we have to earn it in practice. If you practice well, you’re going to play well.”
Harlingen South’s scoring started and ended with freshman Iliana Saucedo. Her two-run single put the Hawks up 2-0 in the first inning. Later in the fifth, Saucedo’s two-run double gave South its final margin of victory.
“We believe in ourselves,” Saucedo said. “It’s more of a mindset that we have had from the beginning. Our lineup is a beast’s lineup, so we feel pretty confident going against any team with our lineup and our pitchers.”
Harlingen South (28-6) starter Kylie Ruiz allowed just two hits and one run over five innings. Both hits belong to Edinburg North second baseman Annabel Segoviano, who singled in the first and later hit a solo home run in the fourth for the Cougars’ lone run.
But Iliana Saucedo wasn’t the only Saucedo to leave her mark in Wednesday’s win. Iliana’s older sister, third baseman Alexa Saucedo, stepped into the batter’s box at a critical moment in the third inning.
With two runners aboard, Alexa Saucedo launched an offering from ENHS pitcher Natalie Rodriguez over the center field wall for a three-run blast that upped the Hawks advantage to 6-0.
“I was really happy for her because usually I’m the one who’s hitting a home run,” Iliana Saucedo joked.
“We had some holes to fill from last year’s team and they’ve filled in great,” Martinez said of the Saucedo sisters. “I can’t say enough good things about those girls and it comes back to our team’s mentality: they all come to work. We don’t mind getting down and dirty.”
The Hawks built their lead, in part, due to several Edinburg North (22-9) errors in the infield.
“We worked hard the last three practices,” Edinburg North coach Richard Tressler said. “It’s like (ENHS assistant) coach (Adrian) Cavazos has said: ‘We can’t translate it from practice into the games.’ I’m a little embarrassed because I know we’re a better team than that. It might be hard for someone on the outside looking in to believe me when I say that, but I know I have a better team than what was displayed here tonight.”
Harlingen South can close out the series when it hosts Edinburg North for Game 2 at 7 p.m. today in Harlingen.