BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
Donna High doesn’t want the 2019 softball season to end the way 2018 did.
Last season, Donna finished in a two-way tie for fifth place in District 32-5A.
“That kind of lit a fire under our butts,” Donna High coach Adrian Lopez said. “We felt that we had a good enough ballclub (to make the playoffs). Things just didn’t go our way. We started off slow this year. Our outfield was a big question early, but as we’ve gone through the year, our outfield is playing much better.”
Donna’s pitching has come around, as well. During Tuesday’s 10-run win over Brownsville Pace, Donna held the Vikings to just one run.
“Our pitcher, Alexandra Perez, did an outstanding job shutting them down,” Lopez said. “She gave up her only run in the first inning. After that, she was lights out. We also made some plays defensively that got us out of tough situations. It took us a little bit to get used to their (Brownsville Pace) pitcher. Our batters were way ahead of the ball early on, but we waited on it and put the ball in play.”
Donna High (13-13, 5-6) finds itself in a nearly identical situation as it was a year ago. Donna is looking up at Brownsville Lopez, the No. 4 seed in 32-5A, with three games left to play. The difference: Donna is just a game behind the Lobos. The two teams will also tussle at 7 tonight in Brownsville.
Not only will Donna High have a chance to force a fourth-place tie by the end of the night, it will face second-place Mercedes on the road Tuesday.
“We’re going to have to practice hard these next few days and get mentally prepared to go into hostile environments,” Lopez said. “We can’t worry about anything else except playing softball and playing the game to the best of our abilities. It’s catching, throwing and hitting. We have to be able to do all three.”