MISSION — Veteran pitcher Brianna Salinas did it all for Edinburg Vela, clubbing home a pair of runs and pitching 10 innings of two-run softball to help the SaberCats earn a 3-2 extra-innings victory over Harlingen High in a bitter pitchers’ duel on Day 3 of the La Joya Tournament on Saturday at La Joya Juarez-Lincoln High School.
“It feels great. We pushed through and were able to win,” Salinas said. “We’re a little tired, but we’ll get through it.”
Harlingen High, which started the day still undefeated on the season, and Edinburg Vela, entering the contest ranked No. 3 in the state in Class 6A by the Texas Girls Coaches Association, both struggled to get runners on base and push runs across in the early innings.
Salinas and Harlingen’s Audrie Sayas both tossed gems inside the circle with neither starting pitcher yielding many mistakes early on.
But an equally important factor for batters on both sides was the wind, which came steadily blustering in from centerfield toward home plate with gusts up to 25 mph, which kicked up dirt on the infield and dragged down balls hit in the air.
“The wind killed us,” Edinburg Vela head coach Jon Maples said. “That’s what hurt us a lot. We hit the ball hard and the wind knocked it down.”
The SaberCats stranded a runner at third during the top of the first inning after a leadoff base hit and left runners at second in both the third and fourth innings. The Cardinals didn’t land their first base runner until the bottom of the fourth, when they stranded the bases loaded.
Salinas, however, cracked the game wide open in the top of the sixth, when she smacked a two-run double into the gap in left-centerfield before being thrown out trying for third.
The Cardinals clapped back in the bottom of the inning, though. An infield error and a hit by pitch put runners on first and second for center fielder Athena Linnartz, who singled to shallow center to push one run across.
A series of wild pitches send another runner home and Linnartz to third to tie the game with one out. Linnartz tried to scamper home on a weak grounder, but Vela catcher Destine Garcia threw her out with a laser throw to third to preserve the tie.
“Our girls are veteran girls and they’re going to find a way to get an out. They had a runner at third base with one out and we were ready for everything,” Maples said. “Our girls are ready when they put a bunt down or hit a ground ball in the infield. It shows how good of a veteran team they are. That’s the reason why we have a bull’s-eye on our back and that’s why we’re No. 3 in the state.”
Neither side could build much momentum in extra innings until the 10th, when Vela left fielder Ava Perez reached base on an infield error. In the next at-bat, SaberCats first baseman Monee Montilla swatted an RBI triple to the wall in the right field gap, pushing Vela ahead 3-2.
After getting hit by a pitch in the top half of the inning, Salinas retook the circle. Harlingen shortstop Alexa Perez knocked a two-out triple to left, but was held at third when Salinas slammed the door shut.
In her longest ever outing, she tallied eight strikeouts and one walk through nine scoreless innings of work and outdueled Sayas, who struck out 11 while allowing just one walk and two runs in nine innings of work.
“It feels good. I’m surprised I didn’t really feel any soreness or anything,” Salinas said of her throwing arm after the extra-innings victory. “There was more excitement and we were more pumped up this game. With all that happened we just got more excited and more pumped up. That’s what carried me through this one.”
The SaberCats will return to action for a non-district clash against Harlingen South at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Harlingen.