KEVIN NARRO | Valley Morning Star
CORPUS CHRISTI — The Harlingen South Lady Hawks almost saw their softball season come to an end on Saturday.
After they let a 4-2 lead in their Class 6A area-round playoff game against South San Antonio slip away and fell behind 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, it was the same song, different verse for the Lady Hawks: Trail late, but bolt down and never back down.
Alyssa Ledesma got on base with a leadoff single, bringing to the plate Christina Arellano, who represented the winning run.
With the flick of her bat, Arellano belted a two-run, walk-off homer that sent the Lady Hawks to a dramatic 6-5 win over South San.
“I always pray before every at-bat,” Arellano said. “I tried to stay strong and confident at the plate; we stayed mentally tough. It’s a big part of the game to stay focused. Like today, we got down but didn’t give up and we won. Right now I’m still shaking. When I hit it, I knew it was gone and I couldn’t believe it. I was speechless.”
Harlingen South is now back to the regional quarterfinals for a second straight year and will meet the winner between Laredo Alexander and Edinburg Vela next week.
All season long South skipper Elias Martinez preached mental toughness and to never back down. Saturday’s walk-off win displayed those messages.
“There are no words to describe how we are feeling right now,” Martinez said. “We have our motto, ‘Lady Hawks don’t back down’ and that is what I told the girls before the bottom of the seventh. It’s not over until it’s over. The girls kept battling all afternoon and they kept their composer. I’m so proud of them.”
Arellano finished the afternoon 1 for 2 at the plate and the walk-off home run was the first of her career.
“I was so excited that I hit the ball over the fence. Now we’re into round three and as a sophomore to be back in the third round is a great feeling. We are excited to have another week of softball.” Arellano said.
South San Antonio jumped on the Lady Hawks early with a two-run homer by Elisha Diaz. But Harlingen South answered with a run in the first and then took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third off a two-run double by Ledesma, who finished the afternoon 3 for 4 with two runs and three RBIs.
Meanwhile, senior pitcher Kaitlynn De La Fuente shook off the rough first inning and retired seven straight after the first-inning blemish.
De La Fuente struck out the side in the fifth and wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and seventh innings, keeping the Lady Hawks within striking distance. She finished with 10 strikeouts through seven full innings of work.
“I can’t say enough about Kaitlynn,” Martinez said. “She came through for us and the entire team. We can go down the list, they all made some clutch plays. They are all blue-collared workers. The kids come ready to work every day, and they show mental toughness each and every day.”