By MARK MOLINA | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
After a rough top of the second inning on defense by the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers found themselves in a three-run hole to the Gregory-Portland Ladycats.
It wouldn’t last long as the Ladycats couldn’t get out of their own way, leaving the door open for the Lady Chargers.
The Lady Chargers scored four runs in the bottom half of the inning off Ladycat miscues and their defense held strong the rest of the way to secure a 5-3 Game 2 win and sweep their best-of-three area playoff series Friday night at Brownsville Veterans Memorial High School.
After allowing a solo home run to Gregory-Portland’s Sarah Chavez to lead off the second inning, Lady Chargers starter Cassie Valdez shook it off and allowed just two hits and pitched five straight shutout innings.
“I was just trying to make sure my team and I were going to pull through and not let that inning bring us down,” Valdez said. “We came through and we didn’t let up. We came with the energy that we started with. I couldn’t let (the home run) bring me down. My team was going to work for them, so I was going to work for them.”
Valdez tossed six shutout innings overall, allowed four hits and struck out eight batters.
It was another strong performance in the circle for the Lady Chargers (26-10) as junior Mia Anzaldua dominated, allowing just three hits with 17 strikeouts in a 5-3 win on Wednesday night in Game 1.
“We knew coming into this series, we were going to face a tough team,” Ladycats head coach Felicia Talamantez said. “They have two great pitchers in the circle. One (Anzaldua) really dominated and (Valdez) did a great job (Friday) — it was fantastic and we knew that.”
Gregory-Portland (20-11) committed four crucial errors on the night, leading to four of Brownsville Veterans’ five runs. Another came on a passed ball.
The Lady Chargers, meanwhile, had three errors of their own that also lead to a pair of Ladycats runs.
“It was a weird series and the team that made the least mistakes ended up winning,” Brownsville Veterans head coach Rayner Cardenas said. “That’s what the playoff atmosphere is like. You try to play your best defense and the team that plays the best defense will come out victorious more often than not. (Friday) were blessed because (Gregory-Portland) a solid team.
“They had one bad inning bad, we had one bad inning, but I’m glad we made one extra hit here and there when we needed to and pulled it out.”
After Chavez led off the second with a home run to deep left field, an error at second base allowed Kaitlyn Atkinson to score, making it 2-0.
Valdez struck out Paige Little, but a drop third strike forced a throw to first to secure the second out, leaving home plate open for Kayla Ochoa to come in and give Gregory-Portland a 3-0 lead.
Lady Charger catcher Harley Morales visited the circle during the inning and helped her team weather the storm.
“I had to reassure my pitcher and reassure my defense that we all have each other’s back,” Lady Charger catcher Harley Morales said. “No matter what, we’re going to believe in each other. If we make a mistake, we’re going to come back and we’re going to fix it.”
Brownsville Veterans would respond in the bottom of the inning.
With two on and nobody out, Jocelyn Head reached first on an error allowing a run to score to make it 3-1.
A passed ball two batters later allowed Liz Abete to score to make it a one-run game.
With the bases loaded and two out, Gio Leal reached first on an error at shortstop allowing Head to score and an overthrow shortly after led to Valdez coming in to make it 4-3.
The game would stay like that until the bottom of the sixth when Valdez scored an insurance run on another Ladycat error.
For the game, the Lady Chargers were held to just five hits after a solid outing by Ladycats pitcher Syndey Ouellette pitched five shutout innings with five strikeouts.
Valeria Ruiz was 2 for 4 at the plate and scored a run for the Lady Chargers.
The Lady Chargers will face the winner of Corpus Christi Carroll and Mission Veterans Memorial in the regional quarterfinals.