By EDWARD SEVERN, Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers cruised to a 16-0 victory against the Edcouch-Elsa Lady Yellowjackets in a District 32-5A meeting Friday night.
“Our team really focused on hitting these last couple of weeks,” Chargers coach Heriberto Rodriguez said. “Edcouch-Elsa’s pitcher is tough, but these girls tonight were very disciplined, they let the ball come in and hit their pitch.”
Brownsville Veterans’ Nahomi Garcia started the big hitting during the bottom of the first inning with an RBI triple, then scored courtesy of a sacrifice fly. The Lady Chargers put up three runs in the first but could have had more.
In the circle, Lady Chargers pitcher Alexis Tamez shut out the Lady ’Jackets and had the defense working well behind her as she navigated the quick innings with ease.
“I feel we really came together as a team,” she said. “Offensively, we have been practicing hard all week to get some runs in.”
When asked if the team is ready for the playoffs, Tamez said, “born ready for this.”
The Lady Chargers’ offense exploded in the second with 11 runs. With the bases loaded, Reggie Santivanez knocked in two runs with a single. Back-to-back RBI doubles from Nat Mendoza and Rebekah Izeta added three more runs.
Sophia Martinez, Andrea Chapa and Garcia drove in the next four runs to make the score 12-0. Santivanez capped off the inning with a two-run home run to make it 14-0.
Brownsville Veterans knocked in two more runs in the fourth to finish the game. The umpired called the game and ended Edcouch-Elsa’s season.
Because of the Lady Chargers’ victory, Brownsville Lopez became the fourth seed after defeating Brownsville Porter 12-2 in five innings.
The Lady Chargers will now switch their focus to the playoffs.
“I think the girls are ready,” Rodriguez said. “Offensively, defensively, we played really good defense today, and our pitcher was on. I think we are ready for next week.”