By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
ELSA — No matter where the game is played, Brownsville Veterans Memorial is tough to beat in softball.
The District 32-5A champion Lady Chargers reinforced that notion over the weekend by decisively sweeping their Class 5A best-of-three bi-district playoff series against District 31-5A fourth-place Laredo Cigarroa.
The series opener was played Friday at Sharyland High and the Lady Chargers cruised to a 19-0 victory in five innings against the Lady Toros. When the series was moved to Elsa on Saturday for Game 2 due to wet field conditions in Mission, the site change had absolutely no effect on the outcome.
It was more of the same Saturday at Joey Torres Field in Elsa as the Lady Chargers (23-10) raced past Cigarroa 16-1 in five innings to eliminate the Lady Toros (13-15) from the playoffs.
“We’ve earned it (our strong showing in bi-district) because we’ve been working hard in practice,” said Cassandra Valdez, a senior pitcher/shortstop for the Lady Chargers who went all the way on the mound for the victory with 10 strikeouts and one hit allowed while batting 2-for-4 with a three-run double and a three-run homer. “We’ve really been coming through with the sticks (bats) and that was what people saw in these (two bi-district) games.
“Everything went pretty smooth for us,” added Valdez, a UT-San Antonio softball signee. “We had a little bit of a bad inning in the second (and gave up a run), I believe it was, and we made adjustments to get back on track. We made our adjustments, and that’s what matters the most.”
Yes, the Lady Chargers got off to somewhat of a slow start, scoring only a run in the bottom of the first inning and another run in the second to barely lead 2-1 after Cigarroa had scored in the top of the second. But Brownsville Veterans came alive in the bottom of the third and sent 19 batters to the plate while scoring 14 runs to break open the contest.
The marathon bottom of the third inning was highlighted by three-run homers from Valdez and freshman infielder Sarah Gomez, both blasts sailing over the center-field fence, along with a three-run double to the left-field corner by Valdez. By the time the inning ended, the damage had been done and the Lady Chargers were ahead 16-1.
“It was amazing seeing the ball (so well) and feeling it go off the bat (and over the wall),” Gomez said of her home run that made the score 13-1. “It felt good to help my team in our rally.
“Since I’m a freshman, it’s great to experience all of this (success) with my teammates,” Gomez added. “I hope we can go as far as state. Hopefully we can do it.”
In all, the Lady Chargers logged 10 hits with Valdez and Elizabeth Abete each collecting two.
The Lady Toros used two pitchers who combined to issue nine walks while hitting a batter.
An errant pickoff attempt from catcher to third base was off the mark and went into left field, allowing Cigarroa’s only run to score in the top of the second inning. Earlier in the same inning, Adriana Solorio had a single to right-center field for the Lady Toros’ only hit.
Brownsville Veterans coach Rayner Cardenas said it appears his team next will face District 30-5A third-place Gregory-Portland in the area round of the playoffs during the coming week. Details of that matchup are to be finalized in the next few days, he said.
Cardenas said the Lady Chargers didn’t take anything for granted going against Cigarroa.
“Any time you get to the playoffs, you have two quality teams (facing each other),” he said. “Both teams have battled through the season and they’re in the playoffs for a reason. We knew Cigarroa was going to come out and give us everything they had, and they did. They put up a good fight, which is what we wanted and we needed. But ultimately, we started making better contact, got our sticks going, saw better pitches and started hitting the ball better. That was the difference.
“When you have games like this with the changing weather, changing start times and having alternate sites, it kind of throws things off a little bit,” Cardenas added. “We came out here and our rhythm was off a little bit (early), but we got back on track. I’m pleased we were able to handle that adversity. I don’t want to have to do it again, but if we have to go through it again (due to the weather or whatever), at least we’ve already had a sample of what it’s like. It’s no fun being on the bus and driving around looking for a site to play (when the weather becomes a factor).”
Cardenas said things are looking positive for his girls.
“I think our girls are focused, we’re peaking at the right time and hopefully we can keep it rolling against a really tough opponent (in Gregory-Portland),” he said. “It’s going to be a great series.”
Roy Hess covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @HessRgehess