WESLACO — Jaisy “Piper” Caceres took a massive swing and the ball rose high into the air toward right-center field.
“I wanted to get a pitch I could drive to the opposite field,” the Weslaco East junior catcher said. “But I didn’t get all of that one.”
A wind from home plate toward center, however, may have given the towering shot just a little extra nudge to clear the wall for athree-run homer and Weslaco East defeated McAllen Memorial 5-0 in the UIL softball Class 5A bi-district round of the playoffs.
It is the second straight year for the Wildcats to advance past the first round and they will play the winner of Corpus Christi Flor Bluff at a time and place to be determined.
Senior pitcher Melissa Cabrera pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout, striking out eight. Cabrera is one half of the Weslaco East twin-pitching combo. Her twin sister, Ariana, is a left-handed starter for East.
“The plan was to let my defense do their job,” said Cabrera, who used the whole strike zone the first two times through the lineup before mixing in her rise ball in the later innings. “My best pitch is my riser and I wanted to give them some differentlooks there.”
East led 2-0 on a pair of hits and an error after one inning. During the second, Melissa Cabrera hit a one-out single to left and Ariana Cabrera followed with a walk. Caceres followed with her seventh home run of the season.
Caceres and Cabrera have been a catcher-pitcher duo for 10 years, the pitcher said. During the third inning with one out and arunner on third, both made eye contact during a pitch and Caceres fired the ball down to third to nail a runner leading too far off the bag.
“We had watched a little film and saw they liked taking big leads,” Cabrera said. “I knew it was coming. She has an amazing arm.”
Weslaco Each fifth-year head coach Victoria Vasquez said her team is more experienced after having 11 returners come back from last year.
“We had some gung-ho freshmen come out as well,” Vasquez said. “This team all year has been team-before-me. Every single one of them has a role and they know what that role is, whether it’s a practice player, a courtesy runner or no matter what it is.”
After the second-inning homer, Memorial sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Martin settled down, allowing just two hits during the final five innings and setting down the Wildcats on three pitches in the fourth.
Melissa Cabrera led Weslaco East with three singles and two runs scored. Ariana Cabrera added an RBI double, a walk and a pair of runs scored. The top three hitters in the Weslaco East lineup accounted for five of the team’s seven hits and all five runs scored.