By MARK MOLINA | Staff Writer
Despite a one-run loss to Brownsville Lopez this past Friday, the Brownsville Pace Lady Vikings felt confident going into their game with the Donna High Bravettes.
That confidence didn’t last long as the Lady Vikings committed 11 errors, opening the door for the visiting Bravettes to cruise to a 17-1 District 32-5A win in three innings Tuesday night at Pace.
After Pace recorded four errors and gave up six runs in two complete innings, Donna High continued to put the ball in play during the third, racking up 10 more runs on four hits and seven Lady Vikings errors.
Pace coach Boris Vega said that once his defense lost the ability to move on from the mistakes during the first two innings, it began to snowball.
“It happens; the ball finds that one player and it’s hard for them to shake it off,” Vega said. “We talked about being mentally prepared and mentally focused in the game to when something happens, it’s, ‘OK, shake it off.’ The ball found a few of our players out there and then a few base hits happened. It’s one of those games where it goes your way or breaks your heart; the ball bounces certain ways.”
The Bravettes’ defense played a cleaner game, committing just one error, and pitcher Alexandra Perez gave up three hits, one earned run and racked up four strikeouts in the win.
“I tell our kids that it’s hard to give an opponent a second chance when you make an error and put somebody on base,” Donna High coach Adrian Lopez said. “It’s tough to combat that. We were on the other side today, but unfortunately, in the past, we’ve been on the other side. It feels good to get a ‘W’ heading into the little rest period we have before starting back up next week.”
Donna High center fielder Anaisa Orozco led the way for the Bravettes (2-2 in district), going 3-for-3 from the plate with three doubles, four RBIs and two runs scored, and shortstop Angela Sandoval also had a 3-for-3 night with two RBIs and two runs scored.
Arlette Toledo had a rough outing in the circle for the Lady Vikings (0-4 in district), surrendering nine hits and eight earned runs with one strikeout.
With two away in the top of the first, Orozco smacked a double down the third-base line to bring in Sandoval and make it 1-0.
After Yzella Perez got on base via error and Orozco crossed home plate to make it 2-0, Alexandra Perez hit an RBI single to make it 3-0 before the inning came to an end after the ensuing at-bat.
With one away in the bottom of the inning, Pace’s Geaceli Orive answered with an RBI single to bring in Nikki Ramirez to make it 3-1, but Alexandra Perez retired the next two batters to end the inning.
Donna came out in the second and added three more runs, with two coming on a Sandoval RBI triple and another on an Orozco single to make it 6-1.
This time Pace couldn’t answer and managed just one hit during the final two innings.
“It’s tough when you put yourself in a hole,” Vega said. “You try to get aggressive up there and you want to do something for your team and nothing happens. Then you try too hard for your team and it ends up not working out the way we want it to work out. You try to get out of the hole and you want to do it so fast, but if the other team does its job it’s tough, and Donna did their job tonight.”
The Bravettes went on to score 10 runs in the third, including two on an Ashley Rodriguez double.
At one point in the inning Pace committed errors on three straight at-bats, and Toledo faced 15 batters.