By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
ALAMO — Since the playoffs started, Edinburg North has won all but one game — all of those handily — en route to the Class 6A regional quarterfinals.
Thursday night was no exception, with the Lady Cougars picking apart PSJA Memorial, 6-1, in Game 1 of their best-of-three battle.
With a win tonight, Edinburg North (30-7) can close out the series and advance to the regional semifinals for the fourth time in program history. To get there, however, Lady Cougars coach Richard Tressler reminded her players after Thursday’s game the importance of seizing opportunities on a night in which the Lady Cougars pounded 11 hits but left nine runners on base.
“We can’t afford to do that down the stretch,” Tressler said. “We cannot squander our opportunities to score runs. We need to come through.”
He added: “If we score half of those runs we left on base, I’ll be satisfied.”
Edinburg North has won three games in a row now — by a combined score of 23-2 — including 14 of the last 15 games.
The Lady Cougars pulled through Thursday with a three-run fourth inning that broke a 1-1 stalemate. Jackie Longoria, the leadoff hitter, singled to left, scoring Hope Rodriguez, and then Ayissa Maldonado drove in Carolina Garcia and Longoria to go up by three.
The following inning, Edinburg North tacked on two more runs by Abby Hinojosa and Andreah Ruiz.
Hinojosa, Garcia and Rodriguez each finished the night 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored.
“I feel like we’re doing really good with our hitting,” Longoria said. “We’ve improved a lot since the beginning, and we’re just continuing to get stronger.”
Tressler lauded his team for the “clutch hitting,” particularly Maldonado’s line drive that put the Lady Cougars up for good, as well as Longoria’s efforts in the circle. The junior pitcher surrendered five hits and struck out three to improve her record to 25-6.
Down 6-1 and with bases loaded, PSJA Memorial substituted starting pitcher Amanda Aguilera for Ashley Castillo. Aguilera pulled a muscle in her hip during the first inning, but continued pitching until the substitution was made in the fifth inning. Castillo struck out the next two batters and allowed three hits and no runs the rest of the way.
Coach Gilberto Rodriguez said he was uncertain whether Aguilar would play in Game 2 at 6 p.m. today at Edinburg North. Samantha Fuentes’ availability is also in question, he said, after playing Thursday with shin splints.
Aguilar started the game striking out the first three batters before allowing three hits in the second inning.
“The girls came in super confident but after a while, they lost it,” Rodriguez said. “Early mistakes kept on coming. Edinburg North initiated those, and we couldn’t pick up our heads. Our confidence went down.
But (today), we’ll battle against at their place and be called ‘the comeback kids’ again.
“I told them this is win or go home and they realize this is it. I told them to keep their heads up and we’ll battle back again. It’s not over. We’ve been here before, so why not again?”