BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — Signing day was anything but a guarantee for Audrey Guerra.
Guerra and her Edinburg Vela teammates faced Sharyland Pioneer at a tournament in Laredo during the early part of her sophomore year. The SaberCats were in the middle of a potential rally, with Guerra standing on third base.
She had a sizable lead between third and home plate, which prompted a pickoff attempt by the Diamondbacks. Guerra retreated back to the bag, hand first, but her right hand collided with the cleats of Pioneer’s third baseman. The injury kept her off the field until the start of that season’s playoffs.
“It happened to my throwing hand, so I couldn’t do anything,” Guerra said.
Guerra had to fight through injuries big and small throughout her career as a four-year letterman. She was tabbed as the district’s first-team choice at first base in 2015. Despite playing in 18 games in 2016, Guerra made the first team once more. After ending her career with an all-district honorable mention as a junior and second-team honors in 2018, Guerra on Tuesday signed a letter of intent to continue playing softball at Texas Southern University.
“It’s great to be continuing my education and career at Texas Southern,” Guerra said. “The coaches I’ve had from high school to travel ball brought me up and trained me to be the player that I am.”
Texas Southern entered Guerra’s plans thanks in part to a road trip to Houston with another future Tiger.
“I had been texting back and forth with them before the season, but we hardly did during the season,” Guerra said. “(Pitcher) Naomi (Reyes) and I went up to see them play at Prairie View A&M and then visited the school. I got to talk to them, and they offered me a guaranteed walk-on spot. It all happened so fast.
“Naomi and I are going to have a lot of fun together. I’m excited we’re going to be teammates again.”
While Guerra and Reyes will be teammates as college freshmen, Guerra will leave Edinburg as an integral part of a SaberCats district championship and run to the regional semifinal round, which ended 11 days ago. Guerra said she will also miss playing with her sister, Amber, who will be a senior at Vela next season.
“I love them all so much,” Audrey Guerra said. “I’m going to miss playing with them, seeing them, practicing with them and telling all our funny jokes.”
Jon Maples coached Guerra for two seasons at Edinburg Vela.
“She was the leader of our infield. As long as she was healthy, she controlled it,” Maples said. “She saved us from some throws that could have been wild. Audrey’s had great coverages for us on bunts, but she was more than that. She’s one of our few four-year lettermen. She helped build the program from the ground up.”
The walk-on label will have to do for now. But Guerra doesn’t want to end her college career as simply a walk-on.
“I’ve got to work harder than I’ve ever worked before,” Guerra said.