AUSTIN — San Benito one-hit Pearland, but three runs scored off of a sacrifice fly, wild pitch and a bad throw by the Greyhounds in the top of the third.
The Greyhounds had a chance to come up clutch in the top of the seventh but lost 3-2 in a Class 6A state semifinal at Red & Charline Field McCombs Field at the University of Texas at Austin.
“We had some missed opportunities,” San Benito head coach Elias Martinez said. “Our girls do not quit, they fight to the very end, and that was evident right now, we had a runner on. That is Lady ’Hounds’ softball. We fell short, but not because of lack of effort or heart. We just ran out of at-bats.”
Leila Lopez drilled a shot to the second baseman with two outs. It was too hot to handle for the second baseman, but the Oilers picked up the final out on the next batter.
The Oilers picked up their first hit during the top of the sixth off of senior pitcher Emily Delgado. The Greyhounds were one out away from picking up a team no-hitter, a cool consolation prize had they held on to it. Delgado relieved starter Amira Rodriguez for the bottom of the fourth after JoJo Montes’ RBI double shrank the lead to 3-2.
“There was games that we had been behind before, that we came back and took,” Delgado said. “I think the whole time we were just thinking about that opportunity that we get, we are going to jump on it and take back this game.”
Rodriguez is a terrific young pitcher for the Greyhounds. The sophomore dazzled during the playoffs, smacking grand slams and pitching lights out. The sophomore ran into some trouble in the third by walking the first three batters. A sac fly scored the first run, a wild pitch brought in the second and bad throw to third yielded the winning run.
San Benito scored the first run of the game during the top of the first inning. Kylie Sanchez hit into a fielder’s choice to drive in a run with bases loaded and no outs.
“Emily and Amira, they are all gamers,” Martinez said. “Give them the ball, and they are going to give you their best effort the whole way through. We could not be more proud of them. They fought until the bitter end. Finishing off third in state, is not that bad. It is not that bad.”