SAN BENITO — This group of San Benito Greyhounds never tasted playoff victory before its run this season.
No past glory plastered on the outfield walls. This season’s accomplishments will be on the wall, no doubt, but history could still be written by the Greyhounds.
History, glory and all that the comes with advancing to the final four is on the line in the Region IV-6A finals series against San Antonio East Central, starting with Game 1 at 6 p.m. today in Beeville. Game 2 is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Cabaniss in Corpus Christi and Game 3, if needed, is at 3 p.m. Saturday in Beeville.
Martinez said he knew his softball team had a lot of potential to make it this far in the beginning of the season.
“Potential does not win ball games, it is productivity,” Martinez said to his team during the season.
Martinez and the coaching staff believed their team was capable of being here after the non-district and tourney schedule saw the Greyhounds ranked as high as No. 2 in the Texas Girls Coaches Association’s top 25 softball poll.
“Things just started meshing,” Martinez said. “Hey, we are all right … That is when we started finding out that we had the ability to go deep in the playoffs. Before you know it we are here, at the elite eight. The girls came through and are living up to it.”
Still, the Greyhounds needed to fight through the tough District 32-6A. They did by going unbeaten. District 32-6A ended up sweeping District 31-6A in the bi-district round but lost to San Antonio teams in other rounds, with the exception of San Benito. O’Connor escaped Los Fresnos and Weslaco High, but lost to San Antonio East Central to set up the meeting with the Greyhounds.
“They are a hard to team to find information on. If anybody knows something, let me know,” Martinez said jokingly.
An extensive highlight of Game 3 against San Antonio O’Connor on YouTube and their MaxPreps page are the main things a quick search on the internet could yield on East Central. It did come in second behind New Braunfels in District 27-6A.
Martinez respects all opponents at this point of the playoffs.
“That district had two teams in the sweet 16,” Martinez said. “That says a lot, so you know that they can play some ball. Had we lost and New Braunfels won, it would have been their district in the elite eight. They can definitely play.”
San Benito can play, too, and at this point worrying about oneself is just as important as trying to gain a competitive edge through film. Martinez said the Greyhounds are going to be playing under pressure with plenty of eyes on them.
They are going to have six seniors on the field while doing so. Emily Delgado, Kylie Sanchez and Bethany Aguilar are the seniors in the infield, and GG Garcia, Leila Lopez and Elyssa Ruvio patrol the outfield as seniors.
Offensively, it is hard to not become enamored by San Benito’s Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 hitters. Delgado, Sanchez and then sophomore studs Amira Rodriguez and JoJo Montes make up the run of power hitters.
If Delgado does not bring in the runs, Sanchez usually finds a gap with a double. Sanchez leads the team with 17 doubles. Rodriguez and Montes are there to clean up, and they tend to do so. Rodriguez leads the team with 14 homers, and Montes in second with 12.
“I know the batters in front of me and behind have my back,” Sanchez said. “If I do not produce, or even if I move the runners over, I know that we will score because I have Amira and JoJo behind me, so I think we will be good.”
The power hitters need base runners.
To start off, the opposition has to deal with the speed and consistency of Aguilar and Ruvio before facing Delgado. Aguilar has a .400 batting average on 56 hits, and Ruvio has a .432 average on 57 hits.
“You just have to be that person to step up and start the game good, get your team going,” Aguilar said. “If I do not get on, Ruvio gets on for sure, she is a consistent hitter, but either one of us has to get on. It is very important for us, especially with our 3 and 4 hitters coming through for us.”
Garcia starts things back up as the No. 7 batter. The senior said things become hectic with the fans after the big hits, but she knows she has to pick her spots. Defensively, Garcia and the outfield pulled down plenty of hard-hit balls to make it out to the regional finals.
“We know the higher we go that teams will have strong hitters,” she said. “We are ready for anything that comes to us.”