By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Hanna got its bats going against Rivera and never looked back.
Led by a big night for freshman DD Guerrero, the Lady Golden Eagles put up seven runs in the second inning and cruised to a 16-1 victory in four innings over the Lady Raiders in the District 32-6A opener for both teams Tuesday at Hanna.
“(DD’s) been one of the four hot ones with the bat,” Hanna coach Rey Lerma said. “She’s been hitting the ball really well. She has been consistent and coming through with people on base.”
Guerrero was 2 for 3 with a single and double and two RBIs with both hits coming in a seven-run second inning that gave Hanna (1-0 in District 32-6A) a big lead that boosted it to a district victory.
Rivera (0-1) had trouble getting its offense going and too many errors on defense left the door open for Hanna to get a few big innings that put the game out of reach.
Guerrero started the second off with an infield single and later scored on a Rivera throwing error. The Lady Eagles batted around and the freshman came through again with a double to center that scored two more and roughed up Rivera pitcher Cassandra Guajardo and gave Hanna a commanding 7-0 lead.
“We started taking pitches to see more pitches to get the timing,” Lerma said. “We became a little more patient and when we got our pitch, that’s when we made our swings.”
In the third inning, Hanna put four more runs across the plate, including a two-run single by Ashlee De Los Reyes to push the advantage to 11-0.
“We have to work on our mistakes,” Rivera coach Daniel Guzman said. “We’re a young team. Cassandra pitched well enough for us to win, but those errors early on in the game hurt us and we couldn’t get back on track after that.”
Rivera got one back in the top of the fourth inning, Daisy Vasquez walked and later scored on a wild pitch by Hanna pitcher Juliette Gonzalez. But Gonzalez settled down and didn’t allow anything else and ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Lady Eagles scored five more runs in the bottom half of the fourth to end it, including back-to-back two run singles by Lauren Rivera and Becky Galarza. Galarza scored the final run on a fielder’s choice by De Los Reyes to end the game early.
Gonzalez allowed just the one run on no hits; she walked four and struck out eight. She also allowed two hits batsmen to reach base for Hanna.
After the loss, Guzman said his team has to get better.
“There are three things we have to do,” he said. “Throw strikes … which we did. Play errorless defense … which we didn’t. And hit the ball … which we also didn’t do.
“We have to work on those things and learn from our mistakes and make sure we play a better game next time.”
Hanna hopes to continue its offensive output against a talented district slate.
“We (have to) can keep our attitude up and keep working,” Lerma said. “These girls are terrific, it’s a great bunch this year.
“If we keep doing what we’re supposed to … we’ll be ok.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.