By MARK MOLINA | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
LOS FRESNOS — The Los Fresnos Lady Falcons were an optimistic bunch after a successful pre-district showing, but after their first week of District 32-6A play, they’ve been humbled.
The Lady Falcons were plagued by errors on defense and couldn’t find a rhythm at the plate as they fell to the Harlingen South Lady Hawks 11-0 in five innings in a District 32-6A matchup Friday night at Los Fresnos High School.
Los Fresnos (0-2 in district) committed seven errors on the night, leading to free bases for Harlingen South, which would take advantage by bringing in 10 of its 11 runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Lady Falcons head coach Traci Blackman said the miscues just snowballed, putting her team on its heels.
“We knew our biggest obstacle (this season) was going to be our mental game,” she said. “We are struggling mentally. Whether it be one error turning into eight, we don’t hit the ball or we get one or two people on base and we’re not scoring runs, that comes over to the defensive side.
“There are some changes we need to be making, but we’re going to take it and move on to the next game.”
Despite taking advantage of the errors, Harlingen South (2-0 in district) South was solid at the plate with eight hits, including a two-run home run by Krystal Gonzales in the top of the fourth and three-run shot by Kaitlynn De la Fuente in the fifth to help put the finishing touches on the game.
De La Fuente also had a big night in the circle, pitching five scoreless innings, with one hit, a walk and four strikeouts in the win.
“I liked the effort we put out there and errors are part of the game,” Harlingen South head coach Elias Martinez said. “It’s a matter of taking advantage of them. Los Fresnos is well-coached, but my girls came out today and took advantage of the situations by putting the ball in play.
“Our pitcher (De La Fuente) throws a one-hitter and we play great defense behind her, so overall it was a great team win.”
De La Fuente was 2 for 4 on the night with three RBIs, while Gonzales was 2 for 3 with two RBIs.
Christina Arrellano also had two RBIs for the Lady Hawks.
Los Fresnos’ Reba Reyes recorded the lone hit with a single in the bottom of the third on a 1-for-2 night at the plate.
Leading 1-0 in the top of the third, Arellano brought in a pair of runs on a double and then would come in to score two batters later on after a Lady Falcon error on a throw to third to make it 4-0.
Gonzales would go yard in the top of the fourth with two on and two out to make it 6-0.
Los Fresnos’ defense committed three errors to open the top of the fifth, leading to a two-RBI single by Kayla Rogers to bring home Alyssa Ledesma and Melba Rodriguez to make it 8-0 with one out.
De La Fuente would wrap up the scoring two batters later with a three-run shot over the center-field wall.
Los Fresnos had just two 1-2-3 innings and put runners on base via errors, but never could bring them around, leaving three stranded on the night.
“That’s not normal for us,” Blackman said. ” We just have to learn to be mentally tough when things don’t go our way and make it work.”