JOSEPH TELLO | Staff Writer
RIO HONDO — The Rio Hondo Lady Bobcats have been red hot with a 5-0 start in District 32-4A play and haven’t seen a seventh inning all season.
Well the hot streak continued as the Lady Cats demolished the visiting Zapata Lady Hawks with a 12-2 victory to remain undefeated in league action.
“This game helps us in that we were down early and we haven’t been in that situation for a while,” said Lady Bobcats head coach Brett Esparza. “But the girls responded very well by coming together and finishing strong like they know how to.”
After the Lady Bobcats found themselves down 2-1 after two innings of play, they decided to turn up the heat.
In the bottom of the third, a grounder to left field by senior Jennifer Flores plated two to give Rio Hondo a 3-2 lead. And it didn’t stop there.
Rio Hondo went on to score six more runs to take a commanding 9-2 lead over the Lady Hawks as they allowed two walks and committed two errors in the third.
“We have a great group of seniors on the team that have been playing on the varsity since their freshman year,” Esparza said. “They didn’t panic after falling behind and did a good job of helping everyone remain focused in the game.”
The Lady Bobcats held the Lady Hawks scoreless for the rest of the game only allowing one base hit and one walk.
Rio Hondo’s Bianca Cruz, Kaila Zepeda along with Flores scored the last three runs to close out the contest at 12-2.
“We’re playing at such a high level right now that we’ve set new goals for ourselves moving forward,” said Esparza. “We hope to be playing ball in May and stay consistent with our level of success.”
The win pushes the Lady Bobcats, who are currently ranked eighth in the state, to 6-0 on the season in district as they are set to take on Port Isabel on Saturday at 1 p.m.