By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Recent seasons have not been kind to the Harlingen High softball program. The Lady Cardinals have had more coaching changes than playoff appearances during the past five years.
But the tides were turning in 2020. Harlingen High boasted a 16-3 record heading into district play, with all three losses coming to teams ranked in the top 25 of their respective classes by the Texas Girls Coaches Association. First-year coach Josh Silva thought his team had “a confidence level unmatched by anyone in the Valley.”
The Lady Cardinals felt they would be District 32-6A championship contenders, but the coronavirus pandemic caused the UIL to cut their season short before they got the chance to see where it could lead.
“I think it’s more impactful towards seniors because they’re not going to get the opportunity to play again, but it impacted all of us really bad,” Andrea Salinas said. “I had very high hopes for district, and I think others did, too. Lady Cardinals softball has definitely established ourselves as a program, and we have earned respect from others along the way.”
Silva changed the culture at Harlingen High by employing the motto: “We’re going to do today what others aren’t so we can do tomorrow what others can’t.”
He surrounded himself with a knowledgeable staff — assistant head coach Anjel Gonzalez, varsity assistant Jessica Martinez and assistants Rick Serna and Andy Garza — and leaned on team captains Zoe Rosas and Alexa Perez to aid the transition.
The Lady Cardinals bought into the system quickly, which was evident in their strong start. Harlingen High kicked off the season with a 9-2 win over Mercedes and rattled off 11 straight victories before falling to state-ranked Edinburg Vela.
Silva credited the gutsy pitching performance from junior ace Audrie Sayas in the season opener against the Lady Tigers with setting the tone for the season. Sayas pitched a complete game and, with tears in her eyes, fought through arm pain in the seventh to secure the win.
“(That game) really did show my true colors and how I handle myself through harder games,” Sayas said. “I felt like I could continue to do that through the rest of the games and continue to show my team that I’m capable of holding them up.”
Sayas did just that for Harlingen High. She pitched 46 2/3 innings with a 0.97 ERA, racking up 64 strikeouts and allowing only 12 walks. Silva said Sayas won a place in his heart this season with her tenacious spirit.
“I felt she was pitching at an all-state caliber level,” Silva said. “She’s such a hard worker, and she’s so even-keeled. I think this year really showed her what she could be as a pitcher and really increased her confidence.”
Rosas, Perez and Salinas were other athletes, along with Sayas, who played major roles in Harlingen High’s success. Rosas, a senior second baseman who signed to play collegiately for Hesston College in January, was last season’s 32-6A utility player of the year and a vital part of the Lady Cardinals program. Silva and Rosas’ teammates said she and the other seniors will be hard to replace, but the program is in good hands with a core group of young talent.
Perez, a sophomore shortstop and leadoff hitter, was chosen as the team’s MVP by the coaching staff this season. In 14 games, she recorded 17 hits with five doubles and two triples and struck out only five times en route to a .486 batting average.
“When it came to team awards, I didn’t give any votes. I wanted it to come from my staff and see what they have to say, and she was unanimous for MVP,” Silva said. “She’s very talented, very driven. She was our backbone. She was very beneficial to the growth of our program.”
Perez said she’s ready to take on more leadership responsibilities in her junior season and will keep her teammates focused on improving the program.
“(I’ll be) staying on the girls and motivating them so we can have a way better season next year, because obviously we didn’t finish this season right. I just can’t wait to get back on the field with them,” Perez said. “We all had that mindset that we wanted to get up there, and it made us want to work harder as a team to show everyone what we could do.”
Silva called Salinas, a sophomore left fielder, an “unsung hero” and praised her work ethic and softball IQ. Salinas said the revamped coaching staff and team-first mentality helped turn things around for the program, and the Lady Cardinals will use the lessons learned by this season’s untimely end to come back stronger next year.
“We’d never had such a great coaching staff before, and our chemistry was so high this year because (Silva) was teaching us to be a team instead of being individuals,” Salinas said.
As a team, the Lady Cardinals committed just six errors in 19 games to earn a .977 fielding percentage, meeting one of the many goals Silva set at the season’s start. Though they didn’t get to see the extent of their potential this year, he knows his girls are working hard during the offseason to keep things headed in the right direction.
Silva is using this time to get better himself, too. His coaching experience prior to this season was all with baseball, so he’s working on getting more in tune with the intricacies of softball to help foster his young squad. Next year’s starting roster will feature one senior, six juniors and two sophomores in outfielder Athena Linnartz and power-hitter Lilly Rocha — both players he said will create great legacies at Harlingen High.
“We have a really humble group of girls who’ve had their fair share of bad seasons, and they’re really determined to right the wrongs and put their names back on the map,” Silva said. “The want to set the foundation to returning greatness to Harlingen (High) softball is prevalent in these young ladies. I’m very honored to be their coach.”