By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
With the season rapidly winding down, the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers drastically brightened their playoff picture with a 3-2 win over the Harlingen High Lady Cardinals on Friday in Brownsville.
The Lady Chargers (6-6 in District 32-6A) pulled off a walkoff victory after trailing 2-1 to Harlingen High (6-6 in district) when they were down to their final three outs as they began the seventh inning.
The bottom of the order was due up for Brownsville Veterans with Kiwi Silva leading off. She popped up to third base for the first out of the seventh, giving way to Gigi Richeson.
After falling behind in the count with zero balls and two strikes, Richeson hit her second single of the game: a line drive up the middle.
Lydia Fernandez was next up, representing the winning run. She hit an infield single to the shortstop that put Richeson in scoring position.
“We have a lot of faith with the bottom of our order,” Brownsville Veterans coach Ray Cardenas said. “They’ve been producing actually a little bit more than the top of our lineup has. It was ironic that it ended with the last three batters, because those are the ones we have the most faith in.”
With two on and one out, Rheanna Gomez hit a long fly ball to left that was caught, holding the runners in position.
Down to their final batter, pitcher Cassie Valdez tied the game on a long double down the left-field line that scored Richeson and advanced Fernandez to third.
With the winning run 90 feet away, Harlingen High pitcher Torrie Parra let a ball get away from her. As the ball bounced to the backstop, Fernandez crossed home plate for a walkoff victory.
“I truly believed we were going to win that game no matter what,” Cardenas said. “I knew we were going to find a way. We were hitting balls right at them, but I knew that sooner or later we were going to have the fortune to get a few hits together.
“It was unfortunate for them that it was a passed ball, but if you keep working things happen for a reason. I had faith in that last inning we would pull it out.”
In a game that was filled with miscues by the Lady Cardinals, coach Lance White was not pleased with the outcome.
“We made a lot of errors, and that’s what cost us,” White said.
Two errors in particular accounted for Lady Chargers’ first run.
When Richeson reached on a single in the fifth, a throwing error by Lady Cardinals catcher Kim Martinez allowed her to reach third base. One out later, Valdez hit a ground ball that was bobbled by shortstop Zelda Ortiz, and everyone was safe, including Richeson at home.
The run came one inning after the Lady Chargers surrendered a pair of scores to Harlingen High. Martinez led off with a walk in the fourth, and Parra hit a single two batters later to drive her in. Two batters after that, Alyssa Salinas tried to stretch a single into a double, but nevertheless scored Parra.
For most of the game, Parra pitched efficiently. During the five innings when Brownsville Veterans did not score runs, Parra allowed just three hits and recorded 10 strikeouts.
Adam Kujawskicovers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.