The win gives the Lady Panthers a 1-0 lead in the Class 6A regional semifinal series.
“I don’t think we did bad. I think we won the game and I think we did a good job,” said O’Conner head coach Anne Lewis. “I think our pitching was great, but I think we could be much better. We had a lot of girls that didn’t execute some of the stuff that we needed to execute and I think we could have gotten more hits when we needed too.
“The first one is always good to win because at least you know you have that win, especially with all the weather situation.”
The night could have turned out much differently after the Lady ‘Hounds left 11 runners on base, most notably in the last and final inning of the game.
With one out and bases loaded O’Conner’s ace pitcher Kelsie Stone finished out the game by throwing two clutch strikeouts.
“We had a lot of close games this season and I think she’s learned how to keep her composure in these situations and I think that helped us out right here,” said coach Lewis.
Khylea Davila was another of O’Conner’s heros as the sophomore center fielder had three RBIs on the night. The first two came off a deep hit to right field bringing in teammates Alex Scheel from third and Emerald Vela from second to put the Lady Panthers up by two.
In the top of the third Davila once again crushed another ball to deep right field bringing in pinch runner Alexis Juarez.
“We left a lot of runners on base, you leave that many runner on you put yourself in a tough spot and we did,” said San Benito head coach Elias Martinez. “This game is over and tomorrow is another day. We’ll start 0-0 and we will come back and play.”
Today’s game has been moved up from its original time at 2 p.m. to noon at Calallen softball field.