CLAIRE CRUZ | Special to The Star
The Lady Hawks are on a mission, and step one has been achieved.
In front of a rowdy crowd on Thursday night, Harlingen South defeated Edinburg North 7-4 to clinch the bi-district championship.
“Yesterday it was a good ballgame, but we weren’t pressured,” South head coach Elias Martinez said. “Today was exactly what I wanted to see. Edinburg North did a great job of giving us a lot of different situations and my girls rose to the occasion.”
The Lady Cougars made it clear they wouldn’t go down without a fight. All five batters that went to the plate in the opening frame put the ball into play. Catcher Hope Rodriguez blasted a two-out, two-run home run to give ENHS an early lead.
South responded by scoring three quick runs in the bottom of the first, thanks in part to a two-RBI double from Iliana Saucedo.
Saucedo was sent to the pitcher’s circle early in the second inning. She pitched 4.2 innings of relief and gave up two runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
“I’m really relieved we got through it in two games instead of three,” Saucedo said. “I felt really good tonight. I was proud of myself. Do it for my team; that was my mentality.”
The Lady Hawks scattered hits all over the field and got plenty of assistance from ENHS errors early on. But the two offenses went in opposite directions as the game went on.
South was scoreless in its final two frames and recorded just one hit while the Lady Cougars put runners on frequently and forced bases-loaded situations in the fourth and sixth.
Edinburg North pitcher Natalie Rodriguez helped herself with an RBI single in the sixth to cut the deficit to three. Hope Rodriguez was then intentionally walked for the second time, but the Lady Cougars hit into a double play to end the threat.
“We should have won this game, we just had too many errors … we had a lot of opportunities to score,” ENHS head coach Richard Tressler said. “But I couldn’t have asked them to come in here and end it any better.”
Along with her strong outing in the circle, Saucedo finished the game 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs.
She and her squad will now turn their attention to the area round. South will play Eagle Pass or La Joya and will use the weekend to game plan.
“The way they responded, made adjustments and stepped up (today), I couldn’t be more proud,” Martinez said. “We’ll go out this weekend and scout and make adjustments. It’ll be fun.”