By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
The Lopez Lady Lobos are going into the Class 5A state softball playoffs on a wave of momentum after winning Friday’s regular-season finale in decisive fashion at home against Pace.
With junior pitcher Alex Castro leading the way on the mound and at the plate, the Lady Lobos shut out the Lady Vikings 12-0 in five innings.
Castro recorded 10 strikeouts and belted a three-run homer over the center-field fence to end the contest early.
“I felt pretty amazed (with my performance),” Castro said. “I had a lot of emotion built up inside of me. I was really pumped up (to do well).
“It’s really exciting that we’re going back to the playoffs,” she added. “I believe we’re going to go farther than we’ve ever gone before.”
Lopez (14-17 overall, 8-6 in District 32-5A) finishes as the fourth-place team in its conference and will face District 31-5A co-champion Mission Veterans next week in the bi-district round of the 5A playoffs.
It will be a best-of-three series starting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Lopez. Game 2 will be at 7 p.m. Friday in Mission, and if the series goes to a third game, it will be played April 28 at 5 p.m. at Lopez.
It’s the second straight year for the Lady Lobos to advance to the postseason.
“We’ve been working hard and setting our goals (high) for this year,” Lady Lobos coach Jesse Martinez said. “We’ve had some struggles and we’ve had some success. We’re excited to be (right) here at this point and time.
“These girls are an excellent group of kids,” Martinez added. “We’re ready and poised to go hard into the playoffs and have some success. I think we have the team to do it.”
On Friday, the Lady Lobos led 2-0 after two innings, 7-0 after four innings and 12-0 after five frames thanks to Castro’s three-run smash over the center-field wall when there were two outs in the bottom of the fifth and the score was 9-0.
Castro and teammate Lorena Rodriguez each had a pair of hits for the Lady Lobos and finished with four and three RBIs, respectively. In all, Lopez had nine hits.
Rodriguez had a two-run double to deep center field in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-0. She added an RBI single in the fifth for an 8-0 tally. Castro had an RBI single in the fourth to go with her game-ending, three-run homer in the fifth.
In going the distance on the mound, Castro, a right-hander, logged 10 strikeouts while tossing a four-hitter and hitting two batters plus walking one.
Meanwhile, Pace enjoyed one of its better seasons in recent years under coach Boris Vega, but did not make the playoffs. The Lady Vikings finish with a 10-19-1 overall record and a 5-9 mark in 32-5A.
Lauren Mares went the distance in taking the loss for Pace, finishing with six strikeouts plus one walk. Mares also led the Lady Vikings at the plate, batting 2-for-2 with a pair of singles.