By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — Los Fresnos started off the 2015 softball season with a blast.
The Lady Falcons hit four home runs and backed a complete game by Marisela Gaytan with a 10-2 victory over Sharyland Pioneer in the non-district softball opener for both teams on Tuesday.
Stephanie Perez hit a three-run blast to center field, Victoria Loa hit a two-run homer to left, and Karina Gonzalez and Samantha Padilla added solo shots to lead the Los Fresnos (1-0). Sharyland Pioneer (0-1) received an RBI double from Camille Vasquez and a RBI single from Brook Garza but failed to match the Lady Falcons’ offensive outburst.
“We didn’t know what to expect. We knew they had a few girls come over from Sharyland (High), but I knew they were going to be pretty good,” Los Fresnos coach Traci Blackman said. “We still had to come out and play our game. We just happened to hit well.”
Gaytan went the distance, giving up two runs, seven hits and a walk, and she struck out six for the victory for Los Fresnos.
Miraya Youngblood pitched all six innings for the Lady Diamondbacks, giving up 10 runs, 10 hits and three walks. She struck out three in the loss for Pioneer.
Los Fresnos got its offense going during the bottom half of the first inning, getting three runs to take the early lead. The Lady Falcons added another run on the solo shot by Gonzalez to take a 4-0 lead in the third inning.
The Lady Diamondbacks put a run across in the fourth inning on a RBI single by Garza.
After the Lady Falcons went down in order during the fourth, Perez hit a three-run blast and Padilla followed with her own shot to center to give Los Fresnos a 8-1 lead.
Pioneer coach Orlando Garcia isn’t worried after the first game of the season.
“I think we were fine,” he said. “We had runners on second and third two innings in a row. We get out of those innings like we’re supposed to and it’s probably a closer ballgame.”
Pioneer added another run on the Vasquez RBI double to cut the deficit during the sixth inning. But Loa added a pair of insurance runs with her two-run home run in the bottom half to seal the win.
While Blackman didn’t expect the number of home runs that were hit, she said her squad spends a lot of time on hitting.
“We’ve worked a lot on pitch selection, and they are figuring out which balls they need to hit,” she said. “Sometimes it takes a couple at-bats, but then they get it.”
Garcia took the early loss in stride for his young team. The Lady Diamondbacks do not have a senior on their roster this year.
“We’ll fix those errors, and we made contact when we needed to,” he said. “We’re where we need to be at this point in the season.”
Blackman didn’t take much stock in the win either, as her team also has things to improve in the early season.
“We need to work on our mental toughness. There were times we weren’t focused,” she said. “There are still things we’re going to have to work on, but it’s the beginning of the season. We’re going to take every game one at a time, and try and do the best we can.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @andrewmcrum.