By MARK MOLINA, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — After coughing up a three run lead to Hanna on Friday, the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons held their collective breaths as they saw their three-run lead against the Harlingen Lady Cardinals get cut to one on back-to-back hits in the top of the seventh.
The Lady Cardinal effort would be for naught as Lady Falcon sophomore pitcher Vicky Perales struck out Harlingen’s Gerrie Ortiz to pick up her eighth strikeout of the game and secure a 4-3 District 32-6A win Tuesday night at Los Fresnos High School.
After watching her team go through a recent slump, Los Fresnos head coach Traci Blackman was glad to have a nail-bitter go her team’s way in front of the home crowd.
“It was good to go out with a win on our last home game (of the season),” she said. “We’ve been on a rollercoaster ride, not knowing if we would win or hold on to a lead. It hasn’t really been going in our favor, so it was nice to be able to come out and get this win.”
Perales had a solid night in the circle for the Lady Falcons (6-6 in district), tossing five scoreless innings, allowing seven hits and three walks to go with eight strikeouts and the win.
The win keeps the Lady Falcons mathematically alive in the District 32-6A as they trail fourth-place Weslaco East by a game.
East defeated Rivera 15-0 Tuesday night.
The defense behind her also came up big as Harlingen (3-9 in district) left eight batters stranded on base despite putting the ball in play consistently.
Despite the loss, Harlingen head coach Cassandra Hernandez still was able to see the silver lining, touting the effort in the final inning.
“We definitely adjusted and put the ball in play and swung a little bit more,” She said. “We fell short, but this young team is going to be good. We have freshmen and sophomores on this team and two seniors, so I’m excited. Tonight we fought back and didn’t give up when we were down — it says a lot about our team and pride.
“We just need to be more selective and when we have runners in scoring position, know that we want certain pitches to put the ball in play and advance those runners.”
Los Fresnos came out looking sharp on offense in the bottom of the first as first baseman Jianna Calvillo’s RBI double and Miranda Perales’ RBI single on consecutive at-bats made it a 2-0 game after one complete inning.
But both teams would have their issues bringing in runners. While Harlingen stranded eight, Los Fresnos stranded seven on the night despite recording nine hits.
The Lady Falcons would eventually extend their lead in the bottom to 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth after an RBI double from Alyssa Peralez and a sac fly from Leawny Rodriguez brought in runs.
Harlingen catcher Emily Garcia got her team on the board in the top of the fifth with an RBI double with two on and two out to bring in pitcher Skylar Macias to make it a 4-1 game.
Garcia would strike again with two on and two out in the top of the seventh, this time with an RBI single to make in 4-2.
Brianna Garcia followed that up with an RBI single of her own to make it 4-3, but Los Fresnos’ Vicky Perales shut the rally down with her final strikeout to end the game against Ortiz.
While Vicky Peralez picked up the win, Macias took the loss for Harlingen, allowing nine hits, four earned runs, while striking out four.
Los Fresnos’ was 2 for 3 at the plate with an RBI and Harlingen’s Emily Garcia had three hits and two RBI.