By MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
Coming off a loss to Harlingen High and a date with Weslaco High on deck, the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons were in need of some momentum.
They got it in a big way.
Fueled by a pair of home runs and multiple errors from the Lady Raiders, the Lady Falcons cruised to a 17-2 District 32-6A victory in five innings Friday night at Rivera High School.
Vicky Perales hit a three-run shot in the top of the fourth and Loren Cantu smacked a solo shot to center for the Lady Falcons (2-4), who posted 12 hits on the night.
“Getting good, quality at-bats helps build a little bit of confidence because we’ve been on a little bit of a roller coaster ride,” Los Fresnos head coach Traci Blackman said. “It’s been up and down and not knowing how we’re going to play from day-to-day. Hopefully this helped get a little bit of confidence going into that game.
Rivera (0-6) had its struggles fielding the ball throughout the night, posting 10 errors, which Los Fresnos took advantage of.
Lady Raider head coach Joel Guzman said the errors were costly, but was a result of Los Fresnos putting the ball in play consistently
“Los Fresnos put the ball in play and they hit the ball hard — I give credit to their hitting,” he said. “I believe our pitcher pitched well enough for to compete against a strong hitting team and our catcher threw some runners out and that helped. Unfortunately, our defense just didn’t come through in those situations.
We could have been out of certain innings if the defense made those routine outs.”
Los Fresnos’ starting pitcher Valarie Guevara pitched four scoreless innings, gave up two hits, walked two and struck out six batters in the win.
Rivera’s Bethany Guzman gave up 12 hits, 10 earned run and struck out five in five innings.
Reba Reyes started the scoring for Los Fresnos in the top of the second with an RBI single, bringing in Sam Campos. Perales also would score on an error.
Guevara would add to the lead soon after, bringing in two more runs on a double to make it 4-0.
With two on, one out and an eight run lead, Perales hit a three-run with shot to make it 11-0. Four more runs would score in the inning, two coming on hits from Mickey Castalleda and Guevara.
Despite a solid night at the plate, Blackman said it took an inning for her lineup to stop the hesitation at the plate.
“(Our players) got to a point where they’re trying to be safe instead of swinging at something that’s close,” Blackman said. “They’re analyzing too much. I told them to go out there and swing at something that’s close and then they hit the ball.”
Cantu opened the fifth with a solo shot to make it 16-0 and Liz Vasquez would come in for the final run on an error.
Rivera scored runs on an error at second base in the fourth and an RBI double from Bethany Guzman in the fifth.
Cantu was 3 for 4 from the plate, while Guevara was 2 for 3 with three RBIs. Alyssa Peralez was 2 for 4 with an RBI.
Bethany Guzman was 2 for 3 with an RBI.
“Los Fresnos is a good team,” Joel Guzman said. “They got two hits off Bethany (Guzman) today and it goes to show that it wasn’t just our errors (that cost us), it was their hitting.”