By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
MERCEDES — If there’s a storyline to take away from the early part of the softball season, it’s the weather.
Rain, and what it has done to fields across the Valley, has largely been responsible for the shuffling of games, postponements and even cancellations. And on Tuesday, it nearly forced Mercedes and Edcouch-Elsa from completing their District 32-5A game.
But both teams went through, nevertheless, the Lady Tigers cruising to a 9-0 victory and improving their record to a district-best 4-0.
“Just glad that we were able to get it played,” Mercedes coach Betty Morrell said, because “the weather has affected us big time.”
“We still have some teams in our district that haven’t even played yet,” she added. “So we’re just trying to fight it out.”
Mercedes pitcher Dalila Barrera did her part to get things moving at a brisk pace, recording 13 strikeouts and allowing just one hit.
She also went 3-for-4 at the plate, scoring one run and driving in three others.
As a team, the Lady Tigers totaled six hits, scoring seven runs between the first two innings, pushing their overall record to 12-1.
“We were on a roll,” Barrera said. “We did what we had to do and we did it early.”
Mercedes might have had a helping hand from Edcouch-Elsa’s experiment, giving No. 3 pitcher Sienna Ortiz the start.
Ortiz, a freshman, yielded five hits and three walks in two innings, but the Lady Yellowjackets committed two errors (one allowing a runner to get on base, another paving the way for a Mercedes run) and two wild pitches that helped the Lady Tigers get going.
“She did a great job,” E-E coach Joey Palacios said, “but we made those errors and that opened up the floodgates.”
That’s when Palacios went with his ace, Sarah Rodriguez, who allowed just two runs the rest of the way. The junior also yielded six hits and one walk.
“We played a little bit better,” Palacios said, “but when you play Mercedes, you can’t make errors. But that’s softball.”
Offensively, though, E-E (9-6, 1-3) struggled against Barrera, who pitched another complete game.
Morrell says it’s the continuity that has helped her Mercedes team get off to a hot start. The Lady Tigers, ranked No. 1 in the preseason by RGVSports.com, returned 10 lettermen on its 15-player roster.
They’ve padded their pitching rotation with freshman Samantha Flores in the mix. (She’s also the No. 2 hitter in the lineup, getting on base twice on Tuesday, once via a hit, scoring a run.) And they’ve improved their bats, as well.
“We’re just jelling together right now,” Morrell said.
Had it rained even heavier on Tuesday, she said, the game could have very well been postponed, as many others across the Valley were.
“I’m glad that it stopped, though,” she said. “We don’t like to play in these situations.”
For spurts, it poured heavily, but the Lady Tigers were able to withstand it, playing the level of softball it has all season, undeterred.