By MARK MOLINA, STAFF WRITER
JOURDANTON — For the Brownsville Veterans Memorial Lady Chargers, Saturday morning’s softball game against the Eagle Pass Winn Lady Mavericks was about more than surviving and advancing — it meant making more program history.
And the Lady Chargers did just that as they defeated the Lady Mavericks 11-2 to sweep their best-of-three area series in Jourdanton, earning them their first-ever berth in the regional quarterfinals.
“The girls came out today and their mentality is to advance as far as they can,” Lady Charger head coach Ray Cardenas said. “They’ve worked hard for the last three years. Some of them are seniors and they don’t want the season to end. They came out focused and ready to get after it.”
The Lady Chargers now will face the Tuloso Midway Cherokees with a trip to the regional semifinals on the line. The details on the matchup yet to be decided.
But despite the focus now shifted to the next opponent, Cardenas still was able to reflect on the latest program milestone.
“It brings a lot of joy and we’re a proud program,” Cardenas said. “Athletically, all of our sports programs at Veterans have done extremely well this year. We want to be considered as one of the elite programs in the Valley. The girls have worked hard to get that recognition and respect.
“We’re blessed to be in the position that we’re in and the girls just want to continue the next opponent. We want to focus on one round at a time.”
Once again Brownsville Veterans turned in an overall performance from the start.
On offense, the Lady Chargers came out firing early on as they threw up five runs in the first inning and never looked back.
Meanwhile, sophomore pitcher Mia Anzaldua put up a gem of a complete game in the circle, allowing just two hits, tallying up 14 strikeouts and five scoreless innings.
“We were able to jump on them early and put some runs up in the first inning to take some pressure off of us,” Cardenas said. “And with Mia pitching, all we need is a lead and the girls feel confident that all they need is for her to do her job and help us win.”
At the plate, Naomi Barbosa went 3 for 4 at the plate, hitting two doubles and a single, while Cassie Valdez was 3 for 5 with three doubles.
Port Isabel eliminated from bi-district round
CORPUS CHRISTI — After getting run over 10-0 to open their best-of-three bi-district series, the Port Isabel Tarpons gave the Sinton Pirates their best shot.
But it wasn’t enough to force a deciding third game as the Pirates upended the Tarpons 4-2 Saturday afternoon at Calallen High School.
The Tarpons scored a run in the top of the third and led 1-0 after 3 1/2, but a pair of two-run innings from the Pirates in the bottom of the third and fourth gave the Pirates the lead for good.
Port Isabel would score a run in the seventh to make it 4-2 and put the tying runners on second and third, but Sinton held on.
Aside from a few bad innings and tough breaks in the series, Port Isabel head coach Robert Holland was pleased with his team’s play this series.
“In both games, we played well,” Holland said. “(Friday) we had an inning where we scored eight and then we settled down. Today, we were in front but they scored two. Then, with two outs, they call a balk on our pitcher and they scored two with two outs.
“I was proud of our kids and they played well — that’s a good team.”
While production at the plate was even with neither team reaching double-digit hits, Sinton converted and brought in runs with its opportunities. On the other end, the Tarpons left the bases loaded in both the fifth and sixth innings.
Kaleb Martinez led the Tarpons with one hit, while Jeremy Martinez, Jose Martinez and Tyler Francis all recorded one each.
The Tarpons needed to win its final three district games just to finish 8-6 and make the postseason.
But despite falling in a bi-district sweep Holland couldn’t knock the effort it took for his team to make it to the postseason.
“We had some tough times, losing a couple of games and our kids weren’t used to that,” Holland said. “They accepted the challenge and knew they had to win out the last three games and we’re proud of what they did.”