By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
The Port Isabel Lady Tarpons have their eyes on a third district title in four years, but have to fight stiff competition to do so with the start of District 32-4A play.
Port Isabel beat Zapata 5-4 in both team’s 32-4A openers.
Raymondville, Rio Hondo and Zapata were all playoff teams last season, and coach Danno Wise says the majority of those teams are intact for this season.
“It’s going to be a very tough district race,” Wise said. “We’re just trying to progress through the season so by the time we hit playoffs, we’re playing our best ball and looking to make a deep playoff run. That’s really our goal this year.”
Wise set up a tougher non-district schedule for Port Isabel to get the team ready for district, including games against 5A and 6A teams, and spots in the Donna and Weslaco tournaments.
“This year, the goal for us was to come up with a much harder schedule than we’ve had in the past,” Wise said. “We’re playing more games than we’ve done in the past. I told the girls already not to worry about the record. We’re not trying to go undefeated. What we’re looking to do is just progress throughout the year.”
“We know we’ve got some new people in some new spots and there are going to be some lumps early on, but it’s going to pay off down the road when it’s playoff time. Having experience against the bigger schools and these better teams, win or lose right now, as long as we’re playing well and giving good effort, I think that helps us move in the right direction.”
COMING TOGETHER
Coach Ariel Arredondo says the Porter Cowgirls are coming around at the right time.
Porter starts its District 32-5A schedule against Donna North Friday at Donna. Arredondo thinks her team will have a chance if pitching and hitting comes together.
“I’m going to need my pitchers to make sure spots are hit,” Arrendondo said. “My hitters, even if it’s to move runners or lay down a bunt, they’re going to have to be able to perform in situations. They have to. We might not always need the big home run hit. It’s just the little things. That’s going to be the key. That’s what I stress to the girls.
“If we can’t fine tune the fundamentals, then we can’t push and get the little things down. It’s not going to matter. Every team we’re going to face has girls that can hit just as many (home runs).”
The Cowgirls struggled with hitting early in the season but started to come around during the Border Olympics softball tournament, ending the competition with 13-8 and 10-1 wins over Laredo Cigarroa and San Antonio Edison, respectively.
“Slowly but surely … it’s been a slow start. As far as hitting, it’s been a very slow start but after this Laredo tournament that we went to (it’s improved),” Arredondo said. “We played a lot of good ballclubs, saw a lot of good softball and had some heart breakers with some losses, but I think the girls have come around on their batting, and by district, we’ll be real solid.”
JUST THE BEGINNING
Brownsville Veterans is off to an undefeated start after beating Harlingen South 12-4 in District 32-6A action Tuesday.
The Lady Chargers’ offense, defense and pitching came together for the win, which bodes well for the team’s chances down the stretch of district play.
“I can’t tell you how happy we are to be 1-0 (in district) right now,” Brownsville Veterans coach Ray Cardenas said. “We got a big game against Lyford. It feels good to be up right now, but there are a lot of good teams in our district. Los Fresnos, San Benito, Hanna, Lopez, Rivera … they’re all playing hard and practicing (hard).
“It’s great that (we) excelled and executed really well in this first game but we understand that ‘Hey, there’s 13 more games to go and we’re going to work really hard to get the second one.’”
Brownsville Veterans face Lyford in a non-district battle Friday at Lyford before returning to its district schedule.
Joshua McKinney covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.