BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
MISSION — Sharyland Pioneer rolled through District 31-5A with an undefeated record in 2017, but they’ve had a tougher go of district play in 2018.
After Mission Veterans scooted by Sharyland Pioneer in a two-run victory on March 2, the Patriots held on to defeat the Diamondbacks 13-12 and sweep the season series on Tuesday night.
“It came down to who’s going to play ball,” Mission Veterans coach Vivian Ray said. “We stuck to our guns, making the outs where we needed to. We buckled down enough and didn’t make errors. That always helps.”
The Diamondbacks jumped to a 5-2 lead off Mission Vets starter Iliana Contreras through 2 1/2 innings, but the Patriots responded in emphatic fashion. Mission Veterans scored eight runs off Pioneer pitcher Sarah Odale, who made the switch from first base to the circle after 1 1/3 innings from starter Madison Sparks.
“We had to make the move (to Odale) because the official had been calling illegal pitches on Madison,” Sharyland Pioneer coach Orlando Garcia said. “They didn’t give us very many options. We didn’t make the plays that we needed to, and that’s how we ended up in that hole.”
Odale recorded the last two outs of the second inning without issue, but she walked five Patriots batters in the third. Three of those five walks came with the bases loaded.
“We’ve been working on our plate discipline, because we can get a little anxious sometimes,” Ray said. “We lose our focus and chase pitches we shouldn’t. During our hitting practice, my assistant will throw balls to them and he’ll ask them, ‘Was that your pitch? If not, why are you swinging at it?’ Luckily tonight, we didn’t fall apart.”
The five-run lead helped settle Contreras down a bit. She allowed a run in the fourth but recorded a 1-2-3 fifth inning.
“We needed to focus, because they’re a big challenge in our district,” Contreras said. “We kept the positive energy going in the dugout. That helped us out on the field.”
Pioneer began to mount a rally in the sixth inning. Sophomore Alexia Hernandez, who transferred from Mission Veterans to Sharyland Pioneer following her freshman year, stood at third base as the Diamondbacks threatened with the bases loaded.
Following a base hit to right field, Hernandez ran to the plate while Mission Veterans catcher Justine Galvan stood on top of home plate. Once Hernandez arrived at home, she collided with Galvan, knocking her to the ground.
As Hernandez made her way to the Diamondback dugout, she and Galvan began jawing at each other before coaches from both teams intervened. The umpires called Hernandez out at home and restricted her to the Diamondback bench for the remainder of the game.
“To be honest, I didn’t see it,” Ray said. “What I saw was my catcher going after her (Hernandez). The umpire told me she would be ejected for the forearm, but I was more worried about getting my catcher under control.”
“I didn’t see it, but that’s a call that they (the umpires) saw, so that’s the call they made,” Garcia said. “Nonetheless, if I verify that, and that was what was caught on our video, then we go with that. If it’s not, then we’ll certainly address it.”
“She’s an aggressive player, but sometimes her aggression gets the best of her. I think that’s what happened tonight,” Contreras said of her former teammate Hernandez. “It was unnecessary for her to throw her arm at our catcher, because she was just doing her job. She got ejected, and that was in our favor, because what she did was wrong.”
Garcia doesn’t believe Hernandez had any malicious intent on the play at the plate.
“I don’t think there was any malice,” Garcia said. “But if a catcher was blocking the bag without a ball, that’s a rule violation. There was no play at home at the time. We’ll look at it and go from there.”
The season sweep doesn’t give the Patriots much separation at the moment, as both teams sit at 12-8 overall. But Mission Veterans improves to 9-3 in District 31-5A, while Pioneer is a half-game behind them at 8-3 with a quarter of the second round of district play remaining.
“If we win out and the chips fall in the right place, then we come out with a solo district title,” Contreras said. “We need to focus on the games we have coming up first.”
This story has been updated to correctly describe the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s game.