By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
It’s hard to win when the opposing pitcher throws like Dalilah Barrera was throwing on Friday night.
Just ask the Pace Lady Vikings.
Barrera mowed down Pace with high heat from the pitcher’s circle, and the Lady Vikings dropped their District 32-5A opener to the Mercedes Lady Tigers 14-0 in 5 innings Friday at Pace.
Barrera dominated the game from start to finish, striking out 13 of 18 batters while giving up two hits and one walk.
It was hard for Pace to get the bats going against a strong pitcher like Barrera. The Lady Vikings managed just three baserunners against her.
“That’s tough,” Pace coach Jesus Jaramillo Jr. said. “From my understanding, she’s going to be signing for college here pretty soon. She’s a quality pitcher. She’s great. She’s really good. The only thing we can do is tell our girls, ‘Don’t give up. That girl throws a riser well. You have to go in there and step into it, just try to make contact.’
“We have to keep our heads up. We didn’t want her to shut us down. We were able to get a couple of hits. Baby steps are what we’re taking right now.”
Mercedes also brought powerful bats to Friday night’s game, using the long ball to score. Barrera smacked a two-run home run in the fifth and Bethany Closer also hit a home run for Mercedes (10-4, 1-0).
“We were fortunate enough that the girls made good enough contact on the ball and knock it over the fence,” said Mercedes assistant coach David Gonzales. “Other than that, we want to put the ball on the ground and let the defense do what they do. Today, the long ball was working for us.”
Coach Veronica Morrell could not be reached for comment.
Barrera started the game by striking out the first nine batters of the night.
The Lady Vikings didn’t reach base until Geaceli Orive went to first on a base on balls. Aleyxs Arce put Orive into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, and a wild pitch sent her to third.
Barrera’s powerful arm ended the inning with strikeout of Jessica Aguilar.
The Lady Tigers had a no-hitter going until Emily Saldivar and Emily Monterrubio hit a single each in the bottom of the fifth.
Pace’s defense didn’t make things any easier by committing six errors. A misplayed ball in centerfield and an error at second led to Mercedes’ first run of the night.
“They’re not used to playing. They’re coming in straight from eighth-grade ball,” Jaramillo Jr. said. “Most of these kids, they play volleyball, they play basketball. We just got them right before the first tournament. We got them a day before, so it makes it really hard. No excuses, but that’s what happens. We share athletes and stuff (with the other sports).
“A lot of these kids that are the better athletes go sport to sport to sport. Like tomorrow, we’re going to have practice and two of them have track. So that kind of hurts us.”
The Lady Vikings committed three errors in the top of the second during the Lady Tigers’ four-run output.
Mercedes scored four more runs in the third to come within one of the 10-run rule, which the Lady Tigers reached in the fifth when Samantha Flores drove in Felicia Garza for Mercedes’ 10th run.
Joshua McKinney covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @joshuabvherald.