By JOSHUA McKINNEY, Staff Writer
Dominant pitching and an on-fire offense are the perfect ingredients for lights-out softball, and that’s what the Porter Cowgirls cooked up Tuesday night.
Porter beat the Donna North Lady Chiefs 16-0 in three innings in a District 32-5A game at Porter.
The win ended a two-game slide in district play and gave the Cowgirls confidence at the start of the second round of 32-5A games.
“My girls came out and did what I was hoping and what I expected them to do, what they needed to do,” coach Ariel Arredondo said. “I know they struggled a little bit in the beginning with keeping their hands back. The pitching was a little bit slower than what we just finished seeing with PSJA North and Mercedes, but overall we did well. We did good. They executed what they needed to execute.”
Porter’s freshman pitcher Brenda Garcia served up a stellar performance from the pitcher’s circle.
She shut down Donna North’s hitters in multiple ways, getting outs with groundouts and strikeouts to frustrate the opponent’s offense.
“When she’s on (that’s how she does it),” Arredondo said. “It’s like I’ve told her and I’ve let the girls know, and it’s nothing against her, she’s not the type of pitcher that’s going to strike out every batter. She works on the pop-ups and the ground outs. They’re going to hit her. They had one solid base hit. I told them, ‘Expect them to hit the ball and we have to get the give-me outs.’
“And she’s a part of that too. That’s exactly what she did. She did really well. I’m proud of her.”
Garcia allowed just one hit during three innings pitched and struck out four batters.
“I pitched pretty good, I think,” she said. “I could have done a little better. I pitched pretty good. I was just hitting my spots and throwing it where I’m supposed to throw (my pitches).”
Offensively, the Cowgirls’ backed Garcia with strong innings each time they came to the plate.
Porter (12-9, 6-2) went through the entire lineup twice before the game was called, and finished the blowout with 11 hits and nine walks.
Marquel Rivera sparked the lineup from the number two hole, going 3 for 3 with three doubles, three runs and four RBIs. It’s a product of recent improvement for the catcher
“We started off well,” Marquel Rivera said. “The first few batters came out with a bang and it just kept going on. We left a few runners on base and came back again (in the second) and did the same thing. We were consistent.”
Brissa Rivera also went 3 for 3 with two RBIs. Daniella Sanchez, Brenda Garcia, Brittny Garza and Karla Sosa scored two runs each.
Porter followed a two-run first inning with six runs in second. Karen Garcia led off the inning with a walk, and Marquel Rivera brought her in two at-bats later with a double.
Brissa Rivera brought her in with a single and scored on an error two batters later.
Krista Quiroz hit a three-run single to give Porter an 8-0 lead.
The offense performed even better in the third, getting nine hitters on base and scoring eight runs before the game was called with one out and one runner on base.
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.