By MARIO AGUIRRE | STAFF WRITER
ALAMO — Moments after pulling what many may consider to be the biggest upset of these playoffs, PSJA Memorial coach Gilberto Rodriguez struggled at times to gather his thoughts.
His Wolverines had never made the playoffs, and as the No. 4 seed in District 31-6A, they faced long odds to upset a San Benito program that had played in the state semifinals a year ago.
But for a second day in a row Saturday, the Lady Wolverines stunned the Lady Greyhounds, scoring a 3-2 victory to win their Class 6A bi-district series.
“I’m trying to think right now, but there’s a lot going on,” Rodriguez said, laughing. “I’m just at a loss for words.”
A day after posting an 8-3 win to even the series at one game apiece, Ashley Castillo resumed her post in the circle. The PSJA Memorial senior hurled another complete game, recording four strikeouts and retiring the last nine San Benito batters to set up an area-round match against McAllen High.
“This is in indescribable,” Castillo said. “As soon as we won that first game Friday, we knew we could win (Saturday). We all just worked as a team, we picked our heads up. Usually we have a bad habit of putting our heads down as soon as we make the first mistake. But this time around we picked each other up. It was amazing.”
PSJA Memorial (14-13) surrendered both runs during the third inning, after having scored three during the first inning with the first three batters in the lineup (Kristy, Elyssa and Amanda Aguilera, respectively). But it was enough to offset a late push by San Benito.
It was a stark difference from the opening game, which PSJA Memorial lost 11-2.
“Thursday was tough for us,” Rodriguez said. “They were nervous. They had never seen a crowd that big. We were hanging in, but we were making errors. I talked to them after the game and said, ‘That’s how good they are. We could do better,’ and Friday we stepped it up.
“Earlier in the morning (Saturday), the girls were texting, ‘We’re ready, Coach.’ And I said, ‘Good.’ That inspired me, that inspired them. We felt no one could get in our way.”
After overcoming what he described as “playoff jitters,” the Lady Wolverines won two straight games, handing San Benito (28-3) twice as many losses as it had all year heading into the playoffs.
“We came in and the girls had a little swag to them,” Rodriguez said. “That team came in on Thursday, and you could tell right away, just by the name, the (PSJA Memorial) girls were intimated. And I said, ‘Why can’t we do that? Let’s walk into their place, have swag and make an impression at their place.’
“I believe no one’s lost at the place for a long, so I said, ‘Why not us?’”
Now, they advance to take on McHi in the area round, with the time, date and place to be determined Monday.
San Benito’s only other loss this year came at the hands of Brownsville Veterans Memorial, 4-2, on April 12, though it didn’t prevent the Lady Greyhounds after claiming another District 32-6A title.
San Benito was the No. 1 ranked team by RGVSports.com, and No. 4 by the Texas Girls Coaches Association in their Class 6A softball poll. It also came in No. 16 in the latest USA Today High School Sports/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Super 25 softball rankings.
“This is an elite team,” Rodriguez said of the Lady Greyhounds. “One thing I told them is to never give up. ‘These girls are on the same level as you, ladies. They go to school and they practice, and so do we.’ Thursday was a fluke for us, and we saw what we could do against them, and that drove our momentum.
“Like I told them, the playoffs are different. Everyone starts 0-0, and it can be anybody’s game at anybody’s time.”