By ROY HESS | THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD
LOS FRESNOS — While other teams around the Rio Grande Valley took the night off because of wet weather on Tuesday, the Hanna Lady Golden Eagles came up with one of their best wins of the softball season.
The Lady Eagles pushed across a run in the top of the eighth inning and made it stand up for a 3-2 District 32-6A road victory over the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons.
The game was knotted 2-2 after four innings and stayed that way until the eighth when a high pitch sailed over the Los Fresnos catcher and Hanna’s Alex Rivera made a dash for home plate from third base. It was a close call at home, but she was ruled safe.
“I felt like I should go, so I just went,” said Rivera, a freshman second baseman, of her decision to make a try for the plate. “I was really happy (to score).
“It felt good because I’m just a freshman and coming home (to score the winning run) and helping my team win and everything — it was just amazing,” added Rivera, who singled to center field to open the top of the eighth, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and then made it to third on another put-out at first. “I honestly believe that this win (Tuesday) shows we can compete with anyone. We just have to keep the right attitude and never give up.”
The Lady Eagles improved to 9-17-1 on the season and 3-8 in district. Los Fresnos slipped to 15-12-1 and 3-8.
“This feels great, the girls played awesome,” Hanna coach Greg “Boomer” Larson said. “They’ve been in games all year, but we’ve always had a bad inning or something go wrong. (Tuesday) they overcame two errors in the (bottom of the) last inning to get the outs and get the win.
“We played a complete game,” Larson added. “We played eight innings and we played well. (Our pitcher) D.D. (Guerrero) did a fantastic job.”
Hanna led 1-0 in the top of the first inning when Ari Arceneaux came home from third on a steal before the Lady Falcons went ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the first on a two-run single to left field by Idalee Ibarra.
An RBI single to center field by Guerrero in the top of the fourth plated teammate Tabby Fernandez from second and tied the score 2-2.
Guerrero, a sophomore, went the distance on the mound for the win. She pitched a solid game in holding the Lady Falcons to seven hits. Hanna collected eight hits.
“I felt confident (on the mound) because I think my team has come a long way this season and we’ve bonded a lot,” Guerrero said. “My teammates kept me inspired and made sure that I felt good and kept a good attitude. I just felt good out there.
“I’m just glad everyone did her job (Tuesday), and of course, God helped us a lot,” Guerrero added. “Every time we go into a team huddle, we always say ‘Amen’ and break, so I’m pretty sure it was all God helping us (Tuesday).”
Los Fresnos used two pitchers in the game with Vicky Perales starting and giving way a teammate during the middle innings.
District action continues for both teams at 7 p.m. Friday as Los Fresnos is at Harlingen High and Hanna is at San Benito.