KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
SAN BENITO — The San Benito Lady Greyhounds came out swinging and didn’t let up.
On parents night and with rival Harlingen South in town, the Lady ’Hounds controlled their emotions and used a pair of four-run innings led by the bats Jordan Ramos, Kate Garza and Sarah Garcia to cruise to a 11-3 win Tuesday night.
In the circle, Lady ’Hounds senior Nana Carrizales held her own in a complete game effort, yielding three runs, three hits and three walks and striking out six.
“I was a little nervous, but as the day went on I gained confidence,” Carrizales said. “As soon as I got in the circle, I was focused and ready. Against a lineup like South’s, I knew I had to hit my spots and I know I have a great defense behind me, and if the ball gets hit my defense will be right there.”
With the win, the ’Lady Hounds are 6-1 in District 32-6A. South has dropped two straight and is 5-2, and Los Fresnos — which also won Tuesday — is alive in the district title race with a 5-2 record and three games remaining in the regular season.
“It was a very emotional day. We had some kids where it was their last senior night, and some kids it was their first senior night,” Lady ’Hounds coach Denise Lira said. “Then you throw in where we stood with tonight’s game, but the girls have done a great job on taking everything one thing at a time, and they are able to keep their focus. And sometimes they lose focus, but do a great job on getting back on track.”
San Benito’s offense got going in a hurry with three straight hits. The Lady ’Hounds got on the board with back-to-back RBIs from Jaelynn Huerta and Ramos. Garcia and Steph Lopez later followed with RBIs to put San Benito ahead 4-0 after the first inning.
The offense added two more runs in the second inning and led 5-1. It was in the third inning that San Benito added some insurance runs. Ramos and Garza each hit two-run homers to put the game out of reach 10-1.
The offense collected 15 hits on 11 runs. Kari Cinsneros continues to swing a hot bat, going 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles and three runs scored. Ramos also went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and drove in three runs. Garcia finished 2-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs.
San Benito’s early offense gave the Lady ’Hounds the cushion and confidence they needed against Harlingen South.
“The momentum was in our favor from the start of the game,” Lira said. “It is great to start with runs in any game, but in a game as big as this one it really settled us down and kept the kids hungry and focused.”
San Benito built an early lead much like in the teams’ first contest, but Tuesday the Lady ’Hounds held the lead and Lira owed that to the kids’ mental toughness.
“We mentally needed to get stronger and we have matured,” Lira said. “We have grown from that loss and that type of game where we were up, and since then the kids have grown stronger and matured on their own, and that you can’t just wait on any team and that every inning counts.”
Meanwhile, South continues to struggle at the plate. The Lady Hawks received homers from Iliana Saucedo and Krystal Gonzales. Overall, the offense mustered three hits and generated six baserunners.
“We are just not doing a good job on handling the pressure right now,” South coach Elias Martinez said. “When game situations come up we need to do something, and right now we are not doing those things, more so at the plate. We just need to keep plugging away.”
South will look to rebound against Brownsville Rivera on Friday at home, and San Benito will travel to Brownsville Hanna. Both games are set for 6:30 p.m.