SANTA ROSA — Santa Rosa spotted six runs to IDEA Donna in the first inning and came back to win 21-6 during their UIL Class 3A bi-district -elimination game Saturday at Santa Rosa’s softball field.
Inside-the-park home runs and savage baserunning helped the Warriors recapture the lead during the second inning after tying the game in the bottom of the first. After drawing a walk, Leslie Flores just ran around the bases to score as IDEA Donna infielders tried to throw her out.
In the top of the second, the Warriors scored 11 runs to make it 17-6 after Bela Grijalva scored on an inside-the-park home run.
Warriors head coach Nathan Alvarado decided to start sophomore DJ Ruiz in the circle. The first attempt at pitching this season did not go well for one of the best sub-5A players in the Valley as she walked multiple runners, spotting IDEA Donna the six runs.
“I wanted to give her a chance,” Alvarado said. “After putting in Alexis Colon, everything was working and all cylinders were firing. I think our bats were good, everything was working good for us and I am happy about today’s performance.”
Colon came in and shut it down the rest of the game. IDEA Donna’s Jennifer Ortega had success against Colon, going 2-for-2 with a double and single, but other than Ortega, the Titans had little to no success at the plate.
There is logic in the Warriors opting to not start Colon. Santa Rosa faces Kingsville Santa Gertrudis in the next round. Colon was hardly touched by IDEA Donna, so the defense was not worked much.
“It is going to be tough,” Alvarado said. “They are loaded, stacked, so it is going to be tough. If we have a solid week we can show up.”
The Warriors join fellow sub-5A teams Rio Hondo, San Perlita, Lyford, Edinburg IDEA Quest and La Villa in the second round of the UIL playoffs.
Only IDEA Quest picked up a win from District 31-3A. The Blazers are the District 31-3A champions and are going to face Corpus Christi London in the area round.
Lyford had a bye and Rio Hondo won by forfeit in Class 3A. San Perlita crushed Runge 17-3 and is set to face D’Hanis in the area round. La Villa swept Port Aransas in Class 2A. La Villa won Game 1 7-2 and Game 2 7-6 on Saturday.
The Valley’s teams from District 32-4A ran into stiff competition from District 31-4A. Port Isabel and Raymondville were eliminated in the bi-district round.
The full area-round schedule will be on RGVSports.com next week.