BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
RIO GRANDE CITY — The Edinburg Vela roster isn’t filled with a ton of power hitters. Junior Taylor Chavez, Vela’s top everyday hitter, entered the week with a .404 batting average while leading the club in several other offensive categories.
At its core, the SaberCats batting lineup is better described as resourceful. If they get even the smallest whiff of a scoring chance, they will take advantage. The best evidence of this is Vela’s extra-inning win in Game 1 of their bi-district series versus Weslaco High last week, and a 5-0 triumph over the Laredo Alexander Bulldogs in Game 1 of their area round series on Thursday night.
“We know they respect our hitters with Audrey (Guerra) and Taylor (Chavez), but they wanted someone else to beat us,” Edinburg Vela coach Jon Maples said. “With these girls, it doesn’t matter what I ask them to do. They’re comfortable with swinging or bunting with two strikes and forcing their defense to make a play.”
Guerra and Chavez combined to go 0 for 4 with four walks between them, but other SaberCats clogged the basepaths against Laredo Alexander pitcher Stacy Alarcon.
Vela started the scoring with bunt singles by Gabby Villarreal and Evan Perez to lead off the third inning. Villarreal scored on a Darissa Buenrostro groundout to second, and Perez came home thanks to a bunt single from Kameryn Casares.
The sophomore Casares wasn’t done at the plate. She added a run-scoring single to right field in the fifth to put Vela (30-6) up by three.
“She was pitching inside and outside,” Casares said. “I had been working on hitting the outside pitch with my batting coach, so I knew what to do with it. I had to be patient and take it the opposite way.”
Maples saw Alarcon pitch at Laredo Alexander two years ago during his tenure as an assistant at McAllen Rowe.
“She (Alarcon) isn’t going to overpower us with speed, but she does have a lot of movement on her ball,” Maples said. “We need to make sure that we aren’t too far into the box, because once it (the ball) gets there, it’s already dropping.”
Four of the SaberCats’ six hits were on bunt singles.
“They gave us a lot of singles,” Maples said. “They played our girls on the edge of the grass, and we had to take what they were giving us. (Laredo Alexander) Coach (Alex) Colin likes to shift his outfield and shift his defense. The girls have been playing long enough to see where the first baseman or the third baseman’s at. If they’re going to play us that deep, then we’re going to put the bunt down.”
Vela senior Naomi Reyes was nails in the circle, allowing two hits and no walks while striking out 11 Bulldogs in seven innings.
“After we won the Weslaco series, I learned to relax and rely on our team’s bats,” Reyes said. “The girls have been hitting well, so there’s really been no need to put me in the lineup. If I’m doing my job in the circle and they’re hitting the ball, that’s good the way it is.”
“We took some pressure off her batting,” Maples said. “We’re trying to rest her as much as we can, because this is going to be a long series. From the first pitch to the last pitch, she was strong. Her changeup was really good, but it’s just Game 1. We have to feel each other out, see what their strengths are and see what the umpires are looking for. It was an awesome performance from our senior.”
Edinburg Vela will go for the clincher in Game 2 of the series at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Rio Grande City.