By CLAIRE CRUZ, Staff Writer
After a tough 7-6 loss to Devine to wrap up Day 1 of the Port Isabel-Los Fresnos softball tournament Thursday night, Rio Hondo coach Brett Esparza hoped his girls would start Day 2 fired up.
But in the 10 a.m. contest against Sinton at Los Fresnos, the Lady ’Cats took too long to get the engines burning and fell 14-3 to the Lady Pirates.
“Maybe (last night’s game) left us a little emotionally drained” Esparza said. “I was hoping for us to bounce back with a little more energy today. But there was some good stuff, we had some three-up, three-down innings and some where we put the bat on the ball.”
Sinton starting pitcher Haley Smith tossed three nearly perfect innings, allowing no hits with five strikeouts and one walk. She also recorded two hits at the plate, including a three-run home run over the center-field wall.
Kelsey Pizzaro was in the circle for Rio Hondo and had a much tougher time. Sinton scattered 15 hits off Pizzaro and worked five walks to get the win. The Lady Pirates scored four runs in the first and two in the second before Pizzaro found a bit of a groove. She made quick work of Sinton during the next two innings, facing the minimum six batters with some help from her defense.
The Lady ’Cats turned a double play in the top of the third as Pizzaro threw out Annie Kay on a 1-3 fielder’s choice, and first baseman Alyssa Silguero fired the ball across the field to get a runner out trying for third. Pizzaro closed the inning with a strikeout and then got three straight Lady Pirates to fly out in the fourth.
Sinton woke up the bats again for an eight-spot in the top of the fifth. The Lady ’Cats recorded two outs after just two runs had scored, but three consecutive singles got the Lady Pirates rolling and Smith’s long ball drove in three of the six two-out runs scored.
“In the third and fourth inning, they kind of got hungry and started swinging at any pitches… but we did a better job finishing the game. We needed to attack the ball and wait to see our pitch,” Sinton coach Audra Troutman said.
Rio Hondo sent the whole lineup to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, when it faced Sinton relief pitcher Kailyn Ibarra. Silguero notched the first Lady ’Cats hit of the game with a one-out double, then Abbie Torris came to the plate and ended the shutout with a two-out, bases-clearing double to left field. Ibarra walked the next two batters, but a pop out to right field ended the threat.
“That’s something I’m real proud of, the fight when the game’s in hand and it’s kind of like it may not matter, but it matters to them,” Esparza said. “For them to be disciplined enough to get the bases loaded and then (Torris) to come up and say ‘I’m going to make something happen right here’ says a lot about her and the team.”