KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
BROWNSVILLE — On a night when runs came at a premium, Edinburg Vela did just enough at the plate and on the field against a tough Brownsville Hanna club.
The SaberCats took advantage of three errors and leaned on the right arm of sophomore pitcher Brianna Salinas in a 3-1 win over Hanna in Game 1 of a best-of-three series Thursday in the Class 6A bi-district round.
“We played Hanna twice and we scrimmaged (against) them. We knew what type of team they have and this is the playoffs,” Edinburg Vela coach Jon Maples said. “It is one of those things where you get the best from every team and that is why they are in the playoffs. But we fully expected for Hanna to come out tough, and their pitcher pitched really well tonight. She hit her spots.”
The series shifts to Edinburg Vela at 7 tonight with the SaberCats one win away from clinching.
Salinas dazzled in the circle. She threw a complete game, striking out eight, walking two on five hits and allowing one run.
“I could have hit my spots a little better throughout the game,” Salinas said. “But, that last inning, I just missed a few spots and it got to where I had to throw more down the middle. It was a little frustrating because I wasn’t getting the outside corner but as the game went on I gained confidence.”
The three runs all came unearned. Hanna committed an error during the first inning that led to an RBI single from Monee Montilla that gave Vela a 1-0 lead. During the fourth, Hanna committed its second error and, like the first inning, Vela made Hanna pay with an RBI double off the bat of Karina Guzman,
During the top of the seventh inning, Hanna’s third error later scored a run on a sacrifice fly from Julia Cordon, giving Vela a 3-0 lead.
“Our defense showed up tonight and made plays,” Maples said. “We can do offense and defense. We have done it all year. This is our 28th win of the year and it shows we can play defensive games and win close games.”
Despite the three errors, Hanna put together a strong showing against the reigning District 31-6A champs. In the circle, junior DD Guerrero held her own, throwing a complete game, yielding three hits, three strikeouts and one walk.
The Eagles managed to get a seventh-inning rally going. Jenna Otero drove in the lone run on an RBI double. Hanna got the tying run on base but failed to complete the rally. Hanna stranded five runners on the base paths.
“We made some great defensive plays, turned a double play and our catcher made a nice play,” Larson said. “We are hoping to carry this seventh inning momentum into tomorrow. Not a lot of people expected us to give them a game but I knew we could and now we believe that we can.”