WESLACO — Weslaco East’s five-run bottom of the fourth inning was the difference against Brownsville Veterans Memorial on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats defeated the Chargers 7-3 in a District 32-5A contest at Weslaco East High School to remain undefeated at 5-0 to start district play.
“It is a big district,” Weslaco East head coach Victoria Vasquez said. “So, 5-0 is nice, but we still have a lot of games ahead of us. We need to take it one game at a time. This district is tough.”
Weslaco East pitcher Kaylin Morales had a comfortable lead to maintain from the circle after the offense exploded in the bottom of the fourth. Morales finished the night with three strikeouts, as she had a defense behind her that made plays to keep the Chargers from doing too much damage.
“We told our defense go to work, take care of our pitcher — she is a freshman,” Vasquez said. “She has done a phenomenal job for us this season.”
Weslaco East picked up its decisive runs in the bottom of the fourth after loading the bases no outs. Two runs followed by Wildcats infielder Ambrosia Pena’s bases clearing triple put her team up 7-1. Pena and Jaisy Caceres hit back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the third to give the Wildcats a 2-1.
“I told the girls we are going to enjoy tonight’s win, and then we got to get to work tomorrow,” Victoria Vasquez said with a meeting against Mercedes coming up Friday.
Brownsville Veterans pitcher Alexis Tamez gave up all of her runs in the third and fourth. Tamez finished with 11 strikeouts on the night.
“East is a really good team,” Brownsville Veterans assistant coach Heriberto Rodriguez said. “We needed to be on our game, playing perfect defense, because they were going to make contact. We made a couple of errors, and they hit the ball. Our pitcher did really good, but we did not help her offensively or defensively.”
The Chargers jumped on the Wildcats in the first inning when Reggie Santivanez drove in Andrea Chapa with a double that found a gap.
Brownsville Veterans Memorial takes on Donna North at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Donna North. Weslaco East faces Mercedes in another pivotal District 32-5A meeting at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Mercedes High School.