By TJ GARCIA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
WESLACO — Weslaco High exploded for seven third-inning runs, and sophomore Alyssa Escamilla went 3-for-3 at the plate while pitching two scoreless inning in relief to lead the Lady Panthers past rival Weslaco East 10-0 on Tuesday night.
Sophomore slugger Gabby Rivera ignited the scoring avalanche with a two-run home run blast over the left-field wall of the Lady Panthers’ home field. The two-run cushion was just what the doctored ordered for junior pitcher Taylor Tafolla, who threw her first game coming back from injury.
Tafolla gave way to Escamilla in the fourth, and she finished off the Lady Wildcats having the game called under the 10-run rule in the fifth inning. The win keeps Weslaco High in the thick of the District 31-6A softball race with a 4-2 record, 17-4 overall.
Escamilla, who hit three singles and struck out three from the mound, said the Lady Panthers played with a purpose, and once they got a lead it was easier for her to come in behind Tafolla and close.
“We really didn’t expect it (10 runs). We thought we were going to be doing more small ball,” Escamilla said. “But we had our bats tonight and everyone just kept adding on and bringing each other in and the momentum kept going throughout the whole game.”
The game started out slowly enough with a scoreless first, but in the bottom of the second Rivera took a 2-1 fastball and cranked it into the parking lot beyond the left-field fence scoring Tafolla and giving Weslaco a 2-0 lead.
“I saw it (the ball) rise, and I love the raised pitches, and I just put my bat to the ball and swung,” the first baseman said of her second home run this year. “When I felt it off my hands, I knew it. It was on the best part of the bat.”
After that, the third inning was a combination of the Lady Panthers’ aggressiveness, and the Lady Wildcats miscues. Weslaco batted around the order scattering seven hits and scoring seven runs. Throwing errors helped doom East as it struggled to get out of the inning.
Weslaco East coach Adalberto Guerra said there wasn’t much to salvage from the game. He added that his team has to move forward can clean up the mistakes to compete in the district’s second round.
Weslaco added one more run in the fourth when Jennifer Guillen scored after hammering a stand-up triple to lead off the inning. Guillen, a third baseman, went two-for-three on the night and scored later. Weslaco Coach Mario Rodriguez said he didn’t expect to score 10 runs, but the victory is welcomed in the rough and tumble 31-6A.
“We work on our offense quite a bit and go into every game hoping that we can put two or three hits together and get some runs scored,” said Rodriguez. “It’s good to see that the stuff we are working on in practice is paying off.”
Rodriguez said he was pleased with Tafolla’s three-inning, two-hit performance given it was her first game back. He expects her to stay on the mound longer as time goes on.