BY NATE KOTISSO | STAFF WRITER
EDINBURG — After Weslaco High cleanup hitter Audrey Escamilla drove in another run against archrival Weslaco East on March 22, the senior tried to stretch her single into a double.
Escamilla made a beeline toward second, but she didn’t make it. She injured a hamstring in between the bags and was tagged out to end the seventh inning.
“I thought my senior year was over,” Escamilla said. “Everybody was asking me if I felt tight before (it happened) or if anything was hurting. All I was thinking at that time was that I’m going to make it to second base. It just happened out of nowhere. I’ve done a lot of rehab since then. Twice a day, every single day.”
Weslaco High coach Mario Rodriguez said Escamilla re-entered the starting lineup when it hosted Weslaco East in a 9-2 win Tuesday. The Panthers defeated Edinburg North by an identical 9-2 score Thursday.
Escamilla’s presence in the lineup was beneficial for Weslaco High on Thursday. She went 3 for 4 with three runs batted in while scoring a run.
“She’s slowly getting herself back into her old routine,” Rodriguez said. “The time she was hurt gave the other girls the opportunity to step up and they have. That’s why we find ourselves in the situation that we’re in. Now with Audrey back, it just helps us with another person with great leadership qualities.”
“I was a little nervous at first, but the more I go up there, the more comfortable I become at the plate,” Escamilla said. “A lot of people are saying that me being back is making a difference, but honestly, it’s all the girls. They were winning when I wasn’t there. They were doing everything they needed to do since Day 1, whether I’m there or not. I’m not doing everything. That’s something that I think needs to be recognized a lot more.”
Weslaco High (22-11) leadoff hitter Lily Torres started the first inning with a base hit and scored on an RBI groundout from Escamilla. Torres would also drive in a run in the fourth inning.
Jordan Diaz, the Panthers’ No. 5 hitter, blew Thursday’s game open when she golfed a two-run home run over the left field fence off Edinburg North (22-8) starting pitcher Natalie Rodriguez.
“I was looking for a middle-to-outside pitch, but I knew she was throwing inside so I had to back up a little bit,” Diaz said. “I was trying to find a pitch to hit and move runners over. When I hit it, I knew it was gone.”
“We were going to take whatever she was going to give us,” coach Rodriguez said. “We weren’t going to be overthinking things. If we liked a pitch, we were going to go after it. Luckily, we were able to put some hits together and take advantage of some of the errors that they made.”
Thursday’s win notches Weslaco High a season sweep of Edinburg North and the No. 2 seed in the first round of the playoffs next week. ENHS led off the home half of the first inning with Jessica Diaz’s first career home run, but the team didn’t get its next hit until the fourth inning.
The Cougars will assume the No. 3 seed representing District 31-6A.
“We weren’t in it from the beginning,” Edinburg North coach Richard Tressler said. “You can’t, a) not have any offense, and, b) make some of the mistakes that we made. Other than the home run, how many balls did they hit hard? One other hit to center. The rest (of the hits) were bloops. You can’t do that. Not at this point in the year.”
Edinburg North will face Harlingen South in the bi-district round while Weslaco High will contend with Los Fresnos from District 32-6A.