SAN BENTIO — The Lady Hounds are clicking on all cylinders and are back in the regional quarterfinals for the first time since the 2015 season.
San Benito cruised through the bi-district round and had a gut-check series win against San Antonio Southwest this past weekend in the area round.
This week San Benito will tangle with Eagle Pass in a Class 6A regional quarterfinal. The best-of-3 series will begin at 5 tonight with all games of the series at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.
“Every day we’re taking little pieces of the game that we need to focus on and taking it one day at a time,” said San Benito coach Denise Lira. “The girls have been focused all week, and have done a great job on keeping their focus and working hard.”
Tonight’s matchup will mark the second straight week San Benito plays an opponent out of District 29-6A.
Eagle Pass beat McAllen Rowe in the bi-district round before beating fellow RGV power Edinburg High in the area round.
The Lady Eagles are led by a pair of sluggers in Alexandra Martinez and Brooke Diaz, who have a combined 75 hits on the season.
“Practice has gone well for us this week,” said junior infielder April Garcia. “We all have done a great job on preparing for our next opponent. Understanding what they do, we are preparing each day and right now we’re playing with confidence. Last weekend’s series win really helped us gain even more confidence.”
Despite dropping Game 2 against San Antonio Southwest, San Benito found its swagger in Game 3 and used a seven-run sixth inning to storm back and win the series.
The fight that was displayed in Game 3 has been a prime example of what the Lady Hounds have done all season. With a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line, the Lady Hounds have the right pieces in play with ace Nana Carrizales, catcher Joanna Gonzalez and center fielder Audrey Huerta all performing at a high level.
“The kids are having fun and playing with confidence,” Lira said. “We try and execute certain things in a game and if that doesn’t work the kids do their best to have quality at-bats and continue to fight for seven innings.
“Our pitching has also done a great job on getting ground balls and pop-ups for our infield. When you get out of tough jams you gain confidence and we have seen that over the last few weeks and it gets better.”
