BROWNSVILLE — The Brownsville Veterans Memorial defense came to play Saturday night, especially in the early innings, and maneuvered out of tough situations to advance the Lady Chargers to the area round of the playoffs with a 6-1 victory over McAllen Rowe in Game 3 of their bi-district playoff series.
“We have been stressing solid defense all year,” Lady Chargers coach Heriberto Rodriguez said. “Solid defense, timely hitting and good pitching is what won us the game. You have to play solid defense against a good team like (McAllen) Rowe because they are going to put the ball in play, which they did.”
Rebekah Izeta started in the circle for Brownsville Veterans and struggled early to find the strike zone. During the top of the second inning with bases loaded, Izeta walked in a run, but she was bailed out by great throw by catcher Nahomi Garcia, who picked off the runner on third.
In the bottom half of the inning, Izeta redeemed herself by starting off the inning with a single. The courtesy runner, Dana Arangua, scored on a sacrifice fly to give the Lady Chargers a 2-1 lead.
Brownsville Veterans brought in Alexis Tamez in the third, but even she struggled a bit early and was bailed out after a brilliant defensive play with no outs and runners at the corners. The Rowe batter hit a shot down the third-base line, but third baseman Reggie Santivanez held the runner on third and threw out the batter headed to first.
First baseman Sofia Perez threw out the runner attempting to go home, and Tamez struck out the next batter looking to end the inning.
“I came in a little nervous, but I know I had to do it because my teammates needed me,” Tamez said. “I could not have done this without my team. We practice all the time for those situations. We really came out and showed what we can do today.”
Brownsville Veterans shortstop Andrea Chapa was on fire offensively, smacking base hits, scoring runs and running the bases well. Chapa also made hard plays look routine defensively.
“I was off the past two games,” she said. “I knew I needed to hit because I am leadoff, it starts with me. I just had to come out for my team. I came and wanted to play and redeemed myself.”
Natalie Mendoza drove in three runs, in the third and fifth innings. Tamez shut it down the rest of the game, and Brownsville Veterans is now off to face Rio Grande City in the next round.
McAllen Rowe never gave up and had its moments early.
“Coming into this series, our team had to get through a lot of tough games to get here,” Rowe coach Aissa Hinojosa said. “They had to fight and battle at times. They brought that fight into this series, and we came up a little short. Kudos to my seniors, credit to their leadership and grit for helping us get this far. We will be back.”
