CORPUS CHRISTI — Harlingen South had its chances to take Game 1 against Leander, but left runners in scoring positions on a couple of occasions in a 3-2 loss at Cabaniss Thursday night.
Harlingen South and Leander meet for Game 2 at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Cabaniss in Corpus Christi.
The Hawks gave up all three runs in the first against a really strong top of the lineup for Leander and then settled down.
Harlingen South pitcher Lexi Sandoval struck out 10 batters while Amira Rodriguez and Yezenia Perez made great stops to keep the Lions at 3 runs, but the runs never came for the Hawks when they needed it.
“Their first inning is really what hurt us,” Harlingen South head coach Joey Rios said. “We gave up three and that’s all we gave up. Lexi was dialed in. Defensively, we missed a ground ball, they did a great job bunting and moving runners over. We just got to be able to make plays. We had one go off the glove and then the ground ball, that is more than enough.”
Leander pitcher Scarlett Geurin threw some nice pitches in tight situations, forcing the Hawk batters to fly out especially in crucial spots late in the game. Leander center fielder Rachel Grundei drove in two runs in the first with a well hit triple and then scored on a squeeze.
That’s all the Lions needed.
Harlingen South grabbed early runs thanks to hits from Emily Ruiz in the first and from Rodriguez in the third. Rodriguez made a fantastic play on a squeeze attempt in the bottom half of the third to keep the score at 3-2 by tagging the runner going home.
Hawks center fielder Kara Jensen went 3-for-3 on the night and was left on second base twice. Rios praised Jensen for making adjustments at the plate.
“We got to score runs,” Rios said jokingly, because it was as simple as that. The Hawks had situations that they needed to score runs and on the contrary Leander had moments where they could have scored runs also.
“At the end of the day credit to our girls, 3-2 ball game in the sweet sixteen and they are a good team – we know that,” Rios said. “But, we have to manufacture runs. It is a must, not a want to or need to.”
