LOS FRESNOS — The stakes were high for both teams when the Harlingen High Lady Cardinals visited the Los Fresnos Lady Falcons on Tuesday.
Harlingen High needed a victory to force a play-in game with San Benito. A win for the Lady Falcons would earn them a share of the District 32-6A championship.
The intense game was tied at 2 heading to the final frame. Harlingen High took a one-run lead on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Alexa Perez in the top of the seventh, putting the pressure on Los Fresnos.
The Lady Falcons delivered in the biggest spot. Sophomore pitcher Katelyn Garza tied the game with a leadoff home run to left-center. Then, with one out, junior left fielder Victoria Altamirano roped a shot that hugged the right-field line and rolled to the fence.
Altamirano raced around the bases into the arms of her leaping and shouting teammates, scoring on an inside-the-park home run to earn the walkoff win, 4-3.
“I just wanted to score for my team. I gave it my all, I’m so gassed right now. I saw it go past her glove and I’m, like, I gotta score,” Altamirano said. “We’ve been working for this all year, and we deserve every second of this win. We are so happy. Every practice, we put all our hearts, everything we had into it. We deserve this.”
The Lady Cardinals took a 2-0 lead on a two-out rally in the third. Catcher Jaymie Gonzales drove in the first run on a bloop single to right after battling at the plate to work the count full. Third baseman Lilly Rocha followed that with an extra-base RBI single.
Harlingen High senior ace Audrie Sayas kept Los Fresnos off the board for four innings, giving up only one hit during that span. Though she struggled with control at times and pitched several consecutive balls, Sayas kept her composure and gave her team a chance in a five-hit effort.
But defensive errors proved costly for the Lady Cardinals. A missed throw on a fielder’s choice allowed Los Fresnos’ first run to score in the fifth. A misplayed routine pop up to left put the leadoff runner on in the sixth, and she promptly came around to tie the game on a run-scoring single by catcher Samantha Campos.
Lady Cardinals coach Josh Silva felt his team gave away the win, but the postgame message was about the many who will be returning embracing and learning from the hurt.
“Audrie just dealt again against a very good team. Errors, in the long run, ended up costing us this game. But she’s going to be successful wherever life takes her,” Silva said. “We’ll think about this loss tonight and then get back to work tomorrow. The culmination of the season doesn’t mean the culmination of our goals. The message to them was to understand what this pain feels like, because for 365 (days) you need to wake up every morning feeling this. That way opportunities don’t slip out of your hands again.”
Garza allowed seven hits and struck out six with no walks to take the win. She said scoring the tying run and clinching a share of the title was a great feeling.
“I felt the hit and I knew. I was really happy and so excited,” Garza said. “(The district title) means a lot. We hadn’t won in a while, so this is really going to motivate us. It makes me just want to keep going, and I’m excited for what’s going to come next.”
Up next, the two-seed Lady Falcons have a one-game bi-district playoff against Edinburg North at 7 p.m. April 30 at home. Los Fresnos coach Traci Blackman was overcome with pride in how her girls battled in the game and through the season to reach their goal.
“We didn’t give up. We went into the seventh tied, and I just had faith that something was going to happen. It was amazing,” Blackman said. “These girls have been working so hard. After we lost to South twice, they didn’t think it was possible. But they wanted a trophy. It just excites me for them because it’s a good group of girls. To finish the district season like this is amazing. I’m super proud of them.”
