ROMA — The Roma Gladiators’ season began with a bang and a start unlike any other team past or present across the Rio Grande Valley.
Mired by multiple COVID-19 stoppages and a shortened season, the first time the Gladiators were able to grab a bat and resume softball activities was the first pitch of the team’s opening game of the season.
“We literally had to hit the ground running,” Roma head coach Joe Henry Doria said. “Our first practice was an official game. It was like whether you’re ready or not, here it is.”
Despite a rushed start and an unpredictable season unlike any other, however, Roma has weathered the storm, clinching the first postseason berth in the program’s 19-year history.
The Gladiators are set to get their first postseason experience when they travel to Corpus Christi Carroll for the first game of a best-of-three series in the bi-district round of the 5A playoffs at 7 p.m. Thursday.
They’ll return home for Game 2, the first postseason softball game ever played in Roma, at 7 p.m. Friday as they usher the program into a new era.
“It’s been very different, especially going into quarantine and having to wait,” senior Ada Cordero said. “It’s been very hard, but advancing to the playoffs is an honor especially for us having this be the first time and having a very chaotic year. The experience has been very great, especially with this team.”
“We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’ve fought through it together as a team,” senior Deyla Lopez said. “We made the playoffs and that’s all we can really ask for. We pushed through together.”
Cordero and Lopez are two of six Roma seniors who have come bitterly close to tasting the playoffs during their four-year varsity careers, narrowly missing out on securing postseason spots as freshmen and sophomores.
The Gladiators were denied again when the start of the COVID-19 pandemic ended their season abruptly at the beginning of district play last season, making the group more determined than ever to return and punch their way into the postseason.
“I think since last season ended, we just all regretted not going all out,” senior team captain Kelsey Vera said. “I think overall we just all see eye to eye. We all wanted to go to the playoffs, and we all wanted to make history together. I think that’s what’s really just brought us together.”
The Gladiators have been able to overcome a limited number of games and practices, thanks in large part to their unparalleled team chemistry.
Roma’s senior nucleus has spent their entire careers playing alongside one another from little league up through their tenure on the varsity squad.
It’s helped forge chemistry that’s kept the team bonded together even after numerous COVID stoppages and schedule changes that prevented the team from establishing a consistent rhythm in the regular season.
“Other teams we might meet might not be as comfortable with each other,” Cordero said. “We’ve been playing together since a while back, so despite COVID, we all know what we can do. Even when we’ve had to stop, we knew it was going to be fine because we’d be able to get right back to it.”
The Gladiators have been able to combine a mix of speed and hitting to elevate the program to new heights this season.
Vera and Cordero have tallied .487 and .467 on-base percentages, respectively, to lead a group of eight Roma starters with OBPs above .440, and have combined for 23 runs and 15 RBIs.
Cordero and Nailea Garza have also served as the team’s table-setters at the top of the lineup. The pair of speedsters have combined for 20 steals to make Roma a consistent threat to score whether the team relies on slapping or playing small ball to push runs across.
“The first and second batters are our speedsters and they’re always getting on base whether it’s with bunts or slapping,” Vera said. “As the third batter, I just know that as long as I make good contact with it, they’ll score. That helps a lot knowing that we have that talent.”
“A lot of us do play different sports,” Lopez said. “We have different skills. We all complement each other in that way on the field.”
With their unmatched chemistry and a mountain of momentum behind them, the Gladiators feel confident that their first trip to the postseason will help them put their small town on the map and make Roma a big-time player in the RGV’s softball scene moving forward.
“It’s definitely very cool because our small, little town isn’t very well known. I’ve had people ask me, ‘Where even is that place?’ So to go to a big city like Corpus, it’s going to be really fun to play over there,” sophomore pitcher Josmari Ortiz said.
“No matter whether we win or lose, we’re going to leave a mark and we’re going to make a name for ourselves. We’re going to show that we do have the skills to go somewhere far away from home and prove that small towns can have big personalities and big results on the field.”
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Twitter: @ByAndyMcCulloch
