RIO GRANDE CITY — Annabella Ramirez’s first taste of varsity softball was not what she anticipated.
Ramirez’s debut season with Rio Grande City was cut short at the start of district play in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which robbed the Rattlers and teams across the state from finishing what they started.
“I was so hurt last year that they shut everything down at the start of district,” Ramirez said. “I was hurt, disappointed and mad. I came back and said this was going to be my year, it was going to be our year.”
That experience pushed Ramirez and RGC to work harder than ever with the team intent on making its return to the postseason, after a run to the bi-district round of the 5A playoffs in 2019.
The Rattlers have rebounded behind the strength of a talented corps of freshmen and sophomores that have boosted one of the Rio Grande Valley’s deepest lineups and powered the Rattlers to one of their best seasons and first district title in more than a decade.
The Rattlers will host Corpus Christi Ray for Game 1 of a best-of-three series in the bi-district round at 7 p.m. Thursday, before heading to Corpus Christi Ray for Game 2 and a potential Game 3 at 5 and 7 p.m. Saturday.
“It feels amazing,” Ramirez said. “A lot of girls have been practicing extra after practice and it’s been showing and helping us a lot. … It’s been tough, but we’ve pushed through it and came through with several big victories.”
“From the first day of practice we established a goal and that was to be district champs and make it to the playoffs,” junior center fielder Rae Ann Cortinas said. “Every day we’ve held each other accountable to help reach our goals. That’s really helped us bond as a team and get to where we are.”
Rio Grande City has been propelled by six freshmen and sophomores in its starting lineup that have made the squad one of the Valley’s most dangerous hitting teams.
But without ample varsity experience or playing time as a unit, the Rattlers have had to find their groove and chemistry on the fly with limited opportunities to take the field together without tournaments and an abbreviated non-district schedule.
Among the squad’s three upperclassmen, Cortinas has provided Rio Grande City with veteran leadership for a young team in the midst of a season filled with unique obstacles.
“A lot of us are new, so I think it was a little more difficult for us to get to know each other and how to play together,” she said. “There were definitely a lot of lineup changes and figuring out where everyone fits best. It’s harder to do that when you have fewer games and a lot of the freshmen had to mature very fast because they didn’t have as much experience.”
The Rattlers’ underclassmen, though, have hit the ground running and helped turn the team into a formidable lineup from top to bottom with everyone producing at the plate.
Eight of Rio Grande City’s nine everyday starters have batting averages that eclipse .315, with four hitting above .415
Cortinas and Ramirez have been the most consistent presences in the heart of RGC’s lineup and provided the most punch with their bats.
Cortinas leads the team with a .446 average, 28 runs and 25 hits, while Ramirez leads all Rattlers with 16 extra-base hits and ranks second on the squad with 22 RBIs.
“I think our coaches have done a really good job at preparing us. We do a lot of live pitching, a lot of the hitting machine and a lot of tee work,” Cortinas said. “We really focus on the fundamentals and staying within our zone. A lot of it has also been our mentality at the plate, focusing on what we need to do and what the team needs.”
“I think that makes us a very dangerous team. We can start a rally at any time no matter what,” Ramirez said. “We could have two outs with the ninth batter coming up or the six, seven and eight batters coming up, but we know we’re going to get on base. Our lineup is very dangerous and I think other teams have to watch out for that.”
All that pop up and down the batting order helped the Rattlers average 12.7 runs per game and muster a 9-1 record against their district opponents, which made them the team to beat in 30-5A.
But Rio Grande City has also been able to rely on its pitching thanks to the performance of freshman ace Denzelle Saenz, who has proven RGC can win games in the circle, too.
Saenz has started 14 of the team’s 15 games and gone the distance in each outing. In 14 complete-game efforts, she’s recorded an 11-3 record to go along with a stellar 3.08 ERA, 87 strikeouts and three shutouts.
“At the beginning, it was hard to get adjusted. But after a few games, it kind of got easier as we went and felt more relaxing,” she said. “You have to believe in yourself while you’re pitching. You can’t let things get inside your head. You just have to pitch how you normally do and not think about the situation. You just have to do it and it’ll come out with a good result.”
“She’s coachable and she wants to win,” RGC head coach Nicole Smedley said. “When she’s on the mound, one thing that really has helped us is she’s very consistent. The amount of walks that she has per game is minimal, which is fantastic, and she can come back from being down in the count.”
With Saenz in the circle and one of the RGV’s highest-scoring offenses backing her up, Rio Grande City is confident heading into its bi-district playoff matchup against Corpus Christi Ray.
After playing a district slate with a big target on their backs, the Rattlers feel ready for the playoff pressure and up for the challenge against a Texans team with a postseason pedigree.
“It’s a good feeling to know you’re the team to beat,” Cortinas said. “We’ve had to really stay focused because other teams have been gunning for us and really trying to beat us. We stayed did what we needed to do to beat those teams and we’ve come out here and practiced like we had to win every single game. I think that’s really going to help us a lot.”
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ByAndyMcCulloch
