Lady Cats primed for rematch with Beeville Jones

RIO HONDO — With Thursday marking the last day of the school year at Rio Hondo High School, the Lady Bobcats are still hard at work.

The Lady Cats are primed for a rematch with a familiar adversary in Beeville Jones as Rio Hondo’s season ended last year in the bi-district round at the hands of the Lady Trojans.

The Region IV-4A final gets underway with Game 1 set for 7:30. Game 2 will be played at 5 p.m. Saturday and Game 3, if necessary, will follow 30 minutes afterward. All games will be played at Corpus Christi’s Cabaniss Field.

“We have a good idea on what they (Beeville) will bring,” said Rio Hondo coach Brett Esparza. “However, it’s one of those things were they know us, too. We know they do an exceptional job hitting the ball and they have excellent pitching. A lot of their games have been decided by a few runs. Like us, they are coming off an emotional series win. It’s going to be a challenge, but our girls are prepared.”

The Lady Trojans are out of District 30-4A. Entering the postseason, Beeville Jones won its district with a 17-5 overall record.

The Lady Trojans pitching staff has tossed five shutouts in the postseason with Ingleside being the only team to generate some offense and score runs. Beeville Jones will turn to junior ace Aaliyah Ruiz, who is committed to Alabama A&M.

This week’s task may be Rio Hondo’s toughest challenge yet, but the Lady Cats remain cool, calm and collected.

The Lady Cats will turn to their pitching duo of Jennifer Flores and Miranda Martinez. Offensively, Tianna Sandoval, Bianca Cruz and Alexa Castellanos will be key bats in the lineup.

A series win would clinch their first-ever state tournament bid and they would become the third program in Rio GrandeValley softball history to make the state tournament.

Meanwhile, Beeville Jones is looking to get back to the big dance for the first time since 1997.

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Community rallying around team

RIO HONDO — The Lady Bobcats have stirred up quite the buzz over the past few weeks.

Rio Hondo is the last softball team standing in the Rio Grande Valley and their latest playoff series win has been the talk of the town.

To no one’s surprise, the Rio Hondo faithful flooded the stands at Sinton High School this past weekend and witnessed an incredible regional semifinal series win.

“Everyone in the com-munity has given us a second wind,” said Rio Hondo coach Brett Esparza. “We’re all tired from the weekend, but when we got to school Monday it was the talk of the school. Everyone was talking about our series win. Everybody knew what we went through over the weekend, but their sup-port gave our girls a shot of adrenalin for Monday’s practice.”

At one point Saturday night, Rio Hondo was trending on Twitter and was the third hottest topic.

With their weekend series beginning tonight, the community is planning on making the trip to Corpus Christi with a fan bus that Rio Hondo High School will be providing for students. Not only will the community be in full force, there will be a graduation ceremony for the seniors after tonight’s game.

“It’s amazing to see our community rally around such a great group of girls,” said Rio Hondo principal Liz Valdez. “What’s amazing about them is they remain humble after every win and will say they are not done yet. Their passion and attitude has really led this community to support them 100 percent.

“You see parents, grandparents, and cousins all come to the games and support the girls. This past weekend was amazing to see all our fans stay out past midnight, but at the end of the day it’s not just about the winning because the kids have such a great attitude.”

Rio Hondo takes on Beeville Jones in Game 1 at 7:30 p.m. today with Game 2 scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday. Game 3, if needed, will follow 30 minutes after Game 2. All games will be played at Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.

“My phone hadn’t stopped ringing. It is amazing to see all the support we are getting and I have been getting support from coaches wishing us luck and congratulating the girls,” Esparza said.