HARLINGEN — The old saying goes, “to be the man you gotta beat the man.” On Tuesday, that was the case for the Harlingen South Lady Hawks.
After taking down one giant in San Benito last week, Harlingen South slayed another as the young, gritty Lady Hawks used a complete-game effort from starter Kaitlynn De La Fuente and fed off of their center fielder Melba Rodriguez in 4-2 over Weslaco High.
The win puts South in sole possession of first place in District 32-6A with a 5-0 record. Weslaco, meanwhile, slipped into a two-way tie for second place with San Benito at 4-1.
“Everyone stepped up tonight; it was a total team effort against a solid Weslaco team,” said South skipper Elias Martinez. “It was a tough game; coach Mario Rodriguez does an excellent job of preparing them. Tonight it came down to who made the routine plays and handled the pressure. It could have gone either way, but tonight we were fortunate that it went our way.”
Entering the third inning tied at one run each, both starters, De La Fuente and Weslaco’s Ashley Sada, found themselves in a pitcher’s duel. In the top of the third, however, Rodriguez turned the momentum in South’s favor by making a running catch at the wall and taking away extra bases for the third out.
“Tonight I expected to get a lot of balls hit to the outfield,” Rodriguez said. “Weslaco can hit the ball well. They’re a tough team, but I was prepared to make plays. I didn’t expect to make that catch, but I did and I helped my team.”
In the fourth inning, South sophomores Kytana Muniz and Christina Arellano both got on base with back-to-back one-out singles. Freshman Alyssa Ledesma then knocked in the go-ahead run and put the Lady Hawks ahead 2-1. Kelsey Rivera followed with an RBI single adding an insurance run to make it 3-1 Lady Hawks thorough four innings.
“We have been working hard in practice and it is all paying off,” Rodriguez said. “We’re going to enjoy this win and we will keep working hard, but we’re definitely excited to be in first place in our district.”
De La Fuente shook off a rough second inning where she walked two batters that loaded the bases and issued her second free pass that allowed Weslaco’s first run of the inning.
From the second inning on, however, De La Fuente retired 13 of her final 16 batters faced. In the top of the seventh, Gabby Rivera hit a solo homer that cut into the lead at 4-2, but De La Fuente rebounded quickly and struck out the side to end the frame.
De La Fuente finished with a complete game, two runs, five hits and struck out eight. Muniz finished 3 for 3, Krystal Gonzales went 2 for 3 and hit a solo homer in the fifth inning as an insurance run.
