HARLINGEN — The battle for District 32-6A was certainly worth the wait.
In front of a packed house divided by purple and green, the San Benito Lady Greyhounds held off a late South rally and used a four-run fourth inning to hand the Lady Hawks their first league loss of the season, 5-4 Wednesday evening.
The Lady Hounds have now won seven in a row and placed themselves into a tie for first place with the Lady Hawks at 10-1.
San Benito fed of the arm of pitcher Eliana Carrizales and senior Audrey Huerta, who had a dazzling catch in center field and provided a two- run RBI in the fourth inning.
“So much was going through my mind on that play, I didn’t think I was going to catch it,” Huerta said. “I was able to make the catch and help out my pitcher. Anytime we play Harlingen South, it’s always fun. Playing in this district is tough; it can go either way. Our pitchers have played great and on defense we have been able to back them up.”
Heading into the fourth with the game tied at 1-1, San Benito’s Sarah Garcia reached first on an error by Lady Hawks first baseman Alyssa Ledesma. After back-to-back outs, April Garcia drew a walk that helped spark the two-out rally.
Huerta broke the tie with a two-run double, followed by an RBI single by Aaliyah Rangel that pushed the Lady Hounds’ lead to 5-1. Huerta finished the night 2 for 5 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored.
“Audrey gave us some momentum at the plate and on the field she did a great job tracking the ball down tonight,” said San Benito coach Denise Lira. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy; our backs were against the wall just as much as theirs (South’s).”
Sophomore catcher Kytana Muniz collected two of the six hits for the Lady Hawks. Muniz clubbed two solo homers in her first two at-bats before being intentionally walked in the sixth inning.
South rallied late with a solo homer by Kaitlynn De La Fuente in the sixth that cut into the lead at 5-3. And in the seventh, Kayla Rogers scored on an RBI by Kelsey Rivera to trim the lead to one run. But that was as close as the Lady Hawks got.
“We have done a good job of taking it one day at a time and these girls have so much fight in them, it’s unbelievable.” Lira said. “When you think we won’t answer back, the kids figure it out and get the job done. From our pitching staff to our defense, they find ways to get it done.”
Carrizales pitched around some trouble but still went the distance as she yielded four runs on six hits.
“I’m just very excited right now,” Carrizales said. “If it wasn’t for my defense, I don’t get this done; they played amazing behind me. I took tonight like any other night, and went to the circle and just did my thing.”
Despite the loss, South remains in good shape but will need to regroup quick as they have a date with red-hot Weslaco High on Friday.
Meanwhile, San Benito hosts Brownsville Hanna in their final home game of the regular season Friday at 7.
“We didn’t make the routine plays and they did,” said South coach Elias Martinez, who remained at career win No. 499. “We made some errors and it cost us the game.”
