The 2019 Los Fresnos Lady Falcons reached new heights in an ultra-competitive district.
Los Fresnos went to the playoffs for the first time in four years and has the pieces in play for another playoff run in 2020.
One key piece returning will be junior center fielder Reba Reyes, who led the team with a .517 average and proved to be the catalyst behind one of Rio Grande Valley softball’s deepest lineups. Reyes was second on the team in hits with 46, second on the team with extra-base hits with 15 and led the team with 44 runs.
With her power surge and breakout season, Reyes was named The Brownsville Herald’s All-Metro Offensive Player of the Year.
“Coach (Traci) Blackman texted me that I won the award, and then I told my parents and we were excited,” Reyes said.
Reyes has shown the ability to bat anywhere in the top half of the batting order. Her freshman and sophomore year, she batted as the leadoff hitter. At the start of this past season, Reyes was the team’s leadoff hitter until she was moved to the No. 3 hole, where she thrived.
Reyes drove in a team-high 42 RBIs and swatted a team-high 16 homers, which is a career high. The most intriguing part is Reyes’ improvement throughout her first three years.
As a freshman, she hit three homers. Her sophomore year, she hit eight home runs, and then she more than tripled her home run total in 2019, with 27 career dingers.
“I went up to the plate with a lot of confidence this year,” Reyes said. “I went up there thinking I was going to get a hit. I knew I wasn’t an underclassman anymore, and I wanted to be big for my team and wanted to show what I can do.”
Reyes also owed her breakout year to her offseason workouts, from the field to the weight room.
“I do a lot of weight training and take a lot of batting practice, and a lot of workouts when I’m outside of school,” Reyes said. “I worked hard, and I felt I had everything in place to put it all together.”
It didn’t take long for Reyes to realize she was in for a special year. In fact, the realization happened the first game of the season against Sharyland High.
“I realized this year was going to be special when we played Sharyland,” Reyes said. “I hit a home run, and I said to myself, ‘This was going to be a good year. I can feel it.’”
