By ARMANDO GARZA
Special to the NEWS
(SBCISD/KSBG photo)
The San Benito Lady ’Hounds are down one game in a regional semifinals best-of-three series versus San Antonio Southwest. Game 2 is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday in Kingsville.
KINGSVILLE – Every team is due for an off night, and unfortunately for the San Benito Lady ’Hounds, that night happened at the worst time.
The Lady ’Hounds committed five errors and got off to an uncharacteristically slow start against San Antonio Southwest as the Lady Dragons claimed a 7-2 victory in Game 1 of their best-of-three Region-IV semifinal series on Friday night.
Game 2 is slated for 2 p.m. at Vernie and Blanche Hubert Field on the campus of Texas A&M-Kingsville. Should the Lady ’Hounds win, a decisive third game would follow 30 minutes after the completion of the second game.
“We didn’t do a good job handling the pressure tonight, and that’s uncharacteristic of us,” Lady ’Hounds coach Elias Martinez said. “Five errors led to five runs and that was the difference. (Saturday) is a new day, so we’ll forget about this one.”
San Benito (27-5) was ranked eighth by the TGCA this week but started slow out of the gates as Southwest (32-9, ranked 10th) asserted itself immediately.
Kristal Salinas legged out a single, which was rewarded with a double from Elizabeth Phillips. Salinas came all the way around to score for a 1-0 lead for a disciplined Lady Dragons club.
The damage could’ve been worse, but Amber Jasso caught a fly in left and nailed a would-be tagging Phillips for a key double play.
In the home half, Stephanie Contreras smoked a hot shot to short for a single that was cashed in. Dorothy Millan stepped up and crushed a double to left center as Contreras sped all the way around to tie the game at 1.
The momentum was short-lived, however, as Southwest had a quick answer when Yanina Fernandez and Caitlin Terrazas drew walks to start the second. Gabby Flores singled home Fernandez to regain the lead for the Dragons. Miranda Gonzales reached on an error to load them. Salinas drew a walk to score Flores (3-1) and the lead eventually became 4-1.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth, when Jasso doubled to start the inning and Millan walked to put two on with one out. Clarissa Huerta singled to score Jasso as the Lady ’Hounds had something cooking; however an inning-ending double play ended the scoring chance, leaving the score at 4-2.
Southwest punctuated the win by scoring three in the seventh, including two off the bat of Phillips courtesy of a rocket home run to left.
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