Lady Eagles eliminated by San Benito in Game 2 thriller

••Sunday•, 13 •May• 2018 09:19• ??EPSCadmin??
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LADY EAGLES SOFTBALL DIAMOND NEWS

Lady Eagles eliminated by

San Benito in Game 2 thriller

Alexandra Martinez belts 2 HR’s in Game 2

By: Conrado Perez, Jr. – Eagle Pass Sports Central

“Your best and only source for local sports news in Eagle Pass”

The high powered bi-district and area champion Eagle Pass Lady Eagles varsity girls’ softball who year in and year out have been known to be one of the premier high school softball teams in Region IV class 6A ventured into the third round of the post season playoffs for the ninth time in their illustrious storied history on Friday, May 11 and Saturday May 12, 2018 when they played a best two out of three series against the perennially tough and the State’s current 8th ranked San Benito Lady Hounds with a 5:00 PM series opening matchup at St. Mary’s University.

The Lady Hounds entered this series sporting an overall season record of 20-8 while the Lady Eagles came in with an overall season record of 20-9, Throughout their storied history the Lady Eagles and Lady Hounds have faced each other a total of four times in the post season with San Benito winning three of those matchups and the Lady Eagles winning only one back in 2007. The winner of the Eagle Pass-San Benito matchup will advance to face the winner of the San Antonio Holmes-New Braunfels Canyon series for the Regional Semifinals championship.

GAME 1

The one thing that has continued to haunt and plague the Lady Eagles all season long even got worse in this series opener as they committed a whopping season high 8 total errors in this game with the majority coming on routine ground balls and routine throws to first as well.

The Lady Eagles managed to take the early lead in this key game with a lone run in the top of the second inning with Kaylynne Ruiz reaching on a two out base on balls, the San Benito pitcher also walked the next two batters in a row to load the bases for Paola Daniel who also walked on four straight pitches to drive in Kaylynne Ruiz with the first run of this game and the series but the Lady Eagles left the bases loaded.

In the bottom half of the second the Lady Hounds took full advantage of two costly Lady Eagles errors to produce five big runs to take the lead for good in this game by the score of 5 to 1. In the bottom of the fourth Leenette Krezdorn was summoned from the bullpen to take over the pitching duties from starting pitcher Kaitlin Galvan and she was touched for three more runs on a pair of base on balls and three base hits which gave the Lady Hounds an 8 to 1 lead in this game.

Heading to the top of the fifth inning the Lady Hounds starting pitcher was tossing a no hitter. After getting the first batter for the Lady Eagles on a ground out to third, the Lady Eagles season long leading hitter, leading homerun hitter and leading RBI producer Brooke Diaz stepped up to the plate and broke up the no-hit bid with a booming double down the leftfield foul line. Heather Ruiz who has been struggling on the field and at the plate according to the Lady Eagles coaching staff during the entire playoffs especially with runners in scoring position finally came through with a two run homerun to narrow the Lady Eagles deficit to 8 to 3. But the Lady Eagles could only manage just one more base hit the rest of the way in this game on a base hit by Kayla Ochoa.

In the bottom of the sixth the Lady Hounds added a pair of insurance runs courtesy of yet another pair of costly errors by the Lady Eagles to come away with the 10 to 3 victory over the Lady Eagles.

Score by Innings: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

LADY EAGLES 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 3 8

SAN BENITO 0 5 0 3 0 2 x 10 16 0

Losing Pitcher: Kaitlin Galvan Leading Hitters: Brooke Diaz 1 for 3 with 1 run scored, Kayla Ochoa 1 for 4, Heather Ruiz 1 for 4 with 1 run scored and 2 RBI’s on a two run homerun run, Kaylynne Ruiz 1 run scored and Paola Daniel 1 RBI

GAME 2

In a win or go home situation in game 2, the Lady Eagles started this game with a bang as right fielder Alexandra Martine launched a solo homerun in the bottom of the first inning to give the Lady Eagles the early 1 to 0 lead over the Lady Hounds. In the top of the second the Lady Hounds answered with a pair of runs courtesy of a two run homerun to take a 2 to 1 lead over the Lady Eagles.

The proud Lady Eagles countered back in the bottom of the fourth with Alexandra Martinez blasting her second solo homerun of this game to knot up the scoreboard at two runs apiece. The rest of this game was a true championship battle between these two premier softball programs.

The State ranked Lady Hounds managed to break up the two all tie in the top of the sixth with a lone run but with the heart of a true champion the Lady Eagles quickly answered with a lone run of their own in the bottom of the sixth with Brooke Diaz reaching on a single and eventually coming around to score the game tying run on a sacrifice fly to left field off the bat of Kaylynne Ruiz as the fans in attendance were at a fever frenzy heading to the top of the seventh inning.

In the top of the seventh the San Benito Lady Hounds broke up the 3 all tie by plating a pair of runs to take a 5 to 3 lead over the Lady Eagles who came to bat in the home half of the seventh for what perhaps would be their final at bat of the 2018 season.

As usual the mighty Lady Eagles would not go down without a valiant fight, Pinch hitter Janessa Garza kept the hopes alive by drawing a one out walk, with two outs, Heather Ruiz also drew a walk to set the stage for power hitting Brooke Diaz but she was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Alexandra Martinez with the Loyal Legion of Lady Eagles fans cheering their hearts seeking perhaps a game winning blast by Alexandra Martinez but she too reached on base on a hit by pitch to bring home Janessa Garza to narrow the Lady Eagles deficit to a single run but unfortunately the next Lady Eagles batter watched the third called strike breeze right past her to end the game as well as the season as the Lady Eagles left the bases loaded with the San Benito Lady Hounds advancing to the UIL Region IV Class 6A Regional Semifinals round with the hard fought 5 to 4 victory over the Lady Eagles who culminate a very successful season finish with an official overall season record of 20 wins with 12 losses. Although she is credited with the pitching loss in this game standout junior pitcher Kaitlin Galvan truly pitched her heart out in this leaving laving it all on line inside the circle. Lady Eagles’ stellar junior catcher Brooke Diaz simply had a phenomenal performance at the plate during the entire playoffs leading the team in batting with going 12 for 22 for a team high .545 batting average as well as a team high total of 11 RBI’s and came through in the clutch with a total of 7 base hits with runners in scoring position including two game winning homeruns.

Eagle Pass Sports Central congratulates the mighty Eagle Pass Lady Eagles on their truly magnificent season and fabulous and valiant run through the post season facing nothing but high caliber competition representing Eagle Pass High School and the entire City of Eagle Pass, Texas with dignity, pride and class and we wish each of you continued success

Score by Innings: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

SAN BENITO 0 2 0 0 0 1 2 5 8 1

LADY EAGLES 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 4 4 2

Losing Pitcher: Kaitlin Galvan Leading Hitters: Alexandra Martinez 2 for 2 with 2 runs score and 3 RBI’s including a pair of solo homeruns, Brooke Diaz 1 for 3 with 1 run scored, Kayla Ochoa 1 for 3, Janessa Garza 1 run scored and Kaylynne Ruiz 1 RBI

UIL REGION IV CLASS 6A

REGIONAL QUARERFINALS ROUND

EAGLE PASS vs. SAN BENITO Best 2 out of 3 series

Game 1 San Benito won 10-3

Game 2 San Benito won 5 to 4

SAN BENITO advances to face NEW BRAUNFELS CANYON in Regional Semifinals Round