SAN DIEGO — Harlingen South made it look easy Saturday in San Diego, really easy.
The Hawks defeated Victoria East 10-0 in six innings to advance to the Class 5A Region IV quarterfinals after also winning Game 1 the night before.
“First and foremost, credit to our Lord and savior, but the girls definitely handled this series with true grit,” Hawks head coach Joey Rios said.
The Hawks have won 26 straight games after taking care of Victoria East to win an area championship. This is their second sweep of the playoffs for Harlingen South, they swept Edinburg Vela in the bi-district round.
Harlingen South was led on Saturday by Amira Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, the future DI athlete, has been in these situations before as a San Benito Greyhound and she dominated Saturday. Her teammates as well, but Rodriguez was on another level, like two or three levels better than Victoria East.
Harlingen South’s defense was on fire, so they never needed the extra run when Rodriguez walked up to the plate to start the bottom of the sixth with the score 9-0. Rodriguez’s swing looked effortless as fans prepared to pack up for the two hour drive home in anticipation for what was coming.
Game, 10-0, Hawks move on.
“I didn’t really think they were going to pitch to me at my last at bat, but they did” Rodriguez said about being surprised if teams elect to pitch to her in certain situations.
Rodriguez said she just tries to stay composed despite it looking easy for her at times at the plate or in the circle.
“I can get emotional at times, but I try to let it out on the good things instead of dwelling on the things that I do not do as well or mistakes that are being made elsewhere, because it is out of my control and I just need to play my game,” she said.
Rodriguez was superb in the circle, only allowing one hit on a dubious call at first. The runner looked half of a step out but picked up the call. Rodriguez also kept her pitch count really low.
Victoria East batters never caught up to Rodriguez as she routinely caused the Titan hitters to groundout or hit easy fly balls and pick up the occasional strike out.
Harlingen South shortstop Yezenia Perez and third baseman Jaylin Mata were on it on Saturday. They fielded fantastic and never had a bad throw to first.
“These girls really play with a lot of heart and grit and they play for each other,” Rios said about his defense’s phenomenal performance.
Mata helped the Hawks out of the top of the fourth with a terrific throw to first to complete a 1–5-3 double play. Rodriguez fielded and pivoted towards Mata who then fired it down to Kailee Silva. It was close.
In the bottom half of the same inning Rodriguez grabbed her signature playoff hit, the grand slam. Rodriguez hit a few during the Greyhounds run to the state tourney in 2023 and she made it 9-0 Saturday.
Harlingen South junior Lexi Sandoval put the Hawks up 5-0 with a two-run shot in the second inning. Sandoval has had a terrific 2024 season in the circle and hitting for Harlingen South.
Rodriguez drove in two runs in the first with a double and Mata drove in a run to give the Hawks a 3-0 lead after an inning.
“They came out and crushed the ball,” Rios said. “Yesterday we were slow coming out with our bats. We found one inning where we manufactured five runs and we slowly built on it. Today, we came out hot.”
Photos by Andrew Cordero
The Valley’s decisive Game 3s
Harlingen South watched the PSJA North/CC Carroll series with wide eyes after taking care of business in San Diego.
Coaches scouting would have made it on time to witness PSJA North take Game 2, 10-5, to tie up the series. The Raiders would lose Game 3 though 4-1 right after at Cabaniss in Corpus Christi.
The Raiders come up short of setting up a Valley/Valley third round meeting and the Hawks will have their hands full with a really talented Carroll team.
Brownsville Lopez fought hard to level the series in Brownsville Friday night, but lost to CC Veterans Memorial 13-3 Saturday before the North series. The Eagles have a lot of power in their lineup and they were able to pull away because of it against the Lobos.
If the Lobos would have won they would have taken on La Joya Palmview’s Lobos after Palmview won Game 3 against Sharyland Pioneer 9-0 Saturday evening La Joya.
The Eagles power vs. La Joya Palmview’s Arianna Alaniz, another terrific matchup between Corpus’ best and the Valley’s best.
Last but not least, Weslaco High defeated San Antonio Holmes 11-1 in Zapata. The Panthers wore down Holmes’ stud pitcher that last two days to pick up an easy Game 3 victory.
The Panthers win set up the only Valley/Valley matchup in round three. La Joya High took care of San Antonio Harlan on Thursday and Friday. Coyotes pitcher Arlette Hernandez struck out 32 batters in the series.
This series should be the bee’s knees … it should be good.