By CONSTANCIO MARTINEZ, JR.
Special to the PRESS
This past Thursday, March 3, the Port Isabel Lady Tarpons hosted a three-day softball tournament. The tournament had the following teams participating, Port Isabel Varsity, Port Isabel JV, Edinburg IDEA Quest, Edinburg IDEA College Prep, Santa Rosa, La Villa and Monte Alto.
The first day of the tournament saw the PI Varsity team beat Edinburg IDEA Quest 15-0. Later in the day they had another big win in game two as they beat Santa Rosa 13-1. Port Isabel pitcher Celina Marchan was dominant as she struck out 11 SR Lady Warriors during the game. Meanwhile, that same day, the PI JV softball team was enjoying success as well as they beat Edinburg IDEA College Prep 16-1 to win their game one in just three innings of play. Then in game two they edged out Monte Alto 4-3 where PI JV pitcher Andrea struck out eight MA batters.
On Day two, the Port Isabel Varsity team beat Edinburg IDEA College Prep and La Villa 9-1. In a rematch, the PI Jr. Varsity team beat Monte Alto 7-1 in four innings. On Day three, since neither of the Port Isabel teams lost their games, they were matched up in the Championship game.
The Junior Varsity Lady Tarpons were up to bat first. Leadoff, Andrea Garcia who is one of the better hitters on the team was up on deck first. But in the battle of pitcher vs pitcher, varsity pitcher, Celina Marchan won the first battle as she struck out Andrea. Marchan then proceeded to strike out the next batter. The next batter, Natalie Martinez managed to get a hit off Marchan, but was forced out at first base.
Layni Mata got things going for varsity as she managed to get on base on a bunt hit, but with the ball overthrown she stole second base. Pitcher, Garcia managed to strike out the next batter. The next batter, Marchan hit a single to left field and brought Mata in as the Varsity team went up 1-0. April Puente was walked. The next batter was then forced out at first base for the second out. The next batter, Malia Villarreal hit a single to left field bringing in two runners. The next batter hit single, but another overthrown ball advanced the runners scoring another run as varsity went up 4-0. Pitcher, Garcia struck out the next batter for the final out.
As we headed to the top of the second inning, varsity pitcher Marchan continued her dominance as she struck out the first two batters. The next JV batter hit a single and advanced on erred throw. Unfortunately, the next batter was forced out at first base for the final out, ending the scoring threat by the JV.
As the bottom of the second inning got underway, JV pitcher Garcia struck out the first batter. Next up to bat was Mata who got on base on another bunt. The next batter popped out. With Marchan at bat, Mata stole second base then third base on back-to-back pitches. Marchan hit a line drive to left field bringing Mata as varsity went up 5-0. The next batter was forced out at first base to close out the inning.
JV got off to a rough start in the third inning as pitcher, Marchan, struck out the first two batters. Now back to the top of the batting order, Garcia got on base off a single. Next batter, Carmen Garza then hit one deep to centerfield for a double and an RBI. Score was now 5-1 in favor of the varsity squad. The next JV batter hit the ball to second base, but an error on the throw made her safe. While the ball was still being retrieved, she advanced to second base and Garza scored to make it 5-2. Marchan struck out the next batter.
In the third inning, the first varsity batter was struck out and the next two batters got on base on hit-by-pitches. Another walk made it bases loaded. M. Hancock hit a single bringing a runner in to make it 6-2. Mata then hit a double bringing in two baserunners to increase their lead to 8-2. Pitcher Garcia caught a pop fly and threw out the runner at first for the final out.
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