By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio picked up a pair of wins on the first day of Little League tournament play Friday night.
The Del Rio Little League 8-10 softball squad defeated Eagle Pass, 21-10, in the first game of the District 35 tournament at the Val Verde County Sports Complex. Meanwhile on another field at the complex, the Del Rio Little League 10-12 baseball team defeated Kinney County, 15-2, to advance in the District 35 tournament.
In the final game of the evening, Eagle Pass outlasted Kinney County, 19-18, to win the opener of the District 35 10-12 Softball Tournament.
Action resumes tonight with Del Rio Little League’s 8-10 baseball team opening the District 35 8-10 Baseball Tournament against Eagle Pass at 8 p.m. on Field 1 (Tundra Field) and Eagle Pass facing Del Rio Little League in the second game of the 10-12 softball tournament at 8 p.m. on Field 3 (Highlander Field).
8-10 SOFTBALL
Eagle Pass took an early lead against Del Rio, but once the local all-stars got rolling it was hard to stop them.
After Eagle Pass scored a run in the top of the first inning, Del Rio responded with six runs in the bottom of the first inning to seize control of the game.
The biggest blow of that outburst was an inside-the-park grand slam by catcher Shay Lee, who fired the Del Rio crowd up early on when she threw an Eagle Pass runner out trying to steal second base in the top of the first. In her first at bat, Lee ripped a line drive that rolled to the fence. Never breaking stride, the speedy Lee zipped around the bases before crossing home to give Del Rio a 4-1 lead.
Elia Gonzales and Elianna Bishop capped the scoring with back-to-back RBIs as Del Rio finished its first at-bat with 11 batters stepping into the box and six runs scored.
Eagle Pass scored another run in the top of the second, but Del Rio answered in the bottom after Lee singled, took second on an error by the left fielder, and then raced home on a poor throw by the Eagle Pass second baseman.
Eagle Pass kept fighting with another run in the top of the third to cut the lead to 7-3, but Del Rio had another big rally in the bottom of the third to put Eagle Pass down 14-3.
Bishop, Alexa DeLeon, Briana Calderon, Lee, Franky Valdez, Delsy Gutierrez and Gonzales all reached base and scored for Del Rio in the bottom of the third inning aided by four walks, two errors, and hits from DeLeon, Lee and Gonzales.
Eagle Pass’ bats came alive in the top of the fourth inning as they scored seven runs on eight hits including seven in a row at one point. That at-bat cut the Del Rio lead to 14-10 and revived the Eagle Pass crowd.
But any chance of extending the game past the fourth inning disappeared when Del Rio responded with seven runs in the bottom of the inning to bring an end to the contest via the run rule.
Del Rio closed out the game with eight straight batters reaching base and seven of those scoring without the team recording an out.
Lee capped her big game with a bases loaded intentional walk to bring home her fifth RBI of the game. She eventually scored to close out with an impressive line – 3-for-3, one home run, two singles, one walk, 5 RBIs and 4 runs scored. Lee also had a defensive assist and tagged out a runner at home on a textbook relay from the outfield.
Del Rio will face Kinney County Sunday at 9 p.m. The winner of that game advances to the tournament’s championship game Tuesday at 9 p.m. The loser of that game will face Eagle Pass Monday at 7 p.m. in an elimination game.
10-12 SOFTBALL
Kinney County and Eagle Pass combined to score 37 runs in four innings of play before the opening game of the District 35 10-12 Softball Tournament was called due to reaching the time limit.
Kinney County trailed 19-18 when the team appeared to tie the game when Jaylin Garcia scored on a passed ball, but Garcia was ruled out for a base running violation for the final out of Kinney County’s at-bat.
With Eagle Pass being the home team, and the midnight time limit looming, the umpires called the game in favor of Eagle Pass.
The game started off with a bang as Kinney County scored six runs in the top of the first inning aided by an RBI triple by Daniella Mancha and an RBI single by Calista Perez.
Eagle Pass quickly answered with 10 runs in the bottom of the first after sending 16 batters to the plate before the final out of the inning was recorded.
Kinney County picked up four more runs in the top of the second to tie the game, 10-10. Once again, Mancha had an RBI triple and Perez drove in a run on a fielder’s choice. Caroline Ducharme, Anisa Talamantez, Mancha and Rosie Arredondo reached base and scored in the inning.
Eagle Pass reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the second with three more runs to take a 13-10 lead, but Kinney County wasn’t ready to fold as the team countered with five more runs in the top of the third.
Eagle Pass added six more runs to its tally in the bottom of the third to grab a 19-15 lead headed to the top of the fourth inning. Kinney County would score three runs before picking up its second out eventually setting the stage for the heartbreaking ending.
Kinney County was led by the top of its lineup. Layla Johnson, Ducharme, Talamantez and Mancha combined to score 13 runs while reaching base safely in 14 of their 16 at-bats.
Arredondo and Garcia each scored twice and Shelby Denman scored once.
Eagle Pass will next face Del Rio tonight at 8 p.m., with the winner advancing to the championship game. The loser of tonight’s game will face Kinney County Sunday at 7 p.m. in an elimination game.
10-12 BASEBALL
Del Rio’s 15-2 win over Kinney County moves the host team one win away from the 10-12 tournament championship game.
They will next face Eagle Pass Sunday at 7:30 p.m. The winner of that game advances to the title game set for Wednesday at 7 p.m.
The loser of Sunday’s game will face Kinney County Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., in an elimination game.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
