By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio Little League added one more district championship to its wall, but missed out on a third.
The league’s 10-12 all-star softball team won the District 35 10-12 Little League Softball Tournament without actually having to win a second game after Eagle Pass, their opponent in the tournament finale, forfeited the final game after falling behind 28-2 Thursday before the game was suspended due to a midnight time limit.
The game was supposed to resume Friday night at 9:30, but District Administrator Gerald McCrary was notified a few hours before the game that Eagle Pass would forfeit the game.
Tournament Director Pat Rodriguez explained that Eagle Pass didn’t want to make the trip to Del Rio to play for about an hour until the game had enough innings to become official, especially being down by 26 runs.
Del Rio’s newly minted championship team was honored before the 8-10 softball finale with district championship pins as they were introduced to the crowd gathered for the minor league softball championship game.
The Del Rio Little League 10-12 softball team includes Keziah Bishop, Gabriela Diaz, Alyssa Garcia, Arianna Gonzalez, Ryika Lowe, Isabella Martinez, Alina Mojica, Amanda Muñiz, Brianna Perez, Harlow Riemann, Janiah Ross, Sophia Valdez and Addyson Vaughan. David Garcia is the team’s manager and Diana Armstrong and Mike Gonzalez are assistant coaches.
The team will compete in the sectional tournament at McAllister Park beginning next week.
In the championship game that was played Friday night, Eagle Pass used a big third inning to pull away from Del Rio and help claim the District 35 8-10 Little League Softball Tournament championship, 16-11.
Both teams were retired in order in the first inning, but Del Rio struck for the game’s first run in the second inning as Chloe Palazuelos reached on a fielder’s choice and later scored on a single to left field by Delsy Gutierrez.
Eagle Pass took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second, but Del Rio answered right back with three runs in the top of the third to reclaim the lead. After Karly Mata and Brianna Calderon both reached base, Shay Lee hit a shot to left field that made it all the way to the fence, clearing the bases and giving the speedy Lee an inside-the-park home run.
But Eagle Pass broke the game open in its half of the third, scoring eight runs in the inning and taking a 10-4 lead.
Del Rio got a run back in the fourth after Gutierrez reached on a single to right field and scored on a single to left by Alexa De Leon, cutting the lead to 10-5.
After Eagle Pass was held scoreless in its half of the fourth, Del Rio scored three more runs in the top of the fifth to trim the deficit further. Lee singled then scored on an error on a ball hit by Palazuelos. Palazuelos would score on an infield single by Frankie Valdez, who later scored on a fielder’s choice by Gutierrez to make the score 10-8.
With Del Rio threatening, Eagle Pass added six more runs to its lead to widen the gap to 16-8 headed into Del Rio’s final at-bat.
After Del Rio’s first two batters were retired, the team staged a comeback. Makayla Garcia walked, then Lee ripped her second inside-the-park home run of the game with a blast over the right fielder’s head that cut the Eagle Pass lead to 16-10. Palazuelos singled and scored on a double to left by Anaid Diaz to make it 16-11, but that would be as close as Del Rio would get as Eagle Pass was able to get the last out to preserve the win.
—
Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
