By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
In the first meeting of the season of the top two softball teams in District 30-6A, it was the visiting Lady Eagles who got the better of the Queens.
Eagle Pass starting pitcher Larissa Jacquez retired the first 16 batters she faced and ultimately threw a two-hitter as the Lady Eagles firmly took control of the district with a 7-0 win Friday night at the Queens Softball Field.
Del Rio entered the game in second place in the district. After losing to Laredo LBJ in their district opener, the Queens rattled off five straight wins to move into second place behind only Eagle Pass.
Jacquez put any thoughts Del Rio had of moving into first place quickly to rest.
The hard-throwing underclassman struck out the first nine batters she faced, going to a full count just twice as she mowed down batter after batter for Del Rio. It wasn’t until Ithalia Ozuna grounded out in the top of the fourth that Jacquez’s strikeout streak was busted.
Jacquez finished with 16 strikeouts in seven innings of work. The only hits she allowed were a double to Naylea Santana in the bottom of the sixth and a single by Hope Martinez in the bottom of the seventh. Neither runner would advance past second base.
Bekah Alcaraz, Del Rio’s starting pitcher, held her own early on.
She allowed an infield single to Roccia Moreno in the first, but kept her from scoring by getting Jacquez to groundout to end the at-bat.
Alcaraz got into trouble in the second as she walked Shania Dunn and allowed a Valeria Vielma single, but then she retired the next three Eagle Pass batters to kill the threat.
After a 1-2-3 inning in the third, Eagle Pass finally got to Alcaraz in the fourth.
With one out, Dunn doubled to left field. Vielma followed with a double to bring in courtesy runner Riley De La Garza and give Eagle Pass a 1-0 lead. Vielma would score on an errant throw by Martinez to put the Lady Eagles up 2-0.
Vielma would be the last batter Alcaraz would face as she was replaced by Ozuna.
Ozuna had the hot hand coming into the game. She had won three straight games and was coming off a no-hitter of Laredo Nixon. She had also not allowed a run in her last 15 innings.
Ozuna was able to get Del Rio out of the inning without allowing any more damage, but the Lady Eagles got to her in the top of the fifth. Karyna Perez led off with a triple and Michelle Torralba followed with an RBI single to make the score 3-0. Torralba eventually scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Jacquez to push the lead to 4-0.
Eagle Pass’ final three runs came in the top of the sixth.
Alessa Gonzalez was able to get on base via a fielder’s choice. Lexi Gonzalez replaced her on the base path and scored on an error to make it a 5-0 advantage for Eagle Pass.
After Perez singled, and Torralba reached on the error that scored Gonzalez, Moreno delivered a single to centerfield that cleared the bases and gave Eagle Pass a 7-0 lead.
Jada Bishop would take over pitching duties for Del Rio after that and did not allow a run for the remainder of the game, aided by a 6-3-5 double play in the seventh inning that ended Eagle Pass’ at-bat.
The Queens have an open date on Tuesday. They’ll return to action Friday, April 1, when they host the Laredo LBJ Lady Wolves at the Queens Softball Field at 6 p.m. to begin the second half of district play.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
