By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio had high hopes headed into its Bi-District playoff game against the San Antonio Holmes Huskies, but Neveah Herrera had other plans.
The Huskies’ sophomore hurler shut down Del Rio’s bats and tossed a no-hitter as Holmes defeated Del Rio, 2-0, Friday night in San Antonio, bringing an end to the Queens softball season.
Herrera was one out away from a perfect game before Del Rio senior Jada Bishop was able to reach base on an error by Holmes shortstop C Casas in the top of the seventh inning. Herrera bounced back to get Hope Martinez to ground out to end the game and complete the no-hitter.
It had been 10 days since the Queens last played, and head coach Arnulfo “Nufie” Rodriguez said the long layoff hurt his team.
“I’m proud of the way our girls played, but I think that layoff hurt us,” Rodriguez said via telephone Friday night. “We had a game scheduled against Hondo that was canceled due to the weather and I think that hurt us. We just couldn’t get the timing down on their pitching.”
Del Rio’s batters struck out only twice against Herrera, but the Queens were never able to find a hole in Holmes’ defense.
As for the Queens’ defense, Del Rio committed just one error.
“Our defense was great. The girls played their butts off. (Holmes) had 11 hits, but only scored two runs, so that shows how well we played on defense,” Rodriguez said.
Herrera helped out her own cause with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth for the game’s first run. Gizelle Ramirez’s double scored Melanie Vargas in the bottom of the sixth to cap the Huskies’ scoring.
It was a tough night for teams from District 30-6A. All four playoff teams – Eagle Pass, Laredo LBJ, Del Rio and Laredo United South – were eliminated from the playoffs.
Friday night’s game was also the final high school softball game for Queens seniors Jada Bishop, Desiree Gomez, Kayla Mendoza, Kassady Salazar and Jena Villarreal.
—
Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
