By Brian Argabright
The Del Rio Queens softball team will spend some of Wednesday evening scoreboard watching as their playoff chances now lay in the hands of another team.
Del Rio missed out on a chance to clinch a share of fourth place in the district Tuesday night when they were blown out by Eagle Pass, 15-1, in the regular season finale for both teams. The win guaranteed Eagle Pass would claim at least a share of the District 30-6A softball title, and Laredo LBJ’s come-from-behind 12-6 win over Laredo United South gave the Lady Wolves not only a share of the crown, but the first softball district title in the program’s history.
Now the Queens will need to root for Laredo United to beat Laredo Alexander Wednesday night in the final game of the regular season for both teams. If United beats Alexander, then Del Rio and Alexander would be tied for fourth place and since they split the season series, a play-in game would be necessary to determine the district’s final playoff seed.
If Alexander beats United, then they would tie for third place and Del Rio would be eliminated from postseason contention. Alexander and United would then need to play one more game to decide which team would be the third seed and which would be the fourth seed.
Alexander and United square off Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Against Eagle Pass, Del Rio couldn’t get anything going. The Queens were held two hits and didn’t record a base runner until Giselle Valdez singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. Valdez would be erased on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Hope Martinez, who would score Del Rio’s only run on a single by Kayla Mendoza.
Prior to the fifth, Del Rio looked helpless against Eagle Pass starting pitcher Valerie Vielma. Vielma retired the first 12 batters she faced in order, striking out seven of them along the way. Of those 12 outs, only one managed to be on a ball that left the infield.
Eagle Pass’ bats didn’t have the same problem as Del Rio’s. The Lady Eagles scored 15 runs on 15 hits and took advantage of six costly Del Rio errors. Eagle Pass scored three runs in the first inning, one in the second inning, seven in the third inning, two in the fourth inning and two in the fifth inning.
