San Benito opens regional final series with S.A. O'Connor

CORPUS CHRISTI — The San Benito Lady ‘Hounds aren’t “supposed” to be here.

They weren’t “supposed” to beat San Antonio Southwest in the Sweet 16 last week, either.

But here they are. And they’re not ready to stop playing just yet.

San Benito (34-3), already with a historic regional final berth in its pocket, aims to take it even a step further as they open their 5A Region-IV best-of-three series tonight against San Antonio O’Connor (31-4) at Cabaniss Softball Complex.

The winner of this series advances to the state softball tournament in Austin next weekend.

“Honestly, we all believe that we match up well with them (O’Connor) and we can play with them and beat them,” Lady ‘Hounds coach Elias Martinez said. “We’ve made history, but we’re not content, not satisfied. We want to make it to the state tournament, but we know it’s gonna be a challenge for us against O’Connor.”

As the underdogs last week against Southwest, San Benito got solid play all around to complete a two-game “Sweet Sweep” and become the first Valley club to eclipse the regional semifinals. Martinez expects his club to continue its level of play now in the fifth round of the postseason, the Region-IV championship.

“Our girls are playing at a high confidence level right now,” he said. “We’ve gotta execute and stay focused. In a series like this, it’s the little things that come into play, so we’ve got to be focused.”

There’ll be plenty of focus on San Benito freshman ace Amber Jasso.

The youngster is a veteran now, with 36 games under her belt. Jasso spread out just eight hits in the two wins over the Dragons. She has not lost since a district defeat to Los Fresnos on April 8. The Lady ‘Hounds have eliminated Harlingen, Eagle Pass Winn, Edinburg North and Southwest thus far.

Defensively, San Benito got terrific plays from a solid infield of catcher Giselle Tamayo, first baseman KC Sanchez, second baseman Squirt Flores, shortstop Amanda Garza and third baseman Kassandra Contreras.

The outfield of Yesi Penablanca, Dorothy Millan and Mel Ramirez was on its game as well. Designated player Jackie Elizondo drove in a key run in Game 1 last week.

But O’Connor is no stranger to the softball playoffs, reaching the state tournament in 2002 and 2005. In ‘02, the Panthers lost in the state title game. Last season, they were ousted in the area round but this year has eliminated Corpus Christi Carroll, San Marcos, New Braunfels and Edinburg.

They’re led by the 1-2 pitching punch of sophomore Kenedy Urbany and Maegan Ramirez. Urbany is a perfect 5-0 in the playoffs with an ERA under 2. She’ll likely get the start tonight. Urbany started their Game1 win over Edinburg last week and Ramirez came on in Game 2 to close out the Lady Bobcats last week.

The Panthers feature six players batting over .400 for the season, including Urbany. Third baseman Katy Vandewater smashed six home runs in the regular season with a .463 clip to match.

“What sets them apart is those two pitchers that are great,” Martinez said. “They’ve also got great hitters. Their 3-4-5 hitters have power and they have speed at the top of the order. They’re very well-balanced.”

Meanwhile, back at Cabaniss, the scene of last week’s magical weekend, Martinez said the confines are definitely friendly.

“We like playing at Cabaniss. We always carry a crowd and the support we’ve received has been unbelievable,” he said. “We know there’ll be a lot of Valleyites there to back us up.

It’s gonna be a dogfight series. But like I said, if we can play our game and stay focused, we feel we have a good shot.”

Armando Garza covers high school softball for Valley Freedom Newspapers. He can be reached at 956-430-6255 or at armandog@valleystar.com