Smithson Valley sweeps La Joya

LAREDO -- Another Rio Grande Valley team goes down in the fourth round.

The four-time defending district champion La Joya Lady Coyotes lost by 12 for the second straight day Saturday, falling 12-0 in five innings to Smithson Valley, which swept the Class 5A regional semifinals series 2-0 at the Student Activity Center.

The Lady Rangers scored nine runs off starter Aysha Soliz in the first inning and a deflated La Joya club couldn't recover.

"The kids battled the best they could, but something like that is hard to overcome, especially against a very good team," La Joya coach Carlos Rodriguez said. "The gap still exists between the Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio."

La Joya (29-6) ended its season in the regional semis for the second straight year. Smithson Valley (32-2) advances to the Region IV final to face Austin Bowie, which eliminated San Benito in two games.

"It was a disappointing loss but they understood the better team won this weekend," Rodriguez said. "And they were definitely happy for the accomplishments we had this year."

Alison Mattice earned the win, striking out four and giving up three hits. Soliz lasted just one inning, allowing six hits and three walks. Monica Rodriguez went the final four innings for La Joya, giving up five hits.

Darlene Salinas, Vanessa Barrera and Clara Navarro notched one hit apiece, not enough to overcome five stranded baserunners and three more errors. Usually solid defensively, La Joya committed six errors in Friday's 14-2, six-inning defeat.

Brittany Arredondo led the Lady Rangers, going 4-for-4.

"We sat down (after the game) and evaluated that we're not as close as maybe we thought we were," Rodriguez said. "We would like not to think that we had a bad series because we definitely had the effort, but the team we played just put relentless pressure on us with the baserunning ..."