Lady 'Hounds tamed

SAN ANTONIO - They gave it their all, but it just wasn't enough.
Despite a valiant effort and down only a run in the bottom of the fifth, San Benito eventually fell to Austin Bowie 10-3 at Northside Softball Field on Saturday afternoon.
With the loss, the Lady ‘Hounds were eliminated from their Class 5A regional semifinal series and finished the season at 27-8. Bowie (29-3) moves on to face Smithson Valley, who eliminated La Joya also on Saturday, in next week's regional final.
"We went down, but we went down fighting," San Benito head coach Elias Martinez said. "To a team (Bowie) that finished third in state last year. I'm so proud of our girls. They never gave up and they fought to the bitter end.
"You can't take anything away from Austin Bowie. When you get to this point (in the playoffs), all the teams are good."
Uncharacteristic miscues, another solid Blaire Luna outing and a couple of questionable calls did the Lady ‘Hounds in.
So did Bowie's hot bats.
Bowie jumped on San Benito in the home half of the first. Andrea Porter (triple) Kendall Wiley (single) and Erin Burford (single) each came home as the Lady Bulldogs built a 3-0 lead. They tallied 13 hits on the afternoon against San Benito starter Jo Ann Herrera.
In the second, Whitney Bailey reached on an error and scored on Maggie Barron's RBI single to push the lead to 4-0.
But in the third San Benito began to claw its way back into the game.
Blanche Treviño, one of three seniors playing in their last high school games (Sadie Sanchez and Itchy Sauceda the others), reached on a fielder's choice. Treviño stole second and came home on a throwing error to close it to 4-1.
Then in the fifth, Becca Cantu walked and Tanya Parra singled to put two on with one out. Treviño then popped out to shortstop Shay Rossow, who threw wildly into right field, enabling courtesy runner Yesenia Peña-Blanca and Parra to score.
However, down 4-3 with plenty of momentum, the mojo was promptly killed.
With two on and one out, Bowie's Sam Beesom hit a shot to shortstop Amanda Garza, who tossed to Blanche Treviño for a would-be force out of Wiley, who had singled.
But the umpire ruled Wiley safe at second, allowing the Lady Bulldogs to load the bases.
The call proved crucial as Jenny Varteressan slammed a two-run double to help Bowie pull away.
"That one play was a tough call," Martinez said. "After that, all those runs came in. That was the turning point."
Bowie added two more runs and almost a fifth run in the inning, however a runner's interference call got San Benito out of the frame down 8-3.
But the Lady Bulldogs were already out of reach.
Luna, the star of Game 1 with 14 strikeouts, was again masterful, this time fanning nine Lady ‘Hounds in all and scattering five hits to pick up another postseason win.
Later, Bowie sewed the game up on Burford's two-run home run in the sixth. Burford finished the game 2-for-4 with 4 RBIs.
Sauceda's last hit of her career was a double, but she was caught stealing to end any hopes of a comeback.
But despite a premature ending in the Sweet 16, Martinez said he had plenty to be grateful for, as well as plenty to look forward to in 2009.
"We scored four runs on them in two games after they hadn't allowed a run in three postseason games. So that never-die attitude says a lot abut our girls," Martinez said. "We're gonna have a majority of our girls back."