Lady Bulldogs score late to upset rival Lady Rattlers

SHARYLAND — McAllen High erupted from three runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat Sharyland 6-3 on Friday night and pick up a key District 30-5A road victory.

In the top of the ninth, McHi’s Alexia Martinez drove in two runs with a double, Alyssa Smith then knocked in Martinez with a base hit and Kimberly Martinez scored Smith with a triple to finish off Sharyland (5-6, 1-1).

“The whole game was exciting,” Garcia said. “Three things I’ve been telling them all week is compete, battle, win, and the last thing I told them before they went into the ninth was do we want to win this game.”

At the close of the game Lady Bulldogs coach Ruth Garcia had trouble catching her breath because she realized the importance of the victory.

“Huge, huge, huge,” Garcia said. “I think it just allowed us to get over that hill that we’ve been trying to climb and kept falling back and falling back and it’s finally there. This is what we needed.”

For the Lady Bulldogs (8-5, 1-1), Arie Guerra kept them in the game, and although in the bottom of the ninth the Lady Rattlers made some noise with a score, ultimately her control was unmatched.

The Lady Rattlers, meanwhile, had a difficult time because of an inexperienced roster that was forced into play due to some disiplinary actions. But Sharyland coach Paul Cruz said that wasn’t an excuse.

“I’m not going to take anything away from McAllen because they did well and they beat us soundly,” Cruz said. “There’s some people I had to sit out because of situations dealing with school, leaving campus and stuff like that but hopefully they’ll learn from this experience.”

Cruz also said that the cancelation of the Mission Tournament didn’t help the four freshmen that started against McHi because they would have gained the experience they needed during the tournament.

Cruz also said that he can see how amazed the young girls are with the level of competition in district play and they have to realize that in order to perform to a winning standard.

“You can see that they’re scared,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure in district and we’ve got to win.”