AREA TEAMS INCLUDED: East Central.

By Mike Considine

Some numbers from East Central’s first-ever regional semifinal championship were similar to its bi-district series. But the Hornets have raised their performance level with each postseason round.

The similarities to the first-round Clark series were dropping the first game and rallying to win the second game 7-0. In each of the three-game series it played, East Central (26-14) steadfastly refused to let its season end.

“They work so hard,” East Central coach Maggi Welham said. “My nervousness stayed under control because I knew they’d come out on the other side of it.”

Four rounds into the Class 6A playoffs, with the exception of a one-game playoff 4-0 against Round Rock (22-10-1) in the Region IV quarterfinals, the Hornets had won two-consecutive series by a single extra-inning run in the third game. The bi-district Game 3 win over Clark wasn’t as dramatic – East Central won 4-1.

“We’re never going to give up,” Hornets junior first baseman Isa Hernandez said. “We’re just going to keep going.”

In the regional semifinals against 2022 state champion O’Connor (28-8), East Central lost a 6-5 heartbreaker May 18 at Marion. After moving to Somerset, the Hornets hit four home runs for the seven-run victory in Game 2 and eliminating the Panthers by scoring an eighth-inning run on a base hit from Hernandez in Game 3.

Hernandez struck out with the tying run at third to end the seventh inning of Game 1 on a 3-2 pitch that appeared to miss the outside corner. So the single up the middle was sweet redemption.

“I was much more ‘into it’ today,” Hernandez said. “I had a different intensity, being at the plate and trying to bring in that run.”

No. 10 East Central’s first-ever Elite Eight opponent was San Benito (38-5), No. 2 in the Texas Girls Coaches Association 6A rankings. The Region IV finals series was scheduled for May 25-27 at Beeville and Cabaniss Field in Corpus Christi.

San Benito qualified for the state tournament twice under its current coach Elias Martinez, while the Hornets seek to again make school history.

“We knew they were the defending champs,” Hornets junior catcher Bella Valdez said of the Game 2 win against O’Connor, “we just knew we had to come out on top. It sounds weird, but we love being underdogs. We know that if we score first, we’ll be fine.

“Everybody in the community is so supportive That means so much to us. We know we can do it. We have confidence in each other, and in ourselves.”

East Central never surrendered the momentum they seized from scoring three runs in the final inning of Game 1 after battling back from O’Connor’s five-run third inning.

Hernandez drove in the Hornets’ first two runs with a pair of fielder’s choices, bringing in Kyana Lipardo (3-for-4) from a leadoff triple in the sixth. Trailing 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh, senior Bella Vidal was safe on an error and scored on a wild pitch when Erin Villela walked. Senior center fielder Avi Martinez brought in two runs with a double to left that made it 6-5.

O’Connor never led in the last two games.

With all-time Hornets home run leader Kayla Gonzales looking on, East Central bashed a season-best four homers in Game 2 as freshman Jenise Ramirez pitched her second shutout in a three-game playoff span.

Ramirez limited the Panthers to six hits. Valdez hit two home runs, freshman Izzy Estrada hit one in the seventh inning and Vidal hit her first of the season in the second inning.

“I really knew it off the bat,” said Vidal, who has signed to play at Concordia University. “It felt effortless. It felt like nothing.”

Vidal’s home run gave the Hornets a commanding 3-0 advantage. Valdez’s first home run, a line drive over the right-center field fence, made it 2-0 with two outs in the first.

Valdez led off the fifth with a booming homer to straightaway center that made it 5-0. It was her 13^th of the season. In the seventh, Estrada added a two-run shot and Ramirez stranded two baserunners by inducing a game-ending double play.

“I think Jenise was a little intimidated at first because they’re state champs,” Valdez said. “But she didn’t allow them to (develop scoring threats).”

The third game was closely contested.

East Central grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Vidal brought in both runs with a single to center after senior Bri Barreto loaded the bases with a walk.

O’Connor tied it in the third, but an RBI single from Villela regained the Hornets’ lead in the fourth. The Panthers forged a tie once more in the fifth, which led to extra innings.

Lipardo delivered a leadoff single in the top of the eighth and went all the way to third base with no outs on a wild pitch. That brought up Hernandez for the game-winning hit.

The Panthers also had a leadoff hit in their half of the inning, but Valdez turned a remarkable double play on a popup just in front of the plate. The junior threw out the baserunner at first. A pop out to Estrada at shortstop sent East Central to the regional finals.

“We’d been stuck at the area round the past two years,” Vidal said. “This year, we decided to do our best and not think about it. We owed it to ourselves to go further.”