All indications point at EPHS taking another 29-5A title this season. After all, the Lady Eagles trounced Uvalde 11-6 on Tuesday.
Monica Flores went three for four and blasted a grand slam. Sandra Mendoza went two for two, with two doubles and three runs batted in. Ariela Velasquez hit two for two, with two doubles.
“Monica and Sandra did an excellent job on defense as well as bringing in runs,” Head Coach Oscar Ruiz said. “Ariela has been a very good surprise, she is a young player who has beautiful hand speed when it comes to her swing.”
Krystal De La Cruz (winning pitcher) threw a complete game. De la Cruz, however, is still on the comeback trail after enduring a tough injury during the recent offseason.
“The thing I would like to mention is that Krystal is still recovering from an injury she suffered during the summer,” Ruiz said. “She took a line drive that hit her in the temple, and then had to undergo two surgeries. She is on her way to getting back to normal, so we need to support her on the field and give her plenty of reps. She is still struggling a bit right now, not quite back to normal. But she has been working awfully hard, she knows she can do it, and we know she wants it bad enough to get there, we all know she is going to do great this season.”
Eagle Pass has more than fifty percent of last year’s very successful team back for this season.
“A little over half of last year’s team is back,” Ruiz said. “I lost three key players, so we have replaced them with some freshmen and junior varsity players from last year. That returning experience is going to be very important to us. The new girls coming in are very fundamentally sound, and I think the level of competition we are playing right now is going to help all of our players in the long run.”
Ruiz is not overlooking his 29-5A adversaries, but firmly believes the Lady Eagles can make it five in a row if they continue taking care of business.
“I expect our district to be tough,” Ruiz said. “But I also believe that we will once again be the number one team in the district. As long as we do what we need to do, everything will take care of itself and we should come out on top.”
The Lady Eagles have consistently stumped opponents through good old fashioned defense.
“One of the things we always do is play sound defense, that is our bread and butter,” Ruiz said. “Without defense, a team really cannot do much. Another key ingredient to our success is that we can hit the ball. This season we have the type of players who can produce runs. Our team’s speed is also going to help us out.”
Hitting more against pitchers who bring greater heat is one area EPHS needs to get better at.
“We also need to improve on hitting faster pitches, that is something we have been having trouble with in the playoffs,” Ruiz said. “That is why we are currently competing in tournaments with plenty of tough teams participating. We need to see more fast pitching.”
The Lady Eagles visit Southwest (San Antonio) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. EPHS is then slated to compete at a tournament to be hosted by Southwest Thursday through Saturday.
(Rey Sifuentes Jr. is the sports editor of the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune which is located in East Texas. He is also a 1992 graduate of Eagles Pass High School. Sifuentes can be reached on Facebook and at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . You can also follow him through Twitter at @sportspirate.)
