There were some nerves and jitters when the Lady Rattlers stepped up to the plate in preseason scrimmages. San Marcos’ roster is mostly made up of freshman and sophomores and the lack of experience swinging the bat led to some undisciplined approaches.
Head coach Cathy Stoughton and her staff went to work fixing every little detail they could heading into the team’s season-opening week. They practiced hitting outside pitches, waiting on the ball, timing, foot positions.
It all seemed to pay off as the team scored double-digit runs in four of its first eight games of the 2021 season, posting a 6-2 record.
“We won the games we should have won pretty decisively and then we faced a couple of teams that were pretty decent and we took care of business against those teams as well,” Stoughton said. “It was nice to see the girls actually adjust to the different types of pitching they would see from game to game and keep their level of play consistent. We’re hitting the ball really well right now and playing good defense.”
The Lady Rattlers dropped its season opener against Cedar Park Vista Ridge at home on Feb. 20, 3-2. The team followed it up with a high-scoring nail-biter at Wimberley on Feb. 23.
The Lady Texans took an 11-5 lead through the first three innings. San Marcos clawed back into it, tying the game at 11-11 by the top of the sixth. But Wimberley outscored the team 2-1 the rest of the way, handing the purple and white a 13-12 loss.
“We still hit the ball really well, we just made some uncharacteristic mistakes, pitching wasn’t sharp,” Stoughton said. “Even though we lost that ball game and we didn’t play as sharp as we could and our pitching was definitely off that night, we tied it two or three times and came back. So that’s one thing that I see on this year’s team, is it doesn’t matter what the score is, they’re always ready and, you know, that they’re always capable of coming back.”
The close losses gave San Marcos some motivation heading into the North East ISD softball tournament in San Antonio over the weekend, where the Lady Rattlers won all six of their games. They started Thursday with an 11-3 win over San Antonio Johnson and a 10-4 win over former District 26-6A foe Schertz Clemens. They followed it by beating San Antonio Reagan, 12-3, and San Antonio Wagner, 8-2, on Friday. And they ended the tourney on Saturday by sweeping San Antonio Clark, 4-2, and South San Antonio, 4-1.
All three of the team’s pitchers — juniors Mercedes Layton and Eliana Silva and sophomore Kayli Saenz — received wins in the tournament and have combined for a team ERA of 2.92.
“We’ve got probably, I want to say 10 or 11 girls that have been rotating in pretty regularly in the starting lineup. So we’ve been rotating about 11 in, I would say, that are pretty regular, with one or two that got some playing time here or there,” Stoughton said. “We definitely have a deep bench. We have good athletes that are not on the field. And so, it’s a good problem to have. It’s a tough problem to have, but it’s a good problem to have.”
San Marcos’ batting average is now up to .372 as a team, led by senior infielder and UT Arlington commit Kaylee Cavazos, who’s hit for a .636 average with three doubles, two triples and six RBIs.
The Lady Rattlers play in their first district game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Lake Travis. Stoughton is excited to see how the progress the team made in the tournament will carry over into district play.
“I think we’re ready, I think we’re ready to go,” Stoughton said. “I’m really impressed with how this team responds and how they make adjustments. And the team chemistry it’s just, it’s a special team and I think we’ve got the potential to do something special if everything works the way we need it to.”
