The story of the season for the Lady Rattlers has been that they get off to a slow start offensively, and it’s been a key component to their success. They’re able to score big runs toward the end of the game and they’re able to come out with a win. But as of recently, that hasn’t been the case and it has cost San Marcos a couple of important games.
The Lady Rattlers were defeated by the Austin Lady Maroons, 6-4, on Tuesday night at the San Marcos softball field, which came after a loss against rival Buda Hays, 10-4, on April 9.
Despite a surge at the end of Tuesday’s game, the Lady Rattlers were unable to make the comeback. Ultimately, it came down to small mistakes made by some younger players, and even experienced ones, that head coach Cathy Stoughton described as “growing pains.” The roster consists of mostly underclassmen.
“We always are right there and we find ways to hurt ourselves,” Stoughton said. “We made a couple of mistakes tonight with some of our younger players and that’s expected … if we could just have all cylinders firing at the same time, we’ve got so much potential.”
San Marcos (11-10, 3-6 district) sophomore pitcher Kaylie Juergens walked the first batter of the game. Shortly after, the Lady Maroons hit an RBI single to right field and brought one home. During the second inning, Austin scored again off another RBI single. But the Lady Rattlers tied the game when junior Eliana Silva registered an RBI double, nearly hitting a homerun.
The Lady Maroons (6-9, 2-3) scored once in every inning until the fifth, which helped solidify their win. During the top of the sixth, they sealed it away with two runs from a bunt and some miscommunication by the Lady Rattlers. San Marcos threw the ball to home plate to collect the outs, but they weren’t in position to tag out the runners.
The Lady Rattlers had a chance to comeback during the bottom of the sixth inning. Freshman Ava Serna and sophomore Eliza Lozano both scored from an error on the Lady Maroons — the first baseman threw the ball to third, but the ball went right over the third baseman’s head. The hosts were only down by two, but again, the offense didn’t perform how it normally does. They finished the night with seven hits while Austin finished with eight. That’s not a major difference, but the visitors were able to capitalize better.
It came down to the small mental errors, but it gives this youthful team something to grow and learn from.
“We were rushing to throw,” Stoughton said. “Even though we still had a shot, again, just in-game panic and adrenaline going. And then we made the mental mistakes when we had the bunt. We threw the ball when we shouldn’t have thrown it, and then we ended up not executing the rundown, and that’s something we’re usually very good at.”
The Lady Rattlers will face the Del Valle Lady Cardinals (3-12, 2-5) in the next district game on Friday at 7 p.m. at the San Marcos softball field. Stoughton is hoping her team will learn from their mistakes and they’re going to play with a lot of effort.
“We’ll pick up the pieces and we’re ready to get after Del Valle,” Stoughton said. The season isn’t over and we’re gonna keep battling. We’re gonna play every game like it’s for the district championship, and try to build on our mistakes … we’re happy to be playing softball and we had goals of making the playoffs, but you take one game at a time. These girls are here because they love to play softball, and we’re going to come out on Friday and play just as hard as we would any other ballgame.”
