NEW BRAUNFELS — San Marcos junior pitcher Heavenny Garcia and New Braunfels junior pitcher Mya Hall battled throughout Friday’s game, each carrying a no-hitter into the sixth inning.
The Lady Unicorns prevailed in the pitchers’ duel as Hall completed a no-hitter with 13 strikeouts. New Braunfels took Friday’s game, 2-0.
Despite falling short, San Marcos head coach Cathy Stoughton couldn’t have been more proud of the effort Garcia displayed as she finished the night with three strikeouts and only allowed two runs.
“Heavenny pitched great,” Stoughton said. “She wanted to pitch (Friday) and she was ready. She came out and she settled down. Tonight, she kept her composure. She made the pitches when she needed to. The pitches that weren’t working so well, she kept throwing them. We kept calling them to make her throw them, and she kept throwing them until they worked. We played some good defense behind her but she made some great pitches against a great lineup.”
On the other side, Hall displayed a dominant performance. She mixed up her pitches and consistently kept the Lady Rattlers off balanced at the plate.
“(Hall’s pitches) had a lot of movement and she took advantage of the (strike) zone,” Stoughton said. “She knew when to put the ball in the zone and when to leave it out of the zone. She did really well when we were behind in the count making us chase things out of our comfort zone. She didn’t give us a lot of good pitches to hit.”
New Braunfels (20-11, 7-5 26-6A) got on the board early against San Marcos (11-15, 2-9). Garcia set the first two Lady Unicorns down in the first inning. But she gave up back-to-back walks and hit a batter to load the bases with two outs. New Braunfels took a 1-0 lead when sophomore Kylee Edwards drew an RBI walk.
But that would be the lone run of the game until the bottom of the sixth inning. Lady Unicorn senior Jaden Castro recorded the first hit of the game with a single to lead off the sixth. Junior Bri Perez came up with an RBI single to give New Braunfels an insurance run.
Hall completed her no-hitter in the seventh to give the Lady Unicorns the 2-0 victory.
“We came out tonight and played a solid ballgame,” Stoughton said. “We just didn’t do it at the plate. We started making contact with the ball a little too late. It took us two or three times through the lineup. But (Hall) did a good job of mixing speeds. She mixed her pitches and kept us off balanced off the plate. But otherwise, I’m very pleased with how we played and how these girls battled and stayed in it mentally. I can’t say enough about how Heavenny played. That was just phenomenal. That may be the best game I’ve seen her throw all season.”
San Marcos hosts its final home game of the season on Tuesday against Smithson Valley at 7 p.m. The Lady Rattlers will honor their two seniors — Ysa Gonzales and Sydney Salazar — before the game. Stoughton said it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to both seniors.
“They’ve both been really important parts of the program,” Stoughton said. “I know it’s tough to go out on a senior year like this, where we’re not going to make the postseason but they’ve given their heart and soul to the program for four years and we will definitely miss them.”
