Rattlers win on another walk-off to beat the Hippos as Sierra ties school record

The Rattlers clutched up in extras Tuesday night.

San Marcos won their second-straight game in walk-off fashion in a thrilling 5-4 win over Hutto that went nine innings. Senior infielder Ava Serna knocked in the game-winning run on a single up the middle to give the Rattlers the victory.

“We had our opportunities. One thing I’m going to pick at us again a little bit about is our offense. We’ve got to generate more offense. When you’ve got someone like Addie in the circle throwing like she is, we’re not scoring enough runs. And she comes in and puts us on the board with a three run shot and we come in the seventh inning and blow the lead. We’ve got to finish games. We did that against Westlake,” head coach Cathy Stoughton said. “We allowed them to tie us in the seventh inning. So that’s one thing that we need to learn is how to finish. It was great to finish that way, but it was very nerve-wracking. Addie pitched great again and to have a pitcher like that in the circle that’s gonna not only keep you in the game but dominate like that [is huge]. Hutto had a really decent offense. That was one of the best offenses we’ve seen this season.”

Sophomore pitcher Adelaida Sierra started her third straight game with a shutout inning. Sierra did give up a single in the second at-bat of the inning, but eventually closed things out with a strikeout to keep Hutto off the board. The Rattlers weren’t able to get a hit or get on base in the bottom of the first, going three up, three down. San Marcos hit a pop out and two fly-outs in their first at bat.

Sierra gave up two singles in the top of the second, but struck out every out she got to bring her total to four on the night. Sierra struck out the final two batters to strand runners on second and third. Senior catcher Jessica De-Leon drew a walk to start the San Marcos at-bat, but the Rattlers weren’t able to get anything going afterwards.

San Marcos had to overcome some adversity to start the third — Hutto hit a triple off Sierra in the first at-bat of the inning to immediately put a runner in scoring position. Sierra was up to the challenge. The Sophomore produced three straight outs while adding two more strikeouts to her total to keep Hutto scoreless and strand the runner at third base. The Rattlers went three up, three down at the plate in the bottom of the inning.

Sierra started the fourth with a ground out and a strikeout, but wasn’t in the clear just yet. The Lady Hippos hit a triple for the second inning in a row and Sierra was once again up to the challenge. The Sophomore once again produced a strikeout to strand the runner at third and keep the game scoreless. Sierra wasn’t done yet though, she stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the inning after Serna drew a walk that put runners on first and second. Sierra smacked a three run home-run over the center field wall to help her cause in the circle and give the Lady Rattlers a 3-0 lead coming out of the fourth.

Sierra continued her shutout in the circle in the top of the fifth, downing the Lady Hippos with a pop out as well as a double play. Sophomore Arianna Flores was able to get on base with a bunt single in the bottom of the inning, but San Marcos didn’t get anything going otherwise.

Hutto finally got some offense going in the top of the sixth. The Lady Hippos singled to start the inning and advanced the runner to third in the next at-bat after a pair of wild pitches. That at-bat eventually turned into a walk, putting runners on first and third for Hutto with no outs. The Lady Hippos’ runner on first went for a steal during the next at-bat and a miscommunication between DeLeon and San Marcos’ infield trying to throw out the runner led to Hutto’s runner at third scoring to cut the Rattlers’ lead to two. Sierra would get three strikeouts afterwards to keep Hutto at just one run, stranding two runners in the process.

Serna started the Rattlers’ at-bat with a standup double to put a runner in scoring position immediately for San Marcos. DeLeon would follow-up with a long flyout that advanced Serna to third and Brooke Rodriguez would drive her in with an RBI single down the first base line to put San Marcos’ lead back at 3. The Rattlers weren’t able to get anything else on the board in the bottom of the sixth.

Hutto’s offensive momentum from the previous inning continued with the game on the line needing at least three runs to keep playing. The Lady Hippos started the inning off with a walk and a single that put runners on first and third. Sierra then forced two ground outs to second and the circle that held off Hutto’s base runners. Then the Lady Hippos hit a triple to clear the bases and cut San Marcos’ lead to 4-3 with two outs. Hutto capitalized on their runner in scoring position, getting a single up the middle in their next at-bat to tie things at 4-4. Sierra struck out the following batter to send things to the bottom of the seventh.

The Rattlers were able to get two runners on base with Flores getting on base after being hit by a pitch and Serna knocking a single to right field. San Marcos grounded out to end the inning, sending the game to extras and stranding two runners on base.

Sierra stopped all of Hutto’s offensive momentum in the eighth, striking out the side to push her game total to 16. San Marcos also went three up, three down at the plate to keep things tied at 4-4 heading into the ninth.

Sierra threw two more strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth to tie a program-record of 18, and once again stranded a runner in scoring position after a fielding error put a runner at second. The Lady Rattlers rewarded Sierra for her nine innings of work in the bottom of the inning, with Serna hitting a single up the middle to drive in a run and end the game after a single and a walk put runners on first and second.

“Honestly, I was just looking for a pitch that was close so I could rip to the right field and to the right side because all [Hutto] was throwing was outside,” Serna said. “I found one and took it to the right side and scored the run. They were moving (their pitches) pretty decent, but they were strictly going outside so I knew how to take it to right field.”

San Marcos heads to Corpus Christi this weekend to compete in a tournament before district play begins when they return.

“We definitely want to get some more experience (in Corpus). We’re going to see different types of pitching, and we need to be able to handle different types of pitching. I don’t have scouting on all the teams that we’re going to play, so some of it might be a surprise. But we’re going in there to clean some things up,” Stoughton said. “Try some things that we may not have wanted to try right off the bat for the first time in a district game, be a little bit more aggressive with some of the play calling and give everybody some opportunities to get some playing time before we start against Clemens on Tuesday.”

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