San Marcos falls to East Central in district finale

It was a rough night for San Marcos as the Rattlers fell to the East Central Hornets 16-1 in both the district finale and on senior night.

In a season plagued with bumps and bruises, Head Coach Cathy Stroughton said she is still proud of her team for battling through the adversity.

“You never want a senior night to end like this,” Stroughton said. “We have had so much bad luck with injuries and the girls have battled through it. The players who are injured are frustrated that they can’t be out there and the ones on the field are working their tails off.”

In a game where the Hornets scored 16 unanswered runs, the Rattlers refused to give in.

“It’s hard but I’m proud about the way they came out,” Stroughton said. “They gutted it up, stayed positive and supported each other.”

East Central scored in the first inning with a RBI double into right field to put the Hornets up 1-0.

Following a groundout, a single into center field cleared the bases for the Hornets but the Rattlers obtained the final out by catching the batter trying to advance to second as East Central led 3-0.

The Hornets took advantage of a walk and a Rattlers error by scoring on a bloop single to extend the lead at 4-0.

With the bases loaded, East Central brought home two more runs on a RBI single before back to back sac flys extended the lead to 8-0.

Despite a scoreless bottom of the second, San Marcos kept East Central off the scoreboard in the third inning with the help of a pick-off throw from catcher Jessica DeLeon for the first out.

Consecutive fly outs to center fielder J Garcia and first baseman Lina Alvarez for the final two outs gave the Rattlers a small hope for a comeback as they went into the bottom of the third inning.

Unfortunately for San Marcos, the Rattlers were unable to score any runs as they went into the fourth inning.

Following a leadoff double, East Central scoresd again with a RBI single to make it 9-0.

Loading the bases, the Hornets hit the grand slam to put the game out of reach to extend the lead at 13-0.

East Central tacked on three more runs before San Marcos got the final out on a fly out to center fielder Eliza Lozano as the Hornets took a commanding 16-0 lead.

But the Rattlers were not quite done yet as De-Leon scored the only run for San Marcos with a solo home run into center field.

This made the final score 16-1.

Much like this game and the entire season, the Rattlers continued to fight until the final out.

“They are a great group of girls,” Stroughton said. “They just had some tough times. It’s hard to come out and give 110% every night when you feel like you’re at a disadvantage. But they come out and they fight hard to the very end, to the very last pitch and to the last out. They were encouraging each other, picking each other up and being in good spirits.”

San Marcos returns to play for the final game of the year against Austin Akins Friday.

First pitch is at 7 p.m. in San Marcos.