Jefferson softball fulfills mission to qualify for postseason

“I’m very grateful that the kids wanted to work hard to get to this point,” said fourth-year Jefferson coach Shannon Nail, who coached Holmes for three years. “These girls haven’t played a whole lot of softball. It has been great to work with this type of girls.

“Coming to a school where we hadn’t made the playoffs in a while and the girls didn’t play a lot in the offseason, they’ve worked to the point where they’re making a name for Jefferson.”

Coming off a 15-0 loss to 27-5A champion Edison (16-3-2, 14-0) less than 16 hours earlier, the Mustangs struck for eight runs in the first two innings.

“It was one of our best games of the season,” Nail said. “It usually takes us a while to get our hitting going. We came out ahead, and that kicked it off for the girls.”

District 28-5A champion Floresville (18-12-1) defeated Jefferson 15-0 April 29 in a 5A bi-district playoff game. It was the opening contest of a three-game series.

Burbank coach Toni Gorman was philosophical despite the loss. Burbank was seeking its third-consecutive playoff bid.

“We had spurts,” Gorman said. “But the thing about this team is that they never give up. They don’t give up when they get behind. And, if they’re ahead, they continue to push.”

The Bulldogs won three of their last four 27-5A games to claim a share of fourth.

In the tiebreaker game, Kadence Castillo (2-for-2, 2 RBI) contributed an RBI single and Natalie Tabares (4-for-5, 5 RBI) belted a run-scoring double in the second. Tabares also had a two-run single in the second that helped Jefferson establish the eight-run advantage.

Elizabeth Herrera (3-for-4, 3 RBIs) and Madison Baladez (2-for-4) also were keys in Jefferson’s 13-hit attack.

Burbank was led by Julianne Gutierrez (2-for-5, RBI). An RBI double from Liliana Espindola brought the Bulldogs within 8-3 in the fourth. Alyssa Rivera’s RBI single triggered a two-run Burbank rally in the seventh.

“I think all of us were really disappointed we didn’t make the playoffs,” Gorman said. “But from the beginning of the season to the end, we made huge strides.”

Both teams are young and expect to be stronger in 2022.

“We were really young,” Gorman said. “We have a lot of potential, and we’re looking forward to next year. I think it’s going to be a different year for us”

Jefferson will return 14 players. The Mustangs won three games in the second half of the 27-5A, but had a tough 14-9 loss to Burbank April 9 and lost its last two games. But they improved during that stretch.

“I felt we were a better team than we showed in the first half, but we couldn’t get it together,” Nail said. “Our development has been good. And we have some incoming freshmen who played in our summer and fall leagues.”

In 2020, Jefferson (11-9) won silver bracket titles in both the Edgewood ISD and Dilley tournaments. The Mustangs were 2-0 in district when the season abruptly ended.

Senior third baseman Yesenia Peña is the only player who was on each of Nail’s Mustangs teams.