In Tuesday’s mercy rule victory over Arlington, the Paschal Panthers used two different pitchers, neither of which surrendered a single run in a dominating 16-0 rout.
Head coach Sarah Dokie-Reyes said the differences between the two pitchers helped the team change things up on defense to shutout the Colts.
“Our defense is pretty solid,” Dokie-Reyes said. “On one side, you have the speed with our starting pitcher and then, on the other side, our second pitcher has more of the finesse and the movement down.”

The Panthers (14-7, 10-4 Dist. 4-6A) shut out the Colts (3-7, 2-7) after five innings with a final score of 16-0.

The Panthers were slow to start on offense, going scoreless in the first inning. However, the Colts were even slower, as Panthers pitcher Lydia Vidales made quick work of three Arlington batters to end the first.

The Panthers made up for their slow start by scoring seven runs in the second. Jessie Ortiz and Vidales both hit doubles to bring in runners. The Colts, on the other hand, were still having trouble making contact on Vidales’ pitches.

The Panthers continued to hit well in the third inning, including a sacrifice bunt by Summer Sadler bringing home Maggie Hurst. A double by Alicia Jones that brought in Sadler and Alma Arellano for two more runs, putting the Panthers up by 11 runs.

The Colts switched out their pitchers in the third inning, bringing in substitute Lauryn Henson for starter Jamie Davis.

The Panthers also made a pitching change in the third, bringing in substitute Nina Ortega for Lydia Vidales. The Colts finally got on base in the bottom of the third but still finished the frame scoreless.

The Colts managed to load the bases in the fifth, but were still unable to bring any runners home. Meanwhile, the Panthers continued to dominate, with Caroline Adair and Ortiz both hitting doubles.

Dokie-Reyes was happy with her team’s performance in their last regular season game before playoffs start next week. She praised their mentality throughout the game.

“They swung the ball through the fence tonight, which was really good,” Dokie-Reyes said.
“A lot of teams when they go up against pitchers like this will swing for over the fence and just try to chunk it over, but they changed up that mentality and swung for the fence instead.”

Amanda Hernandez is a sports reporter for The 109. Email her at [email protected].