San Benito too strong for Edinburg North in bi-district matchup

Edward Severn

SAN BENITO — San Benito came into the 2025 softball season still young, but the Greyhounds are growing up and they put on a terrific offensive performance to capture a bi-district win over Edinburg North 14-6 Friday night.

The Greyhounds still have a vet on the team. Senior Jozanna Montes was a key member of the Greyhounds’ 2023 team that made it to the state tournament.

Montes smashed two home runs Friday night. The first in the first inning and the second came in the bottom of the sixth.

“I wasn’t really doing good in district, but I came back, tried to do it for my team. I just tried to stay calm and get on base for my team, but they ended up being home runs,” she said.

San Benito Lady Hound Jozanna Montes (15) prepares to hit a homerun Friday evening against Edinburg North Lady Cougars at San Benito Lady Hounds softball field. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

Montes draws a lot of walks, intentionally. She was a bit surprised that the Cougars did pitch to her.

“I am glad they decided to let me hit this game,” Montes said.

The Greyhounds were up big after just three innings, and flirted with the 10-run rule, but the Cougars battled back a bit. They cut the lead to 11-6 before Montes and the Greyhounds sealed the game offensively in the bottom of the sixth and picked up the three outs in the seventh.

Greyhounds assistant coach Audulio Garza said it was a great win that took effort throughout the week to prepare, especially against a good Cougars pitcher, Destany Bermudez.

Edinburg North Cougar pitcher Destany Bermudez (7) pitches the ball Friday evening against Edinburg North Lady Cougars at San Benito Lady Hounds softball field. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

“It was a very disciplined group that went up to the plate and it showed. The score shows that they did their work all week,” he said.

The Greyhounds are young, but have potential to make some noise this playoffs. There is a lot of parity in Region IV at the 6A level. They will play San Antonio East Central in the area round.

“Last year we endured an entire season of seven or eight freshmen on the field, zero varsity experience,” Garza said. “That is tough to do. It is very rare that you end up with that many freshmen on a team and actually playing on the field. It was an experience, but you see now that is a confident bunch … they are going to perform.”

San Benito Lady Hound Arielle Hernandez (5) pitches the ball Friday evening against Edinburg North Lady Cougars at San Benito Lady Hounds softball field. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald)

San Benito head coach Kristy Leal was in attendance. She recently gave birth and is in her first year back as the head coach of the Greyhounds. Leal was The Monitor’s 2023 Coach of the Year after leading the Tigers to a fourth-round trip that year.

There is a lot of youthfulness in San Benito at the moment. Babies on the sideline and in the dugout, but don’t sleep on the Greyhounds.

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