MEET THE H.M. KING LADY BRAHMAS VARSITY SOFTBALL TEAM — Pictured are front row, from left to right, Angie Arredondo, Stephanie Lozano, Roxanne Peres, Desiree Ayarzagoitia and Julia Sanford; back row, Head Coach Nilda Garcia, Sasha Sandoval, Brittany Arredondo, Kristine Munoz, Taylon Bedynek, Constance Brandenburg, Marivel Mireles, Emily Ochoa, Marissa Garcia and Assistant Coach Dino Gutierrez. H.M. King High School’s varsity and junior varsity softball teams kicked off their District 31-4A schedule by defeating Laredo Cigarroa on Monday.

The Lady Brahma varsity squad ripped Cigarroa 13- 1. Emily Ochoa, the winning pitcher, struck out six batters and only allowed three hits. H.M. King racked up a total of 10 hits.

Desiree Ayarzagoitia made good on all of her trips to the plate going four for four (including a triple and a double) and batting in three runs.

Julia Sanford went two for four with a pair of runs batted in. After Monday, H.M. King’s varsity club was 3-1 overall and 1-0 in district.

MEET THE H.M. KING LADY BRAHMAS JUNIOR VARSITY SOFTBALL TEAM — Pictured are front row, from left to right, Sierra Zavala, Samantha Rodriguez, Bethany Munoz, Alyssa Garcia, Nikki Westbrook, Kimberly Bunch, Alexandra Figueroa and Angelica Gamez; back row, are Marissa Garcia, Chelsea Gomez, Miranda Cortez, Diana Castillo, Jacquelyn Westbrook, Ashley Lopez and Chelsea Holster. Head Coach Nilda Garcia is anxious to get more playing time under her varsity players’ collective belts.

“We have not had that many games to begin with, one of our recent weekend tournaments was cancelled because of rain,” Garcia said on Wednesday. “We are hitting the ball well but still need to iron out a few defensive issues which we have because of lack of opportunities to play as many games as we had at this point last year. We’ll be playing a lot better once we get back on the field and improve on little things here and there.”

The Lady Brahma junior varsity team squashed Cigarroa 17-1. Jaquelyn Westbrook swung a heavy bat going three for three, smacking three home runs and batting in five runs. Diana Castillo also went three for three with a double and four runs batted in.

Kim Bunch went two for two with a homer and a pair of runs batted in. Chelsea Gomez started for the Lady Brahmas on the mound and Chelsea Holster was the closer. After Monday’s win, H.M. King’s J.V. team was 7-1 overall and 1-0 in district.

Prior to the Cigarroa game, the J.V. team finished third - by winning three out of four games - at a tournament held in Corpus Christi last weekend.

H.M. King defeated district rival Tuloso-Midway 3-2 in their final tournament game. Jaquelyn Westbrook led the team at the plate hitting an impressive six for nine during the tournament and batting in four runs.

Diana Castillo went three for seven, batted in four runs including two doubles and a home run.

Ashley Lopez went three for seven with a triple, a double and three runs batted in. Beth Munoz also went three for seven - including a triple - and batted in three runs.

Chelsea Holster was the winning pitcher in two games - including the ‘w’ against T.M. - and Chelsea Gomez was the victor in one.

“The J.V. girls have been playing very well,” Garcia said. “We have quite a few girls on the team and they have been learning to work together as we try to rotate them all in. They are working hard to get where they want to be.”

The Lady Brahma varsity and junior varsity softball teams host Alice at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams visit Tuloso-Midway at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday.