AT ODDS- Freshman standout might skip sophomore season after playoff game controversy

By PETE BANDA   ERICA
Staff writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com

The local sports-crazed community of San Benito was shocked last Saturday when the Lady ’Hounds dropped their first round playoff series against a PSJA Memorial team that finished fourth place in their district with just a 12-14 overall record. Despite the mind-boggling loss, however, most of the post-game attention was not centered on what happened during that game, but rather an incident that happened in the previous game. In fact, it was an incident that caused the Lady ‘Hound’s leading hitter to sit out the pivotal, decision-making game.
Erica Cortez, the freshman slugger who had put together a rather impressive debut season, sat on the bleachers for Saturday’s game after being suspended the night before for, according to her, having a disrespectful attitude.
According to Cortez, the issue started during Friday night’s loss to the Lady Wolverines when a misunderstanding led to the freshman pitcher believing she wouldn’t be active for that game. After starting pitcher Sarah Garcia came out of the gates struggling, Cortez says that head coach Kristy Leal asked Cortez to warm up her arm to sub her in for Garcia.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2016/05/04/at-odds-freshman-standout-might-skip-sophomore-season-after-playoff-game-controversy/

26 comments

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    • ibleedred on May 23, 2016 at 10:19 am
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    softball is a team sport,,the coach is right no matter what the situation.,san benito hired her,now its SINK OR SWIM WITH HER.Give her three years or so to establish her system and see what happens .you guys had a great coach,ya he was strick and an ass at times,but he was good.now Harlingen has him and were gonna see if he can duplicate his success here.

    1. Your right! It’s all down hill from now on for the SB Girls Softball Team.

    • Juan Rodriguez on May 22, 2016 at 10:53 pm
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    Son los refs!

    • truthandjusticeforall on May 16, 2016 at 1:21 pm
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    Good job Marco

    1. Yes I agree a great job the military. And the code of Conduct is true. But coaches need not follow it because they re not in a Military State

    • Marco on May 10, 2016 at 8:07 pm
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    In the military, there is something called the UCMJ ( Uniform Code of Military Justice). Uniform is the key word folks. It applies to EVERYBODY! These coaches, who I do not know, followed a code of conduct, a code of justice, and followed through with it. I salute you. If any over-ride of the coaches decision takes place, it is usually due to a whiny parent crying on the shoulder of a liberal administrator, namely superintendents. Liberalism is “killing” our public schools because it undermines those who are doing the moral and ethical thing on a daily basis and are told by “higher ups” that they are doing wrong. This is when a staff becomes demoralized because their is no longer right or wrong, only what is politically correct.

    1. It’s only a game dude not the military where the whole country is at stake. Call it overkill.I salute you too. Parents do whin but I agreee there is not right or wrong the only thing that matters is WINING!

  1. Private, you stated that “for years and years the athletes were not held to a standard because winning was the most important thing”. Coach Martinez and Coach Brotherton had their athletes meet standards and STILL had successful seasons—contrary to what YOU stated. Coach Martinez handled situations appropriately so that the Lady Hounds would have POSITIVE media coverage —not negative. It NOT only takes talented athletes to have a successful program…it also takes a GREAT coach to know how to deal with young athletes.
    Oh! By the way, isn’t it a shame that the coach that beat our Lady Hounds was our assistant softball coach last year?

      • private on May 24, 2016 at 10:53 am
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      So letting students who were in ISS play is meeting a standard, when in fact the student code of conduct does indicate that a student who is placed in ISS is not allowed to participate in extracurricular activites?

  2. Thats whats happens when you hire inexperances rookie coaches, they make mistakes along the way while getting thier coaching experience. It really is a challange to coach kids that are not mature yet , of coarse thier success will get to thier heads but an experaniced coach will work through those challanges and make suddden decisons that will bring out the best in every player. In other words learn the lession quickly and get on with your game. For this to happen is a very big mistake for a coach in my book. Anyway life goes on, Erica has her talent ahead of her and the coach the satisfaction she made the right decisions and I am sure a successful coaching career. Never settle for the easy path, be stronger than that. And never settle for tasks that are equal to your powers , rather settle for the tasks equal to both of you. BAT ON! I hope the players still travel to watch the rest of the play offs just to get the whole play off experiance for next year and see who the up and comeing teams and players they have to compete against wil be . Sort of a scouting trip for next year. Till next time keep your bats high and above your shoulders and most of all yur eyes on the pitchers mind.

      • Rianne Fontanot on May 11, 2016 at 11:04 pm
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      Grammatical nightmare.

      1. Says alot about the atrophy of you mind Rianne, what ever happened to your analytical skills .

    • Mayo on May 6, 2016 at 3:56 pm
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    Reality is the coaches are at fault. Apparently this rookie coach knows nothing about pitching. You don’t tell the pitcher she is ready. The coach asks if she is ready. Her next mistake is not being clear. And if y’all out there think the girls are spoiled, it’s the parents who are. The AD reversed the previous coach’s decision to bench a player due to her skipping a class due to pressure from parents. The AD is inconsistent.

      • truthandjusticeforall on May 10, 2016 at 10:51 am
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      Mayo, read the story again. Do not overlook the reason why she was suspended to begin with. No matter what, unless you are your own boss, you will always have authority over you. Even if you are our own boss, customers then decide whether you succeed or not.

        • Mayo on May 13, 2016 at 8:57 am
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        Read what I said. Or just don’t comment. You don’t know sports.

          • truthandjusticeforall on May 16, 2016 at 1:19 pm
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          Sorry Mayo, I realize my mistake. After all, the story did state that the coach asked this young lady to warm up. Gee, I wonder what that meant? One other thing, I didn’t realize you were that one, the one that sits in the bleachers and coaches without ever suffering a loss. All of your decisions are always right and your decisions would’ve resulted in a win. I do beg the forgiveness of writer of all books on sports.

      • Jonathan on May 17, 2016 at 12:24 pm
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      this guy loses all credibility by instantly stating it’s the coach’s fault and she know’s nothing about pitching. gimme a break, dude. go fly a kite. all the other kids behaved and met expectations.

      1. Then there was three the coach the player and Jonathan and they all lost that day.

    • Searaven on May 5, 2016 at 4:29 pm
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    There are two sides to every story and it’s obvious the coaches are silent. However to sacrifice the rest of the girls and the season on one incident is hard to swallow. This young lady is a standout and contributed to the team to get all those victories. When the entire story comes out, the truth will not be known.

      • truthandjusticeforall on May 10, 2016 at 10:45 am
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      There are ten girls that play the game when they set foot on the field. To say that this student is placing everyone’s season in jeopardy is way off base (pun intended). All the girls on this team account for the victories. All contributed in one form or fashion. The entire story is out why wait for word from the coaches. The coach has stated the reasons, action has been taken. Time to move on and plan. To the parents of this young athlete, time do your parental duties and instill common sense.

    • private on May 5, 2016 at 3:45 pm
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    Great job Coach Leal! For years and years the girls were not held to a standard because winning was the most important thing. I’m glad that you are showing them being a good student/person is more important than being a good athlete. Softball will only get you so far. I really don’t think this young lady did learn her lesson, she is still disrespecting her coach by going to the newspaper with this issue. The best thing to do is accept your punishment and move on.

    1. Lady? she is only a kid. A freshman. Now we call them students, persons, athletes? As far as going to the to the newspaper Well? I would tell the player to then just except it, and get in there and pitch and hit some home runs! I had to once fix a flat tire on a freeway, man that was a lot of quick thinking and decision making under real life stress. Maybe she had a misunderstanding but both learns thier lessons I am sure. Not untill the coach and player can come to a mutual understanding of what happen can there be a true lesson learned. Healing and a new beginning.

      • forthekids on May 13, 2016 at 2:28 pm
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      We are forgetting one thing here. The coach’s primary job is that of an EDUCATOR. As an educator it is your job and responsibility to ensure the growth and success of the student (regardless of how the student behaves), she took an oath to provide guidance, direction and support to ALL students, not just the ones she deems fit. These are STUDENT/athletes, emphasis on student. In an educational setting, you can not treat all students the same, you can set high expectations for them, but you must realize that you need to work with their individual needs and personalities. Remember, this is a high school, where the success of the child is first and above all else. We are talking about kids here, not an adult in an adult setting. A child will not understand reasoning like adults do, they need to have things explained to them without making them feel belittled or scolded. Just because we expect them to understand, doesn’t necessarily mean that they do. A child will question you and challenge you, because they are still learning. This doesn’t mean that they have a bad attitude, it just means that they are trying to understand. Just because you are the adult, it doesn’t mean that you are automatically right. And just because you are the coach, doesn’t mean that you automatically know everything. If you are not able to handle working with such a diverse group of personalities, then you should not be working for the school. If you believe that the student failed the coach, then you must also believe that the coach failed the educational system and has no business around our young students.

        • truthandjusticeforall on May 16, 2016 at 1:14 pm
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        @ forthekids – You infer that the upbringing of a student in high school is left up to the teacher or in this case, the coach. Every single one of us is charged with the responsibility of raising our children. The educational setting should simply be used as a system by which what is learned at home is reinforced in school. This child should’ve been taught balance at home. What’s right is right.

    • truthandjusticeforall on May 4, 2016 at 2:18 pm
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    Congrats to Coach Leal for doing the right thing. Coaches often talk about how participating in sports also provides students with life lessons. I hope this young lady learned a life lesson and comes back to play the game she is presumably enjoying. It would be a shame if the parents of this young lady support her decision not to participate as a sophomore. I hope that everyone involved this situation that has a say, backs the coach and her decision.

    1. Yes very true I back the coaches design.

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