By Henry Miller | The Mercedes Enterprise

Mika Vento gave up a hit on the first pitch of the first playoff game in the first round against Rio Grande City.

The Tigers then turned a double play and Vento went on to strike out nine Rattlers — and gave up only one more hit the rest of the way — en route to a 6-1 victory.

“We were a little bit antsy in the box up to bat but of course in the 4th inning we busted it open,” Mercedes coach Kristy Leal said. “It’s always nice to have Mika in the circle and have a defense that backed her up today. The ball was in play and we expected that from Rio Grande City.”

Mercedes easily advanced out of the bi-district round and now has a big calling in front of them – Corpus Christi Flour Bluff in the Area round best of three series.

But one thing that is in the Lady Tigers favor – other than playing at home in game one on Thursday, is that they’ve found all ways of winning this season – pitching, hitting, heads up running, defense – and everyone has been contributing.

In the fourth inning against Rio Grande City, two freshmen blew the game open for Mercedes and gave Vento more than enough run support.

Jazmin Gonzalez set up the rally with a one-out walk and Caitlyn Acosta bunted her teammates over to second and third.

With two outs, Claire Garza came through with a two-run single. Before the inning was done, Makayla de la Torre added another two-run hit.

De la Torre said her teammates talked her out of her nerves so she could play her game.

“At first I was really nervous but my team was here to back me up,” De la Torre said. “They were telling me ‘calm down, it’s just a game like any other game’ they just helped me. I just went up and hit it.”

Mercedes (18-9-1, 10-2) finished the regular season with back to back games against district champion Brownsville Veterans and closed with third-place team Edcouch-Elsa, so the Tigers were in “intense playoff mode” even before the playoffs began.

“It seems like everyone was out to get everybody right then,” Leal said. “But couldn’t overlook anybody after those games either.”

Game 1 of the series begins at 7 p.m. Thursday. Games 2 and 3, if necessary, will be at Corpus Christ Flour Bluff.