Here's why this team of young South Texas women champions is worth the praise

Editorial Board | Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Show Caption Hide Caption Highlights of Santa Gertrudis Academy's UIL 3A State Softball Title Game Santa Gertrudis Academy won its first state softball championship against Hughes Spring. Here are highlights from that game.

Congratulations, Santa Gertrudis Academy softball team, for winning the Class 3A state championship. You think it's a big deal now. You are correct. It will be a big deal when you are old and gray — something you can look back on having accomplished as teenagers, something that can't be unaccomplished.

More: Santa Gertrudis Academy wins UIL 3A State Softball Championship

So, relive it. Replay each inning inside your minds. You'll be doing it from now on, like Al Bundy's four touchdowns in one game, the difference being that you are not fictional. This is real life.

You might accomplish greater things in your futures — athletically, academically, in your chosen vocations or professions, your social causes, or as parents and grandparents. But even if one or more of you ends up a Supreme Court justice, Nobel laureate or our fourth or fifth female president, this state title still may rank as your rarest feat. Why? Because you did it both individually and as a team. You won't have each other to see you through most of the individual milestones that lie ahead.

We know, there's a Class 3A softball champion each year, and one in all the other classifications, and state champs in the other sports. But there is nothing routine about what you did. Allow us to impress upon you your uniqueness.

More: Castillo throws perfect game as Santa Gertrudis Academy wins UIL 3A state semifinal

You all played your parts in a perfect game pitched by your superlative pitcher Saidi Castillo. A no-hitter is special. But a perfect game is so rare that there have been only 23 in Major League Baseball history. And, by the way, Major League Baseball has been around since 1876. A perfect game means not only a no-hitter, but also that no one from the other team got on base. The headline news was that Saidi Castillo pitched a perfect game. But you all know that's not the complete story. She didn't do it all by herself. She struck out 12 and walked none. That leaves nine at-bats that weren't strikeouts. You all, as a team, made sure that none of those nine at-bats resulted in an opposing player making it to first base.

And in the title game, when your opponents scored three runs with Castillo on the mound, you answered with eight runs. That's eight runs off the pitching of the second-best 3A team in Texas. You sluggers.

More: Seven Santa Gertrudis Academy softball players named to UIL state all-tournament team

We've been around long enough to know that many of your memories of this season will be in HD when you are old. Preparing you for that, and congratulating you, has been our privilege. It's our privilege because you represent what's best about South Texas. You represented us superlatively. You have raised Kingsville and all of South Texas several notches. So, thank you for this opportunity to bask in your glory.