Sports
Lady Pintos Turning Support Role Around

Young Pinto Wins Moriarty Practice Meet

Pintos Finish Opening Tournament in Fourth Place

Sports Shorts

Moriarty Kicks Off Against Pius

Manzano Starts With New Coach

Monarchs Ready for Season

Monarchs Want To Build on 6th-Place Finish at State

Freshman Gives Softball Ol' College Try

EMHS Excited About Gym

More
Sports

HOME	CLASSIFIEDS	OBITUARIES	SPORTS	OPINION

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Pintos Swept in Twin Bill Against Eagles

By Jason W. Brooks /
Valencia County News-Bulletin
      BELEN — Saturday's 3-2 and 5-4 doubleheader losses to the Belen High Eagles weren't just major blows to the Moriarty Pintos' chances at a District 5-4A softball championship.
       The losses were both frustrating, and the second one ended in an unusually cruel way.
       Needing at least a split to maintain their spot alongside St. Pius and Belen in the 5-4A standings, the Pintos were up 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning of the second game with one out and nobody on base. But two walks, two hits and one unbelievable play later, the Pintos saw their title chances, their season-series advantage over Belen and a higher seed in next month's Class 4A state tournament all slip through their fingers.
       The Eagles (16-5, 10-2 after Saturday) took the season series from the Pintos, two games to one.
       In the seventh inning, the Eagles' Andrea Gabaldon and Justine Gallegos were both walked by tiring Pintos freshman pitcher Morgan McWilliams. Amber Jaramillo singled to center to load the bases, and the next batter was Jasmine Gabaldon.
       Gabaldon hit a sharp grounder to Moriarty shortstop Alyssa Mondragon, but the ball hit Mondragon's foot and bounded into the outfield. Two runs scored to tie the game 4-4, and a throw to get Gabaldon, trying for second, got away from Moriarty's Kathleen Nixon.
       “Sometimes the best team doesn't always win,” said Moriarty coach Brett McWilliams. “Our goal this year was to win a district championship and not to have it in someone else's hands. If we would have hit on top of the ball today instead of getting under it, we would have been hitting the fence (with big hits).
       The Eagles committed three errors behind pitcher Catherine Baca on defense, but Moriarty committed four errors in the second game. The Pintos got RBI hits from Morgan McWilliams and Rigney Turnham to help them go up 4-0 before Belen scored twice in the bottom of the sixth.
       The first game was frustrating for Moriarty because McWilliams gave up only two hits, both in the bottom of the fourth. The second one, a three-run triple by Baca, accounted for all of the Eagles' runs in the contest.
       Moriarty scored both its runs in the top of the sixth. Sonya Chavez tripled to lead off the inning and scored on a sacrifice fly by McWilliams, and Turnham walked and later scored on a double by Jennifer Inocencio.
       Moriarty (15-8, 9-4) subsequently defeated Del Norte 7-3 in a district game at the Knights' field on Tuesday. Nixon was 2-for-4, and Turnham, Inocencio and Morgan McWilliams, the winning pitcher, contributed doubles, Brett McWilliams said.
       “It'll be us and Pius playing for the runner-up spot on Saturday (in a twin bill at the Pintos' place at 10 a.m. and noon),” the coach said.
       St. Pius dropped the opener of its doubleheader at Del Norte on Saturday 12-5 but won the second game 6-4. If Belen sweeps Friday's doubleheader at Albuquerque Academy, the Eagles are the district champions, regardless.
       A seeding committee will meet on May 11 to seed the top 16 teams for this year's new double-elimination bracket for the Class 4A state tournament, to be held May 15-17 in Farmington. Moriarty was ranked sixth in last week's New Mexico Coaches Association Class 4A poll. Belen and Del Norte were unranked, and St. Pius was seventh.
   

---