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Thursday, July 10, 2008

Little League Falls To Atrisco

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      The East Mountain Little League all-stars have their backs against the wall.
    Atrisco Valley's Matthew Molina, a 5-foot-7 Bataan Military Academy sophomore-to-be, slugged the ball well over the left-field fence for a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning to give his team a come-from-behind 10-8 victory over EMLL in the first round of the District 5 juniors-division double-elimination baseball tournament on Monday.
    The game, in the 13- and 14-year-old age group, was played on a Zia Little League field at Manzano Mesa Park in southeast Albuquerque. East Mountain pitcher Anthony Chavez had held off the West Side squad until Molina took that swing.
    “I was just throwing, just a fastball and a curveball,” said Chavez, a 5-6 East Mountain High rising freshman. “I did get worried when he hit the grand slam, but I stayed in there and pitched.”
    Indeed, Chavez remained outwardly calm as he got through the remainder of the inning with no further damage. He intentionally walked Atrisco's beefy Dennis Chavez, who had blasted a solo homer to tie the score at 4 in the fourth inning.
    A base hit from EMLL's Casey Gauthier, as the leadoff batter in the top of the seventh, wasn't enough. Atrisco pitcher Johnny Chavez, after giving up the single, wrapped it up with three consecutive strikeouts.
    East Mountain appeared to be on the verge of victory. The local boys enjoyed an 8-4 cushion midway through the sixth after Jesse Hernandez's single on a fly to short center field scored Jessie Crawford.
    The EMLL team's comparative skill level, in both hitting and fielding, is exponentially better than it was four years ago.
    “We've got a good group of kids,” East Mountain manager Brian Padilla said. “We pretty much put his (Ger Demarest, his all-stars assistant's) team and my team from the regular season together.”
    East Mountain will play the joint Mile High/Thunderbird team in a losers' bracket game today at 5:30 p.m.
    Majors
    Atrisco Valley defeated East Mountain 4-1 in their 11-12 district-tournament first-round game — under the lights in front of a standing-room-only crowd — at Manzano Mesa Park on Monday..
    Atrisco got two runs in the top of the fourth for a 3-1 lead. The winners also scored in the fifth off a home run.
    “We just didn't have our bats tonight,” EMLL manager Jeff Wemple said.
    East Mountain played Thunderbird in a losers' bracket game late Wednesday.
    10- and 11-Year-Olds
    Mile High blanked East Mountain 13-0 in a district-tournament first-round game at Manzano Mesa Park on Monday.
    EMLL, managed by Eric Tolleson, will seek to avoid elimination in a losers' bracket game today at 5:30 p.m. against Atrisco.
    Minors
    Zia Gold beat East Mountain 12-2 in a district-tournament first-round game at Mile High Little League's fields at Dale Bellamah Park, near Juan Tabo and Lomas in Albuquerque, on Tuesday.
    Zia scored six runs in the second inning for an 8-1 lead. The host squad added another run in the third and invoked the mercy rule with three in the fourth.
    “The guys got a little nervous, excited when they started hitting on us,” EMLL manager Isaac Padilla said. “It's 9- and 10-year-olds.”
    East Mountain did show some life in the top of the fourth. Orlando Garcia's single on a fly ball to right field brought Brannun Armstrong home for the team's final run.
    EMLL's Wesley Baca smacked a double, via a fly ball to deep right-center field, in the fourth. But after taking third on a wild pitch, the San Antonito Elementary fifth-grader-to-be was tagged out between third and home.
    East Mountain played Atrisco's Team No. 2 in a losers' bracket game late Wednesday.
   

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