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Thursday, May 22, 2008

EMHS Softball Finishes in Fourth

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      East Mountain High, competing in its first state softball tournament in school history, took fourth at the Class 1A-2A double-elimination competition in Farmington that began on May 15 and concluded Saturday.
       Games were played at Ricketts Park and the Farmington Sports Complex.
       “I'm building a new program,” Lady Timberwolves coach Denise Whipple said. “It's only my second year. We missed state by one game last year. And this year, we placed fourth in our first year at state. I think that's pretty good. Next year, we expect to win the state title.”
       The sixth-seeded EMHS girls battled wet weather, schedule changes and were matched up against No. 3 Jal, the eventual champion, in the first round on May 15. The Panthers took it to the T'Wolves, beating the Sandia Park-based charter school 10-0, according to New Mexico Activities Association records.
       “It was difficult the first day,” Whipple said. “We had a layoff of about 14 days (going into the tourney), and it showed. And it rained, delaying games. And we had a little bit of an attitude problem that we had to take care of. We didn't have any sticks in that game. We just weren't swinging.”
       East Mountain rallied on Friday. The Timberwolves got a 14-4 victory against seventh-seeded Lordsburg in the first round of the losers' bracket.
       “It was close for three innings,” Whipple said. “Then our sticks came alive. We did some walking, too.”
       EMHS catcher Danae Kornegay, a hard-charging 5-foot-1 junior, hit a fly ball that bounced off the fence in left field for an inside-the-park home run against the Mavericks. The blast and her sprint around the bases scored two runs for a mercy-rule ending in the sixth inning.
       A Kornegay double also produced a come-from-behind 8-6 triumph over No. 4 Capitan in the second round of lower-bracket play on Friday. Kornegay said she smacked a walk-off RBI double down the third-base line in the bottom of the seventh.
       East Mountain, in the losers' bracket semifinals on Friday, were eliminated 17-5 by McCurdy. The second-seeded Bobcats from Española wound up in third place after losing to top-seeded Loving, the runner-up.
       Rachel Sanderson, a junior right-hander, pitched all four games for EMHS. Kornegay and Sanderson were named the team's most valuable players for the season.
       “We really played our hearts out,” Kornegay said. “We stepped it up, and we had a blast.”
       To top it all off, Rachael Rembold, the T'Wolves' 5-8 senior team captain and first baseman, was named as one of four East Mountain co-valedictorians. She said she earned a 4.35 grade-point average.
       The three other top students were Noah Duran, Colton Sniegowski and Morganne Saitta.
       “We were real excited about playing at state,” said Rembold, who will attend the University of New Mexico with a plan of pursuing a double major in biology and theater. “We lost our first game, but we tried to stay focused. We really didn't want to come home early so we worked our hardest.”
       The Timberwolves concluded the season with a 19-5 record.
       Moriarty
       Rain, rain, go away. Come back some other day.
       The eighth-seeded Lady Pintos, playing in soggy conditions, were ousted early from the 4A state tourney. No. 9 Roswell High upset Moriarty 12-5 in a first-round game, and No. 16 Albuquerque Academy — both contests were played on May 15 — stunned the Pintos 6-5 in the losers' bracket.
       “It was very heartbreaking,” said Moriarty senior second-baseman Kathleen Nixon. “It felt like we had so much potential where we could have had it all. It was real disappointing, especially losing to Academy.”
       Nixon, who has signed to play collegiate ball at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., led the Pintos (18-10) during the 2008 season with a .505 batting average. She was the team's leadoff hitter.
       “Without making any excuses because it affected everybody the same, I do think the rain and the game delays affected us,” Moriarty coach Brett McWilliams said. “We got out of our rhythm, lost our momentum. And we played on wet ground. We were slipping all over the place.”
       Moriarty's No. 1 pitcher, Morgan McWilliams, finished with a record of 18-8. She had 146 strikeouts.
       “She just was a freshman this year,” said Brett McWilliams, Morgan's father. “I can't wait until next year. And I think that we have one of the best catchers in the state in Rigney Turnham. She doesn't give up many stolen bases. I think she only had two stolen bases against her all year. She guns them down.”
       Manzano
       The No. 12 Lady Monarchs (11-17) were ejected from the 5A tournament on May 15. Fifth-seeded Las Cruces Oñate defeated Manzano 8-2 in the first round, and No. 13 Alamogordo beat the Monarchs 9-2 in the losers' bracket.
       “If a game made it to the fifth inning it was called because of the rain,” Manzano coach Arthur Samora said. “So we didn't get to finish the first game. We didn't even get a chance to shake their hands or anything after the game; it was raining so hard. Then the second game was delayed about two hours until 8:30 (p.m.)”
       If it's not one thing, it's another. Manzano senior first-baseman Brenda Hearn, who courageously has battled a serious disease while still playing, was taken to the hospital after injuring her ankle during the first game.
       “She made a great play and collided with a teammate,” Samora said. “She came back. She toughed it out. I was proud of her.”
       Hearn, of the Sedillo Hill area, was still in an air cast earlier this week.
       “I was going for a foul ball,” said Hearn, who will attend UNM as a history major. “Our second baseman was behind me. I guess she didn't hear me. When I stepped back, I think I hit her foot. It hurt real bad. Our trainer, Amy (Petersen), she said I needed to get it X-rayed. But it's OK.”
       Of greater concern is Hearn's ongoing fight with scleroderma, which according to Webster's is “a disease in which connective tissues anywhere in the body becomes hardened and rigid.”
       “(This week), my doctor is going to look at my lungs because it can affect your internal organs…,” Hearn said. “Right now, my doctor's not worried. But it's something that could get worse. I have to do regular blood tests. It's something we'll have to watch. It might go away, but then it might come back.”
   

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