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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Moriarty Softball in Three-Way District Tie

By Harold Smith /
Mountain View Telegraph
      The Moriarty High softball team (14-6), despite splitting unexpectedly with Albuquerque Academy at home on Saturday, is in the thick of the District 5-4A race.
       “It’s a three-way tie (record-wise) in district with St. Pius, Belen and us,” Lady Pintos coach Brett McWilliams said. “We’re all at 8-2.”
       Moriarty was ranked seventh in last week’s Albuquerque Journal Class 4A coach’s poll. Pius was at No. 10 and Belen was ranked ninth.
       “I know Belen is going to come after us,” McWilliams said. “The Albuquerque Academy loss was disappointing to us ... We’re not really in a funk. Our situation is we get runners on base, and then we don’t get any hits when we need them. We lost 3-2 to St. Pius (on April 15). They had three hits, and we had 10, and we still lost.”
       The Pintos, who trail St. Pius in the district standings because of that loss, fell 7-6 to the Chargers on Saturday in the first game of the doubleheader. Moriarty then rebounded for a 6-5 win in the second game.
       “I told the Academy coach, ‘Couldn’t you guys have helped us out a little bit?’” said McWilliams, who acknowledged a sweep of the Chargers would have given his girls a first-place position. “This group of (Moriarty) seniors deserve a district championship. Now, they just need to get out and get it.”
       The Pintos subsequently defeated Class 5A Highland 5-2 in a uninspiring outing at the Hornets’ field on Tuesday. The Hornets dropped to 0-17.
       Moriarty was to host 5A Eldorado on April 17. That game was postponed to May 8.
       Pintos senior center-fielder Jennifer Inocencio gunned down Highland’s Stefani Sanchez at home after Hornet Dani Hudson zipped a grounder up the middle for the third out in the bottom of the seventh inning on Tuesday. Moriarty catcher Rigney Turnham tagged Sanchez as she slid toward the plate.
       “We’re still in it,” said Inocencio, who is hoping to play college ball at Luna Community College in Las Vegas, N.M., after she graduates.
       Inocencio and her fellow Pintos 12th-graders are the key to Moriarty’s quest for a district title.
       “We need to believe in ourselves,” said senior first-baseman Sonya Chavez, who has now decided to concentrate on academics at the University of New Mexico next school year.
       The Pintos took a 2-0 lead in the third inning of Tuesday’s game. Senior second-baseman Kathleen Nixon’s sacrifice fly to center field sent senior third-baseman Marie Aultman home, and senior Teresa Romero’s groundout earned her an RBI when Alyssa Mondragon scored from third base.
       “We’ve had a couple of off games,” said Aultman, who plans to attend New Mexico State University for a nursing degree. “But we’ve learned from that.”
       Nixon has signed to play softball at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma. Romero will be going to college to try to be an elementary school teacher.
       Moriarty got two more runs in the fourth inning versus the Hornets for a 4-2 advantage. Inocencio, who got a base hit as the leadoff batter, and Morgan McWilliams, the Pintos’ winning pitcher, scored separately on a pair of Highland errors.
       Inocencio also got a double on a fly ball to deep left field as the first batsman in the top of the sixth inning. She scored the Pintos’ final run on Rheanna Smith’s grounder to first base.
       The Lady Timberwolves (13-3, 4-2) clinched a state playoff berth with a 14-4 District 2/1A-2A victory over Jemez Valley at the Warriors’ field April 17. EMHS will be the district runner-up.
       East Mountain, in its final district game, lost 22-3 to district-leading Española McCurdy at Vista Grande Community Center on Tuesday. The T’Wolves defeated Mescalero Apache 30-0 and 7-5 in a nondistrict doubleheader at Vista Grande on Friday.
       The Lady Bears (5-11, 1-3) won’t make the state playoffs. McCurdy beat Estancia 9-6 in a District 2/1A-2A game on the Bears field on Friday.
       “For all intents and purposes, we’re out of it,” EHS coach Michael Dominguez said. “It came down to experience, the number of games our players played. That kind of experience you can’t get anywhere else but in games. But this says a lot about our district. We’re in a tough district. I also felt that East Mountain should have gone to state last year (when the Timberwolves we’re in a similar position).”
       Estancia led 6-4 after two innings. But the Bobcats tied it at 6 in the third, extended the lead to 7-6 in the fourth and got a run in fifth and the seventh.
       “I think I did my job at third base,” said EHS senior Jaime Montoya. “But (McCurdy’s Erica Romero), she’s a pretty good pitcher. It’s just that ... We did play a full game with them. I don’t feel really hurt or anything. I’m real proud of my team.”
       Estancia defeated Los Lunas Valencia 15-14 in eight innings in a nondistrict game at the Jaguars’ field on Tuesday. The Bears’ district game at Jemez Valley, originally scheduled for Saturday, was postponed, and the game has yet to be rescheduled.
       The Lady Monarchs (7-14, 5-3) are in sole possession of second place in District 5-5A after beating Eldorado 8-5 on the Purple Pride’s field on Tuesday.
       Manzano coach Arthur Samora said Los Lunas is the leader at 6-2. Eldorado, which dropped two games to the Monarchs, is in third at 5-3.
       Rio Grande defeated Manzano 6-5 at the Ravens’ field on April 17.
   

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East Mountain Next Up:
       • Manzano at Highland, today, 4 p.m.
       • East Mountain at Sandia Prep JV, today, 3 and 5 p.m.
       • Moriarty at Belen, Saturday, 10 a.m. and noon
       • Estancia at Española McCurdy, Tuesday, 4 p.m.