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Thursday, June 26, 2008

EMLL Hosting All-Star Championships

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
       Softball will be the name of the game beginning today and continuing through July 3 at Vista Grande Community Center.
    “We’ll be hosting all the District (5) all-star softball championships again like we did a couple of years ago,” said Karen Demarest, president of East Mountain Little League.
    That means the EMLL concession stand will be hopping. District 5’s other geographical Little Leagues — Atrisco Valley, Mile High, Thunderbird and Zia — will travel from Albuquerque to compete in the juniors (13- and 14-year-olds), majors (11-12) and minors (9-10) tournaments at East Mountain’s home fields for the right to advance to the state Little League all-star tourneys.
    Once again, East Mountain won’t have an all-stars squad of its own in the 10-team field. But EMLL will share a team moniker with Zia in the juniors division.
    The Zia-East Mountain team will play a first-round game against Mile High today at 5:30 p.m. in the double-elimination tourney.
    In addition, two EMLL girls will play on Zia’s minors team, and one East Mountain girl is on the Atrisco roster in the majors division, Demarest said. The Zia minors and the Atrisco majors will match up against their respective Thunderbird counterparts in the first round on Friday, with both games starting at 5:30 p.m.
    The first games of the championship rounds — with each age group having a rubber game, if necessary, the following day — include:
    Juniors: Wednesday,, 5:30 p.m.
    Majors: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.
    Minors: Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
    Baseball
    The Cardinals defeated the Astros 13-4 in East Mountain Little League’s minors championship game at Vista Grande Community Center on June 14.
    On an adjacent field, the Reds beat the Athletics 11-1 for the rookies’ league title, also on June 14.
    “They did good,” Cardinals manager John Moleres said of his group of boys. “They played really well the last few weeks of the season. We played some interleague games with Mile High, against their No. 2 and 3 teams. Playing against good pitching helped their confidence in our tournament.”
    Marcus Gutierrez was the winning pitcher. Matthew Moleres, the manager’s son, relieved Gutierrez in the fifth inning to close out the six-inning contest.
    Five Cards were selected for East Mountain’s 9-10 all-stars team. The quintet included Kam Conner, Phillip Fasano, Daniel Lanphere, Gutierrez and Moleres.
    “Conner was our leadoff batter,” John Moleres said. “He was our guy with the bat.”
    The rookies’ league title game marked the end of the season for the Reds. Rookies don’t have an all-stars season.
    “They had a huge improvement,” Reds manager Brian Bagon said. “Fortunately, a lot of the guys played on my team last year so they already knew how to hit. And this year, we improved a lot on defense.”
    But batting was the key.
    “I focused on hitting with my guys,” Bagon said. “Most of the other rookies coaches focused on fielding. But in our league, if you can hit the ball, you’ll win the game.”
    East Mountain Little League has put together four all-stars teams that will compete in their respective District 5 tournaments, all of which will be held at Zia Little League’s fields at Manzano Mesa Park in southeast Albuquerque. The teams’ opening games are:
    Juniors: vs. Atrisco Valley, July 7, 5:30 p.m.
    Majors: vs. Atrisco, July 7, 7:45 p.m.
    10-11: vs. Mile High, July 7, 5:30 p.m.
    Minors: vs. Zia Gold, July 8, 5:30 p.m.
    The initial games of the championship rounds include:
    Juniors: July 12, 9 a.m.
    Majors: July 12, 9 a.m.
    10-11: July 12, 9 a.m.
    Minors: July 16, 5:30 p.m.
    There will be 10 teams competing in the minors division. Atrisco, Thunderbird, Mile High and Zia fielded two teams apiece. Lobo Little League and EMLL have one team each.
    Notes
    Former District 5 secretary Chris Hughes was promoted this season. She is now the District 5 assistant administrator, with Camilla Serrano remaining as the district’s head honcho. Antoinette Sabedra is the new district secretary.