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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Confident Pintos Demolish Mustangs in 5-Inning, 11-0 Game

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
    Nick Gonzales ended it.
    Moriarty High's 5-foot-5, 145-pound shortstop smacked a triple via a sharply struck fly ball to left field to bring teammates Keaton Chancellor and Max Ruben home, mercifully concluding the Pintos' conquest of visiting West Mesa in the bottom of the fifth inning on Tuesday.
    Moriarty (4-2) defeated the Mustangs 11-0 in a nondistrict baseball game at the Thomas J. Schnell Complex. Gonzales was 2-for-2 using the bat with a triple, a double and two RBI.
    "I have more confidence now," said Gonzales, a sophomore. "And all of us get along really well on this team."
    Pinto J Stablein, who threw the first four innings, pitched a one-hitter with three strikeouts. He didn't give up a walk and hit one batter.
    "It was just fast- and curveballs (Tuesday)," said the 6-1, 180-pound senior right-hander. "Ever since the state championship game last year, I have a lot more confidence."
    Nice guys finish last, or so they say. But for Moriarty's sake, one should hope not— at least not this year.
    "I like it," said Nick Chavez, the Pintos' 5-11, 170-pound senior second baseman of their cohesiveness. "It's fun to be around this team. And we've got a lot of returners. Everybody is hungry."
    Moriarty took a 4-0 lead in the first inning against struggling West Mesa, which had 10 players on its roster. Pintos senior catcher Jason Watrin hit a two-run double and Chavez banged a triple on a fly to right to bring Watrin home.
    Chavez, who was 2-for-2 batting, then sprinted across the plate from third on an error, one of six miscues by the Mustangs (0-10). West Mesa is coached by former Estancia skipper Louie Salazar, who guided the Bears to a Class 2A state title in 2006.
    "We're really young, especially in key positions," said Salazar, who is in his second year coaching at his alma mater. "That's tough. We make a lot of mental mistakes."
    Moriarty's most strident adversary on Tuesday was the plate umpire. He shooed Pintos coach Michael Chavez and assistant Marty Moore away from the dugout entrance and back behind the chain-link barrier early on in the contest.
    The ump also pulled two Moriarty players back from first after they were hit by pitches. He apparently deemed the batsmen intentionally moved into the balls' path or failed to try to avoid the throws.
    Then in the top of the third— for a reason that was difficult to decipher— the ump ejected Moore.
    Mustangs freshman Gabe Davila got his team's sole hit in the fourth. But two batters later, Moriarty terminated West Mesa's turn at bat with a fluid 5-4-3 double play.
    Pinto Robbie Bell, a 5-11, 205-pound sophomore, relieved Stablein in the fifth. He retired the side when he struck out Shane Boyce swinging.
    West Mesa freshman Albert Carmignani— giving up nine hits, walking four and striking out two— was the losing pitcher. He went the distance.
    "We've got a good team, but we have a lot of things we still need to work on," Michael Chavez said.
    The coach acknowledged this year's group of Pintos does seem to be particularly team-oriented.
    "That's what we've been trying to get them to be all along," Chavez said. "We can be successful if no one cares who gets the credit."
    Pintos
    baseball
    Next Up: Moriarty hosts Highland, today, 4 p.m.