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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, April 3, 2000
Pecos' relay weather bad, results good
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Apr. 3, 2000 -- The West of the Pecos Relays returned after
a 10-year break to cold and drizzly weather Saturday morning, but the final
results were good for the Pecos Eagles track teams, both of whom took first
in the five-team field.
The girls picked up 150 points to 91 for District 2-4A rival San Elizario,
while the boys' race was a little closer, with the Eagles winning by a
142-105 margin over San Eli, which will host the district track meet this
Friday and Saturday.
The Pecos Relays hadn't been held in a decade because of the poor condition
of the track at Eagle Stadium. Renovations changed that, but one leftover
quick in the track _ an extra-wide gap between the inside lane and the
curb at the northeast corner _ led San Elizario's 1600 meter relay team
to be disqualified for running outside the white lines.
San Eli beat the Eagles in the race, as coach Ron Arnesen shifted his
teams around to try and put together a 400-meter relay squad. That included
moving Daniel Terrazas from the 1600 to the 400, which then added Will
Armstrong to replace Kevin Bates, after he twisted his ankle in Friday's
baseball game.
"We're going to have to look basically at what we have to do," Arensen
said about his relay teams for district. "With the 400, we had Bates on
that, and when he got hurt last night we had to put in a new combination.
For the practice they had, I thought they did a good job."
Terrazas won the 400-meter dash with a 53-22 time, but was edged by
San Elizario's Jose Chavez, 22.76 to 22.95. "I think he thought he had
it won coming off the curve. He kind of slowed down, and then when he (Chavez)
caught up to him he kind of sped up," said Arnesen.
The small field allowed a little more time for the bugs to be worked
out in running the meet, after the 10-year break, and it also cut down
on the number of preliminary races as well.
In the field events, Armstrong was the only pole-vaulter and won the
gold medal at the 8-foot height, while Micah Huffman took the shot put
with a 40-foot-2 effort. "That was a personal best for Micah. He hadn't
done 39 feet in a meet before," said Arnesen.
Senior Ricky Martinez, who cannot compete on the varsity level due to
eligibility rules, had the day's best individual effort, going 21-feet-6
to win the long jump. Payne was second there with an 18-foot-3 effort,
while Martinez also won the triple jump with a 40-10¾ jump, four
feet better than the Eagles' Dulces Guerrero.
The Eagles' other medals came from Payne, second in the long jump; Len
Carson, second in the 800 meter run and third in the long jump; and Nolan
Blount, third in the 1600 and 3200 meter runs. Martinez placed second in
the 100-meter dash, and collected 32 points on the day.
The girls picked up their first two gold medals of the season, winning
the 400, 800 and 1600 meter runs, though coach Lily Talamantez said she
would only run the first two relays at San Elizario this Saturday.
"I was real proud of all of them. As far as the times, our long distance
girls improved. Kelsey (Holt) improved 23 seconds from last week," she
said. Holt just missed an individual gold in the 1600, when she was edged
out by San Eli's Diane Solis, 6:17.02 to 6:17.17.
Alessandra Vasquez was second in both the discus and shot put events,
with Stephanie Camacho third in the discus, Nicole Payne took second in
the 800 meter run, while Maricela Arenivas was third in the long jump and
the 200 meter dash.
The JV girls collected 24 points and one medal Saturday, from Sarah
Marquez, who was third in the 400-meter dash.
The girls were had a couple of disqualifications which cost them points,
including Holt, who missed out on a medal in the 3200 meter run. Pecos
was also without sophomore Christina Arenivas, who had been their top point-getter
in the first few meets of the season. Talamantez said she hoped to have
everyone ready by Friday, when running prelims and field event finals are
held at the District 2-4A meet.
Eagles overcome problems. get past Canutillo
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Apr. 3, 2000 -- In a game where a lot of little things went
wrong, the Pecos Eagles made enough things go right to keep from putting
themselves in a big hole in the District 2-4A playoff race.
Josh Casillas crushed and Ivan Guebara blooped two-run hits in the sixth
inning Friday, to rally Pecos to a 7-5 victory over the Canutillo Golden
Eagles. Casillas hammed a pitch from Julian Lopez over the fence in center
field for his second home run of the year, a two-run shot that gave the
host Eagles a 5-4 lead, while Guebara dumped a two-strike single into right-center
field to score two more runs that came in handy when Capi Magana wild pitched
in a run in the seventh inning.
"The people talk about the rinky-dink teams that are out there, but
when we go out there we've got to play, because none of them are going
to lay down for us," said Eagles' coach Bubba Williams.
Magana started and went the distance in place of Casillas, who was diagnosed
with tendonitis in his elbow and will be unable to pitch for at least three
weeks. Guebara, meanwhile, was pinch-hitting for Jerry Trujillo, who entered
the game after Kevin Bates severely sprained his ankle tripping over second
base in the third inning.
"We didn't have any injuries last year, now we've got Josh with an injury
and our leadoff hitter (Bates) with an injury," Williams said. Bates hurt
himself in the Eagles' two-run inning, after reaching on an error by shortstop
Paco Molinar. Mason Abila, who was 3-for-4 on the night, followed with
a triple, and scored as Alex Garcia reached when Carlos Torres' dropped
Molinar's throw from shortstop.
But while Canutillo had their defensive problems, the Eagles ran into
troubles of their own. Canutillo took a 1-0 lead in the first after Magana
hit leadoff batter Jesse Ramirez, who scored when Manny Jimenez bounced
a single high off the front of the pitcher's mound and into center field.
Pecos tied the game in their first at-bat, when Abila singled, stole second
and later scored on a wild pitch, but Canutillo got that run back in the
second, when Ramirez doubled over Alex Garcia's head in center field, after
Orlando Lara dropped an Andy Acosta pop-up.
Magana, who improved to 4-0 on the year, retired 10 straight batters
after Ramirez' double, but in the sixth Joey Garcia dropped Javier Medina's
one out fly to left field, and Jimenez' followed with an RBI single to
right-center.
After a walk to Eddie Hita, Lopez hit a grounder first baseman Pifi
Montoya had trouble getting out of his glove. His throw to second was low,
but in time to get Hita. However, shortstop Luis Salgado then lost the
handle on the ball trying to complete the double play, and it bounced into
short right field, allowing Jimenez to score and give Canutillo a 4-3 lead.
Casillas' homer came after Lopez walked Montoya on four pitches and
sent pinch-runner Daniel Terrazas to third on a bad pickoff attempt. Salgado
then reached with a drag bunt single, and after Molinar replaced Lopez
on the mound and walked Ricky Herrera with two out, Guebara fought off
a couple of 3-2 pitches before singling over the head of second baseman
Joe Hernandez.
"Ivan Guebara did a good job fighting off those pitches and getting
a key base hit to drive in two runs," said Williams. "But when we get in
the playoffs we've got to play a whole lot better."
The Eagles improved to 3-1 in district and 11-4 overall, while Canutillo
fell to 2-2 and 5-9. Pecos closes out the first half of their district
schedule on Tuesday, with a trip to San Elizario.
Win clinches playoff spot for Pecos
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Apr. 3, 2000 -- The quantity of hits wasn't much more for the
Pecos Eagles on Friday than what they had gotten in their previous home
games, but the quality was a lot higher and the results worked out the
same -- a five-inning win, this time over the Canutillo Golden Eagles.
Pecos, which had managed only four hits in each of their first two District
2-4A home games, collected five this time, but that included three triples
and a double, as the Eagles clinched their second straight trip to the
playoffs with a 10-0 win at Martinez Field.
"There was a definite improvement," said coach Tammy Walls, whose team
came in after blowing a seventh inning lead and losing to El Paso Mountain
View three days earlier. "It was better than Tuesday. Becca (Wein) did
well and Katrina (Quiroz) hit the ball well."
Wein, who had been struggling at bat as the Eagles' clean-up hitter,
was dropped to seventh in the order and responded with a triple and double.
Quiroz added a triple in the fourth inning, and earlier got on thanks to
a high pop-up Canutillo pitcher Daisy Cuevas couldn't corral in the strong
winds the proceeded a 10-minute rain delay.
Cuevas misplayed wind-blown pop-ups by Quiroz and Valerie Gonzales,
which ended up scoring Quiroz with the Eagles' first run of the game. The
Eagles ended up getting two runners thrown out at home plate in the first,
while Canutillo's Gracie Borjas was picked off third base by Wein in the
top of the inning, after opening the game with a single.
Wein's triple came in the second, a shot to left center that score Mireya
Medrano, who was hit with a pitch by Cuevas. Evelyn Galindo and Annette
Marquez then walked, before Jessica Rodriguez scored Wein with an infield
single. Galindo and Marquez scored when Borjas booted Kathy Maldonado's
grounder to shortstop, giving Pecos a 5-0 lead.
They scored five more times in the third, as Maldonado tripled before
Quiroz' RBI double, and after two more walks loaded the bases Quiroz scored
on a ground out by Medrano. Wein then made it 9-0 with her second triple,
this one down the line in left.
Meanwhile, Marquez was having little trouble with Canutillo's hitters
outside of Borjas, who had two of her team's three hits on the day. Her
second hit came after a one-out walk to Jackie Franco, but Marquez then
fielded a bunt attempt by Cuevas and threw Franco out at third to stop
the threat.
She also scored the run that ended the game under the 10-run rule in
the fifth, beating a throw home from Borjas on a grounder by Maldonado.
"She seemed to be controlling her pitches well, and she used her change-up
effectively tonight," said Walls, whose team improved to 12-5 on the season
and 7-1 in district play.
They remain tied for first with Clint, whom they host on April 11 to
close out regular season play. Before then, the Eagles will host Fabens
at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Martinez Field.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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