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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, March 18, 2002
Pecos uses Fabens' errors to score 12-3 win
A pitcher's duel through the first two innings of play Friday turned into
another big win for the Pecos Eagles girls softball team, as they won their
District 2-4A home opener over the Fabens Wildcats, by a 12-3 final score.
Stephanie Herrera tossed her second straight one-hitter and struck out
12 batters, while the Eagles used a series of errors by the Wildcats behind
pitcher Gena Villalobos to score four times in the third, fourth and sixth
innings.
"Jessica had a triple and got a home run out of it on a throwing error,"
said coach Tammy Walls. They had quite a few errors at third and shortstop."
Rodriguez' triple came with two outs in the third and got Pecos its first
run, and the Eagles would then make it 2-0 when Villalobos hit Herrera with
a pitch and she scored on a single by Becca Wein. After a walk to Katie Lee,
Neftali Salgado doubled to left field to score both runners and make it 4-0.
A three-base error by shortstop Nancy Ramirez on a ball hit by Lee in
the fourth cleared the bases, after Pecos had made it 5-0 on a hit by Herrera
that scored Bre'Ann Windham. But Walls said the Eagles would give those runs
back in the sixth, on a bases-loaded erroer of their own.
"I had my subs in, and we dropped the ball in right field to let three
runs score," Walls said.
That cut the margin to 8-3, but the Eagles would put across four more
runs in their next at-bat, and just missed ending the game a half-inning
early under the 10-run rule. Fabens had two more errors, but the Eagles did
get an RBI infield single from Kelsey Flores and a two-run double from Danielle
Garcia.
Villalobos did have eight strikeouts in the game, including striking out
the side in the second inning. "She had a change-up and a rise ball, which
is the first time out there (in district) we've seen a pitcher with those
kind of pitches," Walls said.
The win lifted Pecos to 6-3 on the season and 2-0 in district, while Herrera
is now 6-1 on the year. Fabens falls to 1-1 in district and 9-7 on the season.
The Eagles are off on Tuesday, and return to action on Friday with a 5
p.m. CDT game at Canutillo. Canutillo lost their district opener to Fabens,
but came back to defeat El Paso Mountain View on Friday, 6-5.
Pitching helps Eagles defend title in Alpine
Two weeks made a big difference in the pitching fortunes of the Pecos
Eagles.
Two weeks ago, the Eagles were struggling due to a shortage of pitchers,
but were able to squeeze out a one-run victory over Midland Greenwood in
the consolation game of the Monahans Sandhills Tournament. This past weekend,
the Eagles were able to win a pair of one-run games to start out the Alpine,
Tournament, then score 10-run rule wins in their final two games, including
the title contest over Greenwood on Saturday night.
The Eagles chased Adam Banda with a seven-run first inning and went on
to a 15-5 victory over the Rangers, their District 4-3A rivals next season,
after routing the team they'll face in District 2-4A play next week, the
Fabens Wildcats, by a 15-4 final score. Those wins allowed the Eagles to
defend their tournament title from a year ago, and came following Thursday's
7-6 victory over Wimberly and Friday afternoon's 10-inning win over another
future district rival, Presidio.
The Eagles survived an 18-strikeout effort by Presidio's Adrian Anaya
as Capi Magana fanned 12 Blue Devils while allowing only four hits in picking
up his second win in as many starts this season. In both the Wimberly and
the Presidio games, the Eagles were able to overcome losing late leads, as
Presidio tied the game after Pecos had taken a 5-2 lead going into the top
of the seventh on Friday, after Wimberly had rallied from a 5-2 deficit in
their last at-bat to take a 6-5 lead the previous day.
Against Fabens on Friday night, the Eagles only had to rally from an early
1-0 deficit to get the win, Pecos scored three times in the bottom of the
second after the Wildcats took the lead in the top of the inning, then scored
five more times against George Sanchez and J.R. Ontiveros in the third inning.
The Wildcats would cut the lead to 8-4 in the top of the fifth against
Matthew Lervario, but the Eagles then put the game away with six runs in
the bottom of the inning, winning the game under the 10-run rule.
Levario improved to 3-1 on the season, while Richard Rodriguez evened
his record at 2-2 with his second victory of the week Saturday night, in
the title game against Greenwood.
Banda had held Pecos in check in the first four innings of the teams'
meeting back on Feb. 2 in the Sandhills Tournament but lasted only nine batters
this time. He walked David Elkins and Rodriguez to start things off, then
allowed a single to Mason Abila, loading the bases.
Freddy Torres grounded into a fielder's choice to score Elkins, and Rigo
Ramirez followed with a two-run double down the left field line. After Magana
reached on an error, Barney Rodriguez singled in two more runs, and Banda
was pulled from the game after re-loading the bases on walks to Oscar Parada
and Levario. Travis Lathram came on in relief and gave up a sacrifice fly
to Elkins on his first pitch, then allowed the Eagles' final run of the inning
on an infield hit by Abila, following a walk to Richard Rodriguez.
Lathram did hold Pecos in check for a couple of innings, but the Rangers
were unable to get anything going at bat early against Rodriguez, except
for Wilber Dawson, who had a couple of hits after going for the cycle in
the teams' Feb. 2 meeting in Monahans.
Torres had triples in both of the Friday wins over Presidio and Fabens,
while Oscar Parada had a double in the win over the Wildcats. The tournament
title improves the Eagles' record to 12-4, after Pecos had fallen to 4-4
on March 7 with an opening round loss to El Paso Burges in the Cotton Valley
Tournament.
The Eagles will try and make it nine straight wins at home on Tuesday,
when they play their final pre-district game, a 6 p.m. start against Odessa
Permian. The Eagles lost two weeks ago on the Panthers' home field by a 15-0
final score.
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 newsdesk@nwol.net
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Copyright 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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