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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, March 25, 2002
Salgado places 12th in state powerlifting finals
Pecos Eagles senior Adam Salgado ended up in 12th place in the
final Division I standings on Saturday for his weight class, in the Texas
High School Powerlifting Association state championships, held at the Daniel-Meyer
Coliseum in Fort Worth.
"He started off seeded 13th, so he moved up one spot," said
Eagles' coach Steve Cross of Salgado, who competed in the 198-pound weight
class.
Cross said Salgado's combined 1,290 pound lift was the same as his total
at the regional meet three weeks ago in Lubbock, when he earned the runner-up
state berth out of Region I.
"After his squat thrust he was in eighth place and he started out good
on his bench press. He did 265 pounds, but he just didn't get his second
lift and that kind of hurt him," Cross said. "On the third he got 290 which
helped, but then he had a little trouble on the dead lift. He did 450 pounds
on his first lift, but then the judges didn't like the second lift or the
third lift. He was trying 470 pounds, but they said it wasn't a legal lift."
"I knew they were going to be mostly bigger than I was going into the
state meet, but that gave me a bigger drive to want to beat them," said
Salgado, who dropped down one spot after his problems in the deadlift,
as Belton's Dante Cozarte moved up to 11th, with a combined
1,295 pound lift.
"Just being able to qualify for state is a pretty big reward in itself,"
said Cross. "I think Adam has been very coachable. He asked a lot of questions
during his powerlifting career, and was alreays ready to do what it took
to get better. I think that shows in his ability to get to state and it
will be something he will always carry with him through his life."
Aaron Fulton of Georgetown won the 198-pound weight class, with a combined
lift of 1,495 pounds, based on his lower body weight (190.60 pounds) compared
with Crowley's Tavarus Cabness, who also lifted 1,495 pounds but weighed
in at 197.90 pounds for the state finals. Region I winner Beto Rodarte
of Lubbock High finished eighth, with a 1,370 combined lift.
Division I is for schools in Class 5A and 4A, while the Eagles will
compete next year in Division II, when they drop down to Class 3A. In-between,
Cross said he's hoping to get an offseason powerlifting competition going.
"I'm looking at some of the other powerlifting organizations to see
if we can't get a summer powerlifting program off the ground," he said.
"Some of them have age-group divisions, so the middle schools can compete.
One thing I noticed down there are that the teams competing in the powerlifting
at state are the ones you see going to the state quarterfinals in football."
One other Eagle, Chris Lara, was an alternate at state, having placed
third at regionals in the 132-pound division. Last week, Eagles' senior
Alexandra Vasquez placed 12th at the girls' State High School
Powerlifting Championships, held in Killeen.
Defense, hitting help get Eagles win over Lions
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
On a day when pitcher Barney Rodriguez didn't have his best stuff,
the Pecos Eagles' defense did after some early inning mistakes, while the
offense did in both the early and late innings off Clint pitcher Mikey
Fierro to give the Eagles a 12-4 win over the Lions, in Friday's District
2-4A baseball opener for both teams.
"Barney didn't have his best stuff today. His curveball was flat, but
we hit the ball and we played good defense behind him," said Eagles' coach
Bubba Williams of the junior, who won for the fifth time in six decisions
this season.
Clint put their leadoff man on in every inning but one, and the Lions
still managed to score that time off Rodriguez. But after a pair of errors
in the first two innings, the Eagles settled down, getting Rodriguez out
of trouble by turning three double plays, and ending the game by throwing
David Medeles out at home on a grounder to third base by Royce Hickman.
At-bat, the Eagles were able to stake Rodriguez to a 4-0 lead before
he took the mound. David Elkins and Richard Rodriguez opened the game with
back-to-back doubles, and Mason Abila singled home Rodriguez and went to
second when Willie Canavas misplayed the ball in left field. Abila scored
after ground outs by Freddie Torres and Rigo Ramirez, and Capi Magana followed
with a double, then scored on Barney Rodriguez' single.
Clint came back with three hits in the bottom of the first inning, including
a leadoff double by Hickman and an RBI single by Jonathan Baeza. But after
David Fierro hit and an error by Levario loaded the bases. Barney Rodriguez
came back to strike out Medeles and got Jacob Hernandez to foul out to
Levario at third base.
Levario would walk and later score Pecos' fifth run in the top of the
second, on a double by Abila, while an error by Ramirez at first base to
open the second set up Sam Duran's RBI single to left. But once again,
Rodriguez got out of it, getting Hickman to bounce into a fielder's choice
and Kit Bramblett and Baeza on grounders to shortstop and third base.
The Eagles turned their first double play in the third inning, getting
Fernie Lopez after David Fierro opened the inning by reaching on an error.
In the fourth, after Canava led off with a single Duran smacked a line
drive to Magana at shortstop on a hit-and-run play, and he was able to
double Canava off first base.
In the fifth, Clint got its only double play of the game, but that came
on bad baserunning and after the Eagles had added four more runs. After
Abila reached on an error by Hickman at shortstop and Torres singled, Magana
came up with an RBI single to center that Lopez misplayed, allowing a second
run to score.
Mikey Fierro then hit Barney Rodriguez with a curveball, and Oscar Parada
followed with an RBI single, making it 8-2. Levario blooped in a single
to load the bases and Elkins made it 9-2 with a sacrifice fly, but Parada
was caught between second and third in a rundown, ending the inning.
Barney Rodriguez got the first two outs in the bottom of the fifth,
before three straight hits by Lopez, Medeles and Mikey Fierro made it 9-3.
He got Canava to end the inning, but needed the Eagles' third double play
of the game to get out of trouble in the sixth, though this time only part
of it Rodriguez' doing.
He did walk Duran to open the inning, but with one out saw Bramblett
awarded first base on catcher's interference by Abila, then saw Baeza reach
base when hit dribbler down the third base line that appeared foul was
ruled fair by the home plate umpire as Levario picked it up. Rodriguez
then hit David Fierro to force home a run, but Richard Rodriguez then took
Lopez hard shot to second base and turned it into an inning-ending double
play.
In the seventh, singles by Ramirez and Barney Rodriguez and a double
by Parada made it 10-4, and the game's final two runs scored when Bramblett
dropped Elkins' pop up to second base.
Rodriguez ended up allowing 12 hits on the afternoon while striking
out only two batters, both in the first inning, while the Eagles collected
14 hits off Fierro, who struck out four batters. "Barney said the ball
was rising. He was trying to keep it down because that's where the umpire
was calling it, so he tried to aim it and didn't have his good stuff. But
we made the plays we had to make, and we've got the pitchers to back him
up if we needed them," said Williams.
The win was the Eagles' ninth straight and puts them at 13-4 on the
season, while Clint falls to 7-10-1 with their loss. Pecos now comes home
for a Tuesday night game against the Fabens Wildcats, who won their district
opener over Canutillo, 3-2, and have beaten the Eagles in Pecos each of
the past two seasons. The Eagles then go to Canutillo for a Thursday afternoon
game, due to the Good Friday holiday.
Pecos still unbeaten in district after 11-1 victory at Canutillo
The Pecos Eagles extended their District 2-4A winning streak and kept themselves
on top of the 2-4A softball standings Friday afternoon with a five-inning,
11-1 victory over the Canutillo Golden Eagles.
"It was a good game for us. Everyone got to play," said Eagles' coach
Tammy Walls. "Stephanie (Herrera) had seven strikeouts and Jessica Rodriguez
had a very good game at first base. She saved a couple of throws from shortstop
and also hit the ball well. I think she was 2-for-3."
Herrera allowed only one hit in raising her record to 7-1 on the season,
with the Golden Eagles' lone run coming off an error in centerfield in
the fourth inning, after Walls had gotten most of her reserves into the
game.
The Eagles scored twice in the first inning and then added seven more
runs in the second. "The second was when we opened it up, and I made my
substitutions in the third," Walls said. Among the starters, Neftali Salgado
had a home run for Pecos, and was also 2-for-3 at bat, Walls said.
The win was the Eagles fourth straight and gave them a 7-3 record on
the season, 3-0 in district play. Pecos goes back out to El Paso on Tuesday
to face the Mountain View Lobos, and then comes home for a Thursday game
against San Elizario to close out the first half of the district schedule.
The San Eli game was moved up a day due to Good Friday, and Walls said
after an initial change of the starting time for the district home games
from 5 p.m. to 4 p.m., that the remaining four games at Martinez Field
would be 5 p.m. starts, as originally announced at the start of the season.
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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