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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Tuesday, April 2, 2002
Balmorhea puts six boys, two girls on 9-A squads
Balmorhea Bears senior Isaiah Rodriguez was named co-MVP of District 9-A
in basketball, while three other Balmorhea starters were named to the first
team all-district squad and two more players were selected to the second
team in voting by district coaches.
Balmorhea's girls, meanwhile, had one first team selection and one second
team pick on the all-district squad, which was dominated by 9-A champ Dell
City and runner-up Fort Davis.
Rodriguez shared his MVP award with Dell City's Homer Slaughter, after
the Bears went undefeated in 9-A play and advanced to the Class A-Division
II semifinals, losing to Utopia to finish 24-2 on the season.
Rodriguez led the Bears in scoring, and was one of four Balmorhea players
to average in double figures this season. The others _ senior guard Jerry
Mendoza, senior forward Arturo Rodriguez and junior post Jourmain Matta
_ also were first team selections. Senior Reggie Lozano and junior Sammy
Dominguez were the Bears' second team selections.
Most of the other first team players on the 9-A squad were underclassmen.
Along with Slaughter, a junior, they include Dell City freshmen Josh Anchondo
and Eloy Perez; Fort Davis sophomore Frankie Cauble and junior Casey Falkner
and Sierra Blanca sophomore Hector Hernandez. Valentine senior Adrian Gonzalez
was the other first team pick.
Balmorhea's girls missed the playoffs after grades cut down their roster
at the start of district play, and forced their two front line players,
Lorissa Rodriguez and Julia Garlick, to spend time as ballhandlers. Rodriguez
was a first team pick and was making her first appearance on the all-district
team, while Garlick was a second team pick for the second time, after being
named to the team as a sophomore last year.
Dell City's Crystal Mendoza and Fort Davis' Suzanne Slover shared the
district MVP honor, after Mendoza won it a year ago. The rest of the first
team included Dell City's Erica Trujillo and Naomi Perez, Fort Davis' Jenny
Cauble and Cheirsh Zimmerman, Sierra Blanca's Kim French and Valentine's
Sandra Calderon.
Eagles looking to stay perfect in district play
The second half of District 2-4A softball opens up for the Pecos Eagle
girls at home this afternoon against the Clint Lions, while Pecos' boys
will try to have an easier time staying atop the 2-4A baseball standings
this afternoon in El Paso than they did last Thursday in Canutillo, when
they take on the Mountain View Lobos.
Both games will start at 5 p.m., with the girls looking to win their
19th straight district game, while the Lions try to stay close
to Canutillo and San Elizario in their search for a fourth straight post-season
trip. At Mountain View, the Eagles will be looking to win their seventh
straight district game over the past two seasons and their 12th
straight overall this season, after escaping Canutillo on Thursday with
an eight-inning, 5-4 victory.
Pecos was one out away from a 4-0 win in the seventh, and one strike
away from stopping Canutillo twice later in the inning, only to see the
Golden Eagles tie the game. Capi Magana came on in relief of Matthew Levario
and got the final out, but then had to survive his own bases-loaded jam
in the bottom of the eighth, after a Barney Rodriguez sacrifice fly gave
Pecos a one-run lead in the top of the inning.
Magana improved to 4-0 on the season, while today, Eagles' coach Bubba
Williams said Rodriguez would look for his sixth win in seven decisions
this season.
"We'll go with Barney today, and the rest will just be our basic lineup,"
said Williams. Rodriguez had to escape several jams of his own on March
22 at Clint while allowing 12 hits, but went the distance in a 12-4 win
over the Lions.
Mountain View dropped their last game, to Clint on Thursday by a 12-4
score. Jonathan Martinez took the loss, but today, the Eagles figure to
see pitcher Manny Cervantes, who shut out Canutillo last Tuesday, 1-0,
and has been one of the main reasons the Lobos, who were winless last season,
are 6-9-1 so far is 2002.
"The Fabens coach (Ismael Salas) said they had a lot of players who
played summer league who came out this year," Williams said. "We've just
got to go out there and hit whoever they pitch."
Pecos' girls already own a one-hit, 8-0 victory over Clint in their
2-4A opener three weeks ago, and come off their closest game of the season
so far in district, a 3-1 victory at home over San Elizario last Thursday.
The Eagles used a two-run single by Becca Wein and three San Eli errors
after that to rally from a 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Wein had two of Pecos' three hits in the game, while pitcher Stephanie
Herrera, who had one-hit her first four district opponents, allowed only
two hits while improving to 9-1 on the season.
"I just felt like it was our lack of aggressivness in the (batter's)
box," coach Tammy Walls said of the Eagles hitting problems against Valerie
Soto. "It's something we're going to have to work on. I tell them if they
have two strikes on you you've got to protect the plate. Hopefully, they'll
learn from it."
Clint's hopes for a fourth straight playoff trip took a hit last Thursday,
when they allowed Canutillo to rally from a 7-2 deficit to win by a 12-9
score. It left the Lions at 2-3 in district, a game in back of both Canutillo
and San Eli in the 2-4A standings. Yvette Maldonado, Clarissa Arnold and
pitcher Jenny Parada had two hits apiece in the losing effort.
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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