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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Late error helps Eagles get past Prowlers, 2-0
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Neither the Pecos Eagles nor the Fort Stockton Prowlers have been hammering
good pitching during the 2003 softball season. So it figured that the
deciding play of Tuesday's game at Martinez Field would be on a ball
that traveled all of two feet in front of home plate.
Stephanie Herrera's two-out bunt in the bottom of the sixth inning was
fielded by catcher April Singh, but she then threw high to first base and
the ball tipped off the glove of Jenny Blaylock and went down the right field
line. That allowed Brittany Lobstein and Kristy Contreras to score and give
the Eagles a 2-0 win over the Prowlers and sole possession of third place
in the District 4-3A standings.
"I knew we were going to have this type of game this season. I just didn't
know if it would be today or not," said Eagles' coach Tammy Walls. "But we
played a good game on defense and all nine positions came together."
Lobstein was the only Eagle to have much success making contact against
Fort Stockton pitcher Lily Acala. The former Prowler singled to center with
two outs in the third and was left stranded, but then singled to left field
with one out in the sixth and went to third on a passed ball by Singh.
Contreras then beat out another tap in front of home plate, and stole
second, but Acala came back to strike out Neftali Salgado before Herrera
laid down her bunt just in front of the plate that was thrown away by Singh.
Herrera went all the way to third on the play, and tried to score when Acala
got the ball and was turned away from the base, but was called out for leaving
after the Prowlers' pitcher had gotten back into the circle.
Singh then battled Herrera through several foul balls before singling
off Kelsey Flores' glove to open the seventh, but Herrera then struck out
Acala on a 3-2 pitch and then fanned Blaylock for her eight strikeout of
the game, and Lobstein then caught Singh trying to steal second, with Contreras
putting the tag on her helmet as she slid towards the base for the final
out.
"Stephanie pitched a good game, Brittany caught a good game and we had
a couple of good plays at third base by Jessica Flores," Walls said. Herrera
ended up with a three-hitter, while Flores threw out a couple of runners
and handled Blanca Ortiz' pop up in the third inning to end the Prowlers'
last real threat.
Fort Stockton threatened to score in each of the first three innings,
but was twice done in by base running mistakes. Ruby Bernal singled to open
the game, stole second and went to third on Roxy Ramirez' ground out. But
when Singh walked with two away and tried to continue on to second, Bernal
got caught off third by Herrera, who threw to Flores for the inning ending
out.
In the second, Acala and Blaylock led off with walks, but Herrera then
struck out Annette Hernandez and Pat Pena, and then picked Blaylock off first
base to end the inning. Ortiz' pop-up ended the third, after Ramirez reached
on an infield single and went to second when Contreras' throw from shortstop
got past Danielle Garcia.
Until the sixth, the Eagles' biggest scoring threat came in the second,
when Jessica Flores reached second with one out when Ramirez threw away her
grounder to second. But Acala then struck out Kelsey Flores and Bre'Ann Windham
to end the threat, and Windham was thrown out by Singh trying to steal in
the fifth, after she reached on an infield single in front of home plate.
For Acala, the loss was the second hard-luck defeat in two days and the
third in the first half of district play. She had shut out Monahans over
six innings on Monday, only to see the Loboettes tie the game in the seventh
and win in extra innings, 5-1. The Prowlers, 2-3 in district, opened 4-3A
play by dropping a 2-1 decision at Midland Greenwood, who they'll host on
Friday.
Pecos, meanwhile, stays at home to host Presidio this Friday. The Eagles
opened district play with a 15-0 win over the Blue Devils in Presidio back
on March 11.
At Pecos
Fort Stockton 000 000 0 0 3 2
Pecos 000 002 x 2 4 1
Acala and Singh. Herrera and Lobstein. W - Herrera. L - Acala. E - FtS,
Ramirez, Singh. Pec, Contreras. LOB - Ft. Stockton 5, Pecos 2. DP - Ft. Stockton
1. SB - FtS, Bernal. Pec, Contreras. CS - FtS, Singh. Pec, Windham. PB -
Singh.
Eagles' late rally again falls short in 9-8 loss
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
When you're trailing 8-0 midway through the game and are down by seven
runs going into your final at-bat, losing a chance to tie the score on
a base running mistake can be considered something of a moral victory.
But the end result was another loss for the Eagles, as they again fell
behind early, and saw a late comeback fall short Tuesday night in Monahans,
losing to the Loboes by a 9-8 final score.
The Eagles fell behind twice last week by 7-1 margins. They rallied to
beat Big Spring 9-7, but came up a run short against Kermit in their District
4-3A opener on Saturday, losing by a 7-6 score, after allowing the Yellowjackets
four runs in the first inning and one more in the second.
This time, Monahans collected five first inning runs and scored twice
more in the third off Matthew Levario, then picked up an unearned run in
the fourth off reliever Jose Reyes. Pecos finally got on the scoreboard against
pitcher Noah Miles in the fifth with two runs, left the bases loaded in the
sixth after Monahans got its final run, and then exploded for six runs in
the seventh inning, but came up one run short as reliever Dimas Porras got
Levario to ground to third base with the tying and go-ahead runs on first
and second.
"Maybe from now on we should start on the scoreboard in the fifth inning,
and then we'll explode from the beginning," said coach Elias Payan, who wasn't
happy with the loss, but was happy with his team's late inning rally.
"The kids played well when we came back. We finally started getting aggressive
at the end, when we could have just laid down and died down 9-2 in the seventh
inning," he said.
As was the case with Kermit's early runs on Saturday, Monahans' first
inning outburst was due to the Loboes' hitting more than any problems with
the Eagles' defense. A bad relay cost the Eagles a chance to throw out Keith
Balderaz at home plate, but that came after a double by Porras, a single
by Balderaz and Levario hitting Miles with a pitch loaded the bases with
one out.
Scott Najar's single off Levario scored Porras and Balderaz, and after
Joe Juarez struck out, Adrian Dominguez doubled home two more runs and Houston
Stockman brought him home with a hit to make it 5-0.
Levario, who two-hit Monahans earlier this month in Midland, got through
the second inning unharmed but was replaced by Jose Reyes in the third, after
the Loboes made it 7-0. Miles singled and scored on a passed ball by Ruvel
Carrasco following a single by Najar and a Juarez sacrifice, and Najar came
home on Dominguez' second hit of the game. They made it 8-0 in the fourth
when Joey Aguilar walked and went to third on a steal and a throw into center
field by Carrasco. He then scored on Porras' ground out.
Pecos, meanwhile, was having no luck with Miles' curveball through the
first four innings. Their only hit was an infield single by Rigo Ramirez
until the fifth, when Victor Reyes reached on another infield hit and then
scored when David Elkins doubled to right-center field. He then came home
on Levario's single to center field.
Monahans got a run back due to control problems by Reyes in the bottom
of the inning. He walked Jesus Pedroza and Porras to force home a run after
Dominguez and Stockman opened the inning with singles. The Eagles then missed
a chance to score in the sixth after loading the bases with one out on Barney
Rodriguez' 380-foot single off the center field fence, an error by Aguilar
on Ramirez' grounder to short and Miles' hitting Victor Reyes with a pitch,
the third of four batters Miles would hit on the night.
That finally cost the senior in the seventh, when he led things off by
plunking Jose Reyes. Levario followed with a deep fly to center that Dominguez
couldn't hold onto, and Torres followed with an RBI single to make it 9-3.
Monahans then made another error, as Najar threw the ball past second base
trying for Torres on Parada's grounder to third, which scored Levario.
Miles then wild pitched Torres home, walked Rodriguez and saw Ramirez
single home Parada to cut the lead to 9-5. That brought Porras on, but after
getting Victor Reyes to force Ramirez at second on a comebacker to the mound,
Carrasco grounded a single to centerfield to score Rodriguez and make it
9-7.
However, on the play, Reyes came too far past second, and with Dominguez
fielding the ball in short center didn't see Payan tell him to hold up at
second until it was too late. He was tagged out in a rundown, which was costly
was Elkins walked, and Jose Reyes singled to right-center to make it 9-8.
Porras then got Levario to ground to Najar, who stepped on third for the
game-ending force play.
The loss left Pecos at 0-2 in district and 12-7 on the season, while Monahans
is 2-0 and 11-5. "You've got to give it to Monahans. They hit the ball tonight.
But we'll be back. We'll be in the thick of things," said Payan, whose team
plays five of their final eight 3-4A games at home, beginning with Friday's
game against Fort Stockton.
Pecos takes lead in 3-4A girls tourney
They didn't burn up their home course on Tuesday, but the Pecos Eagle
girls' golf team did well enough to open up a 21-stroke lead on Monahans
after the opening round of the District 4-3A golf tournament.
Playing at the Reeves County Golf Course, the Eagles shot a 320, while
Monahans finished with a 341 score, nine strokes up on third place Fort Stockton.
Freshman Shelly Martinez was the lone Eagle to break 80 on the day, and her
round of 78 put her in second place in the medallist race, two strokes behind
Monahans' Whitney Mitchell.
"Overall we did well, but not as well as we would have wanted to do,"
Eagles coach Tina Hendrick said. "We had a few rough holes, but we came back
and we'll start the next round with a good lead and just take the tournament
one round at a time."
Lauren Martinez and Sarah McKinney both finished with rounds of 80 for
Pecos and are tied for third in the medallist race, while Brandi North shot
an 82 and Dena Dutchover had an 87 for the other 'A' team scores. North is
tied for fifth individually, while Dutchover is in ninth place among the
4-3A golfers.
The Eagles have qualified both their 'A' and 'B' teams for regionals each
of the past four seasons. That probably won't happen again this year, as
the 'B' team did shoot a 393 to place fifth in the standings. However, Hendrick
said, "The 'B' team is hanging in there. They're just three strokes behind
Greenwood for fourth place."
Jennie Canon shot an 88, Bianca Mendoza had a 94, Susan Bradley a 99 and
Evelyn Flores shot a 112 for the 'B' team's scores. Canon's 88 tied her for
10th overall in the medallist standings.
Kermit was the other team at the tournament, and shot a 426 for sixth
place overall.
The second round of the district tournament will be April 4 at Fort Stockton,
with the final round scheduled for Hogan Park in Midland. Pecos' boys, who
are in second after the first round of their tournament in Kermit on Monday,
will be at Monahans for their second round this coming Monday.
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 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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