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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Monday, April 7, 2003
Eagles tie, set course marks
at 4-3A tourney in Stockton
Pecos County apparently is where the Pecos Eagles golf team plays best
in 2003.
The Eagles, who took the first round lead in the District 4-3A Tournament
despite some problems while playing on their home course on March 25, went
down to the Pecos County Golf Course in Fort Stockton for the tournament's
second round on Friday and tied one course record while setting another,
in adding another 28 strokes onto their lead with one round left to play.
The Eagles, who placed first in the Fort Stockton Invitational in February,
shot a 309 on Friday after an opening round of 320 and are at 629 through
36 holes, 49 shots up on Monahans, which fired a 337 and is at 678 overall.
"Lauren (Martinez) tied the course record over at Fort Stockton with her
69, and team-wise we broke the course record," said coach Tina Hendrick.
"It was a 311 and they shot a 309, so we had a real wonderful round."
Martinez, who shot an 80 in Pecos, took the lead in the medallist race
with a 149 score through 36 holes, while Brandi North, who had an opening
round of 82, cut eight shots off her total with a 74 and is second, with
a 156 score. Shelly Martinez had an 82 and is at 160, Dena Dutchover shot
an 84 and is at 171 for the tournament, and Sarah McKinney shot an 86 and
is at 166 overall.
"Loren and Brandi were just in the zone on Friday. They played their
hearts out," Hendrick said.
She added that Shelly Martinez is fourth, McKinney sixth and Dutchover
eighth in the medallist standings.
The Eagles' 'B' team had more trouble on the Fort Stockton course than
they did on their own in the opening round, as they shot a 409 and are at
802 after 36 holes. Bianca Mendoza shot an 86 and is at 180 overall. Jennie
Canon had a 101 and is at 189, Susan Bradley shot a 106 and is at 205 and
Evelyn Flores shot a 116 and is at 228.
Monahans has just about clinched second place. Fort Stockton shot a 362
on their home course and is at 712 and trail the Loboettes by 34 strokes.
Greenwood shot a 382 and is at 772 while Kermit had a 432 and is at 858.
Hendrick added she wanted to thank the community for their support of
the Eagles golf team, and said the girls would close out district play on
Thursday at Hogan Park in Midland.
Pecos qualifies four players for 1-3A tourney
The Pecos Eagles' tennis team did as expected in three divisions and
did better than expected in the fourth over the weekend in Monahans, while
qualifying four players for Region I-3A competition later this month.
Trent Graham defeated Bjorn Subia in the finals of the boys' singles
division, while Natalia Ornelas placed second in the girls' division and
Jennifer Rayos and Elizabeth Carreon took second in doubles competition
to earn spots in the regional tournament.
"The only upset was my boy (Graham) defeated the No. 1 seed," coach Mike
Ortiz said. Graham lost the first set to Subia, 6-2, but then won the final
two by 6-3 scores to earn the No. 1 seed out of District 4-3A for regionals.
"The good thing is the Fort Stockton kid has only two losses this year,
and both were to Trent, so he should get a good seeding at regionals."
Graham swept Monahans' Simon Leyva, 6-0, 6-0, then defeated Fort Stockton's
Vishal Chopra in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-2. The Eagles' other singles player,
Frankie Hernandez, lost his first round match to Subia, 6-0, 6-0.
Ornelas, who went in seeded No. 2, lost in the finals to Monahans' Christy
Gatzki, the No. 1 seed, by 6-4, 6-3 scores, after a 6-0, 6-0 opening round
win over Fort Stockton's C.J. Graves and a 6-0, 6-1 win over Greenwood's
Heather McLemore in the semifinals. Whitney Lamb finished fourth, losing
to McLemore in the third place match, 6-3, 6-3, after a 6-0, 6-0 loss to
Gatski and a 6-2, 6-2 win over Fort Stockton's Elisha Blanco.
Carreon and Rayos also were No. 2 seeds who lost to No. 1 seeds in the
finals. They fell to Kirti Ghandi and Casee McKenzie of Fort Stockton, 7-6
(7-5) 6-0, but then had to win a playback match over Monahans' Sydna Bassett
and Anne Lunar 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to qualify for regionals.
McKenzie and Ghandi opened with a win over the Eagles' other doubles
team of Amanda Fleming and Beatrice Villarreal, while Carreon and Rayos
defeated Kermit's Campbell and Williams and Fort Stockton's Hampton and
Bollier in their semifinal match.
In boys' doubles, Jay Dannelley and Joel Sotelo ended up as regional
alternates, defeating teammates Jeff Lamb and Orlando Mendoza for third
place, but lost a playback for a chance to go to regionals to Brian Fierro
and Robbie Barriga, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. In the semifinals, Dannelley and Sotelo
lost to Eric Fierro and Bryan Rainwater, 6-1, 6-0, while Lamb and Mendoza
fell to Fierro and Barriga, 6-0, 6-0. They had opened with a 7-6 (7-4),
6-4 win over Quad Ledingham and Nathan Pritchard, while Dannelley and Sotelo
defeated Isaac Oyerbides and John Wilhelm, 6-3, 6-1.
The district tournament also had a junior varsity division, and Ortiz
said that Chantel Orona took first place in girls' singles over teammate
Imari Ornelas, 6-2, 6-3, while Catherine Garcia and Sara Natividad placed
second and Heather Hignojos and Adrienne Natividad were third in girls doubles.
Eagles outscore Jackets, regain tie for second
The Pecos Eagles' softball team got a scare on Friday at Kermit, but
was able to move into a tie for second place in the District 4-3A standings
with a 12-10 win over the Yellowjackets.
The Eagles, who had won a scrimmage earlier this season in Kermit and
downed the Jackets in their first meeting in district play, 11-3, saw Kermit
turn a 4-0 deficit into a 9-4 lead, before the Eagles came back with eight
straight runs of their own in the fourth and fifth innings, then held the
Jackets to just one run in the final at-bats.
"Our defense was a little sloppy at times, but Kermit came out and hit
the ball hard," said Eagles' coach Tammy Walls. "Fortunately, the offense
came out and did what they needed to do to put us ahead."
Stephanie Herrera ended up with 10 strikeouts and picked up the win,
though Kermit did get the tying run to the plate with none out in the seventh
inning. "The leadoff girl got a single and burned our right fielder. She
got all the way to third and then tried to score on a passed ball, but Brittany
(Lobstein) threw to Stephanie and she tagged her out, then struck out the
last two batters," Walls said.
Walls said that Herrera, Lobstein, Bre'Ann Windham, Katie Lee and Kelsey
Flores each had two hits in the win, which improved the Eagles' record to
5-3 in district and 11-10 overall. Combined with Fort Stockton's win over
Presidio and Greenwood's loss to Monahans, it leaves all three teams tied
for second with two games to play. The Eagles will host Greenwood this coming
Friday, in a game moved back from Tuesday, and then close out regular season
play with a trip to Fort Stockton.
"It's going to be tough to play them (Fort Stockton) at home. That's
why we need to win over Greenwood on Friday," Walls said. The Rangerettes
end their regular season against Kermit, while Fort Stockton faces Monahans
on Friday before hosting Pecos.
Pecos again watches lead vanish at end
After opening District 4-3A play by falling behind by big margins twice
and then falling one run short in their comeback tries, the Pecos Eagles'
baseball team has now blown big leads two straight games, and put themselves
on the brink of elimination from the district playoff race.
The Eagles ended a nightmarish first half of district play by squandering
a 5-1 lead at home to Presidio on Friday night, losing to the Blue Devils
by an 8-5 final score to fall to 1-4 in the district standings.
Julio Aguilar survived a five-run, five-hit first inning by Pecos to allow
only two hits the rest of the way, and also delivered the game-winning hit,
a bases-clearing double in the sixth inning off reliever Josh Anchondo,
after the Blue Devils had rallied to tie the game. It capped a six-run sixth
inning for Presidio, and came three days after Greenwood scored seven times
in the sixth to cap a rally from a 9-0 deficit to beat Pecos, 13-11.
Barney Rodriguez took the loss that game, and was hurt by his defense
again on Friday before being relieved by Anchondo with two outs in the sixth.
Presidio had taken a 1-0 lead in the first on an unearned run, but the Eagles
then scored five times off Aguilar in the bottom of the inning.
Oscar Parada and Rodriguez had RBI singles to score David Elkins, who
had been hit by a pitch, and Rigo Ramirez, who singled, while Matthew Levario
doubled home two runs and scored on Victor Reyes' infield hit. But the Eagles
then left the bases loaded in the third inning and did little after that
against Aguilar, who earned the victory.
The Eagles will probably need to sweep all five of their remaining games
to have a shot at the playoffs, beginning with this coming Friday at home
against Kermit. The game originally was scheduled for Tuesday, but was moved
back three days to avoid a conflict with the District 4-3A Track and Field
meet.
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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