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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, February 22, 1999
Eagles post first-ever home win
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Feb. 22 -- There were a lot of firsts Friday
afternoon for the Pecos Eagles' softball team.
The Eagles had their first seven-run inning and their first
seven run lead. They also held the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes
scoreless for five out of seven innings on Friday, the first
time that's ever happened, and the result was Pecos'
first-ever home victory, as they downed the Tors by an 11-6
final score.
"We played better," said Eagles' coach Tammy Walls, whose
team won just once in their first season last year and
dropped their opener this season last Tuesday to Kermit.
"Jessica Rodriguez did a very good job and so did Katrina
(Quiroz) and Ashley (Salcido)."
The Eagles won by having just one inning where they
committed more than one error, in the fifth, when Lamesa cut
Pecos' 8-1 lead to 8-6. Walls had made several lineup
changes the previous inning in order to get more players in,
though she had to put her starters back in after the Tors
tightened things up.
"I'm not going to be making that many substitutions when
district starts," she added.
Lamesa, meanwhile, had two bad innings, the third, when the
Eagles scored seven times to break a 1-1 tie, and the sixth,
when Pecos added three insurance runs for pitcher Alexa
Marquez before the Tors' final at-bat.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the bottom of the first,
when Rodriguez reached on Greta Todd's error at third base,
then stole second and scored on Valerie Gonzales' single to
center. Lamesa tied it in their next at bat, on a triple by
Elisa Navarro and a single by Jordan Bush, but in the third
Rodriguez reached on a one-out bloop infield hit with one
out, and Gonzales and Quiroz then reached on errors by
Desiree Childs and Bush, scoring the go-ahead run.
Rebecca Wein then singled home Gonzales and Quiroz came in
off a passed ball by Krista Tyler. Marquez would then walk
and with two outs, Heather Uptergrove hit a bouncer that
Childs threw past first base for a two-run error. A passed
ball third strike let Amy Chabarria reach base and the final
two runs came in on a double-steal of second and home by
Uptergrove and Chabarria and an RBI single by Lily Payen.
Lamesa got back into the game in the fifth on Debbie
Barrera's inside-the-park home run, after Marquez walked
Bush and Danielle Barrera reached when Wein dropped her
pop-up to catcher. Todd followed with a double and one out
later Elena Navarro walked and was safe at second when
Quiroz couldn't field Elisa Navarro's grounder cleanly. Todd
then scored on Norma Ramirez' ground out and Elena Navarro
scored after Rodriguez throw from first went over Wein's
head and to the backstop.
Lamesa's Stacy Bybee then retired the Eagles in order in
the bottom of the inning, and in the sixth Debbie Barrera
would reach on a throwing error by Wein. But Marquez was
able to get Todd to ground into a force play to Chabarria at
second base and got Bybee on a pop to Quiroz at short,
ending the inning.
In the bottom of the inning Rodriguez would again start
Pecos' scoring, as she walked and stole second, ahead of
consecutive triples by Quiroz and Wein. The Tors were able
to get Wein at home trying to score on a passed ball, but
Pecos would get their 11th run when Bush booted a grounder
by Marquez, stole second and scored on a single by Salcido.
Along with being their first-ever home victory, Friday's
win also allowed Pecos to reach the .500 mark for the first
time ever. The 1-1 Eagles will try to go over .500 for the
first time on Friday, when they open play at the Midland
Invitational Tournament.
LAMESA PECOS
ab r h bi ab r h
bi
Da.Brra rf 4 1 1 0 Payen rf 3 0 1
1
De.Brra cf 4 1 1 3 Meza rf 0 0 0
0
Todd 3b 4 1 2 0 Rdrguz 1b 2 3 1
0
Bybee p 4 0 0 0 Lujan 1b 0 0 0
0
Tyler c 1 0 0 0 Gnzales 3b 4 1 1
1
En.Nvro c 1 1 0 0 Quiroz ss 4 2 1
1
El.Nvro 1b 3 1 1 0 Wein c 4 1 2
2
Childs 2b 0 0 0 0 Marquez p 2 2 0
0
Cantu 2b 0 0 0 0 Salcido 2b 4 0 2
1
Ramrz dh 4 0 0 1 Archulta 2b 0 0 0
0
Conde lf 2 0 0 0 Maldndo cf 1 0 0
0
Bush ss 3 1 1 1 Uptrgrve cf 2 1 0
0
Medrno lf 1 0 0
0
Chabria lf 1 1 0
0
Totals 30 6 6 5 Total 28 11 8
6
Lamesa 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 -- 6
Pecos 1 0 7 0 0 3 x --11
E -- Todd, Tyler, Childs 2, Bush 2, Wein 2, Quiroz,
Rodriguez, Conde. DP -- Lamesa 1. LOB -- Lamesa 9, Pecos 6.
2B -- Todd. 3B -- El. Navarro, Quiroz, Wein. HR -- De.
Barrera. SB -- Rodriguez 2, Marquez 2, Chabarria,
Uptergrove, Payen.
IP H R ER BB KO
Lamesa
Bybee L, 0-1 6 8 11 2 5 2
Pecos
Marquez, W, 1-1 7 6 6 3 5 7
WP -- Marquez.
PB -- Tyler 4, Wein 2, En Navarro 2.
T -- 1:47.
Midland High's homers pound Pecos
PECOS, Feb. 22 -- The Pecos Eagles got to see what a few
defensive mistakes at the wrong time against a good team can
do, in their final pre-season baseball scrimmage on Saturday.
A dropped fly ball by the Eagles in the second inning was
followed by a three- run home run by the Bulldogs. A dropped
fly ball by the Eagles in the fifth inning was followed by a
grand-slam home run a few moments later.
Add on home runs by Midland in both the first and final
innings, and the result was a 25-7 victory by the Bulldogs
at Eagle Field.
Chances are the Eagles won't face anyone with more power
this season than the Bulldogs, who racked up 38 runs on Fort
Stockton in a scrimmage early last week. But Williams said
the Eagles still have to both cut down on their errors and
do a better job at the plate when the season begins this
Friday against Monahans.
"We're not hitting the ball very well. We've got two or
three batters hitting but the other are not doing their
jobs," Williams said. "And we're still making errors that
are hurting us.
"We're looking at too many pitches right now instead of
being aggressive, and we've got to change that," he added.
Pecos was going with a number of players just out from
basketball or swimming, while Oscar Luna was just back from
an ankle injury suffered during basketball, and was taken
out of the game on defense after `twinging' it slightly
trying to run down what turned out to be Midland's third
home run of the day. Luna did have Pecos' first hit and
scored the Eagles' first run, while Mark Abila and Joshua
Casillas had doubled in the fourth inning that helped Pecos
get its second run.
Casillas was the victim of the Bulldogs' first two homers
and first eight runs, though the last three runs were
unearned due to the errors and he shut down Midland after
that.
"Josh did a good job. They got a couple of homers off him,
but there are not too many teams that are going to hit like
Midland High," Williams said. "Chacho (Oscar Rodriguez)
looked a little intimidated out there at the start. He just
needed to throw strikes."
Rodriguez walked the bases loaded in Midland's five-run
fifth inning. He went three innings and Louis Valencia
closed things out for the Eagles on the mound.
Gordon gets smoked as Martin wins
By MIKE HARRIS
AP Motorsports Writer
ROCKINGHAM, N.C., Feb. 22 -- Mark Martin insists he felt no
emotion when Jeff Gordon's engine erupted in a puff of black
smoke.
``I was looking behind me when Jeff broke his engine, so I
saw it,'' Martin said. ``But I didn't think about it.
``We're racing to try and win this race, not worrying about
what they're doing.''
He has learned not to waste his time on such things.
Last year, Martin drove well enough to take the Winston Cup
championship, winning seven times while posting top-five
finishes in 22 of 33 races.
It was a magnificent season by any standard, but Martin lost
the title to Gordon by 364 points.
The 27-year-old Wunderkind has won two straight
championships and three in the last four years, showing
astonishing consistency.
In 1998, The Kid finished all but two races and had 13
victories and 26 top-fives.
So, when Gordon's engine blew Sunday, on the 311th of 393
laps in the Dura-Lube/Big Kmart 400 at North Carolina
Speedway, Martin went about his own business.
Still, the combination of his victory and Gordon's
39th-place finish did boost Martin squarely back into the
points chase after the first two of 34 races.
A week earlier, Gordon won the season-opening Daytona 500, a
race in which Martin was caught up in a crash and finished
31st. After Sunday, Gordon had slipped to 11th in the
points, 84 behind new leader Mike Skinner, who finished
sixth.
Martin is eighth in the standings, 65 points behind.
``We led at times, and I think we were going to be a big
factor at the end,'' Gordon said. ``These guys don't let me
down very often, especially with the engine department.
Today, it just blew up.''
Gordon hadn't failed to finish a race since last June in
Richmond, where he crashed. In fact, in the 21 intervening
races, Gordon's average finish was 2.09.
He finished last season with two straight victories and was
attempting to match NASCAR's modern-era record of four
straight. Gordon also had won two straight races in
Rockingham.
``I always knew they were human,'' Gordon said, referring to
his Hendrick Motorsports crew. ``Maybe everybody else
didn't.''
Martin was forced to keep perennial Rockingham runner-up
Dale Jarrett at bay on three restarts in the final 32 laps.
``There's all kinds of things that can go wrong on
restarts,'' Martin said. ``Believe me, I've lost a lot more
races than I've won, and there's all kind of ways to lose
them.
``To me, every restart was just another opportunity to have
something go wrong. ... But we had the car to pull it off
there at the end.''
The last of six yellow flags Sunday came out on lap 379,
when Ernie Irvan slammed into the wall between turns three
and four on the 1.017-mile oval.
Jarrett, second in six of the last seven races at The Rock,
couldn't stay with Martin on the final restart. Martin's
Ford pulled away to win by 1.397 seconds -- about 12
car-lengths -- and Jarrett barely fought off Bobby Labonte
in the final laps to retain second.
Martin took control of the race after his Roush Racing crew
moved him from second to first during a yellow-flag pit stop
on lap 357.
``We adjusted on the car all day, and got better and better
and better,'' Martin said. ``They put me in the lead with
four new tires, with a fast setup and, heck, that was what
we needed.''
Martin, whose first career victory came on this track in
October 1989 -- his only other Rockingham win -- earned
$104,635. He averaged 120.750 mph.
Jarrett said his best chance was on the final restart, with
nine laps remaining.
``That was going to be my one shot if I could do something
on the restart,'' he said. ``I tried to get a really good
run on him, but Mark got to the corner before I did, so that
was kind of it after that.''
Jeff Burton, Martin's teammate, led eight times for a
race-high 227 laps. But he fell from first to third on the
same pit sequence when Martin took the lead. Burton wound up
fourth.
Martin felt fortunate to beat him.
``I kind of hate it for Jeff Burton,'' he said. ``He was
strong all day; stronger than we were.''
But Martin, who led five times for 50 laps, including the
final 36, got his car right when it counted the most -- at
the end.
``This crew won the race for me,'' he said. ``It was right
on the money at the end.''
The first half of the race was run without a caution flag,
allowing the field to stretch out. Only 11 cars were on the
lead lap by halfway, with Martin, Burton, Gordon and Labonte
taking turns in the lead.
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
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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