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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Sports

Friday, March 5, 1999

Eagles give away games to Bucks, Jackets


By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Mar. 5 -- The Pecos Eagles gave as good as they got
Thursday afternoon against the Alpine Bucks, which normally
would be OK, unless you're talking about unearned runs.

Pecos got four gift runs from Alpine in the top of the
fourth inning on Thursday, but then gave four unearned runs
back to Alpine in the bottom of the fifth, with Cougar
McBride's two-out, two-run homer giving the Bucks a 6-5
victory in the opening round of the Monahans Sandhills
Tournament.

The loss dropped Pecos into a 9:30 a.m. game today against
Kermit, which Pecos also lost, by a 7-3 final score. It
leaves the Eagles facing a 10:30 a.m. game for seventh place
on Saturday against either Presidio or Denver City.

Errors again cost the Eagles against Kermit, which scored
three late insurance runs after taking a 4-3 lead through
the fifth inning. Pitcher Oscar Rodriguez was the victim of
today's errors and took the loss for the Eagles.

"A good team doesn't blow a 5-1 lead when it gets one, and
right now we're not a good team," said Eagles' coach Bubba
Williams following Thursday's loss, as Pecos played a game
reminiscent of last year, when they averaged nearly four
unearned runs a game.

Second baseman Orlando Lara let Patrick O'Toole's potential
double play ball with one out go through his legs for a
run-scoring error, and Brian Portillo then singled two more
runs home to cut the lead to 5-4. One out later, McBride
hammered a Louis Valencia pitch through the wind and over
the fence in left to make a winner of Alpine pitcher Buster
Winn, who got relief help from Adam Llanez in the final two
innings.

The Eagles also missed a chance to get an out at home plate
in the fifth, when center fielder Oscar Luna overthrew
catcher Mark Abila on Portillo's single, allowing Llanez to
score. That came after Alpine's Justin Yarborough had thrown
out Jeffrey Martinez at home plate in the top of the fifth
trying to score on Valencia's one-out fly ball.

"If we don't play defense, we don't win ballgames," Williams
said. "You can't afford to make mistakes against a good
ballclub. We preach it to them and preach it to them, but
they've got to understand it."

Lara came into the game after Valencia was forced to move
from second base to the mound in the third inning, when
starter Joshua Casillas ran into control problems, loading
the bases on two walks and a Yarborough single with none
out. The Bucks did get a run on a ground out by O'Toole to
Luis Salgado at shortstop, while Salgado's throw to first
for a double play pulled John Gutierrez off the bag. But
Portillo gave the shortstop a second chance moments later
and this time he and Gutierrez hooked up for a twin killing
to end the inning.

The run allowed the Bucks to tie the score at 1-1, after
Pecos took the lead when Luna opened the game with a single,
went to third on a bad pickoff throw by Winn and scored on a
wild pitch.

That run wound up being earned when Casillas doubled to left
field a few moments later, but in the fourth it was an error
by third baseman Julian Molinar that opened the gates for
Pecos' four runs.

After singles by Martinez and Valencia and a walk to
Rodriguez filled the bases with one out, Molinar booted
Jeremy Herrera's grounder to third for a run-scoring error.
Winn then struck out Luna, but Kevin Bates bounced one just
off Molinar's glove between third and short for a two-run
single and a 4-1 lead. O'Toole then threw away Abila's
grounder to second for another error, scoring Herrera with
Pecos' final run.

Winn then got Lara for the final out, stranding Bates and
Abila in scoring position. The Eagles already had left
runners on third base in each of the first three innings,
along with getting Martinez thrown out at home in the fifth.

"We didn't get the big hit when we needed to. We just didn't
play a good ballgame today,: said Williams, whose team fell
to 2-2 on the season with Thursday and today's loss. Alpine,
meanwhile, moved on to a 7:30 p.m. game tonight against Fort
Stockton, which beat Kermit in their opener on Thursday by a
4-1 final score. Presidio lost to Monahans, 14-0 and
Greenwood edged Denver City, 10-9, in Thursday's other
openers.

District softball play starts for Pecos


PECOS, Mar. 5 -- As the last District 4-4A school to take up
softball, the Pecos Eagles were at a big disadvantage in
district play a year ago.

This time, when District 2-4A play begins for Pecos on
Saturday in El Paso, the Eagles, and all their other
district rivals, will enter play on the exact same level,
though how things finall turn out remains to be seen.

Pecos goes to El Paso for a 2 p.m. CST game against the
Mountain View Loboes, who, like the Eagles and three of the
other four teams in district, are all in the second year of
their softball programs. The fourth team, San Elizario,
played a junior varsity schedule against District 1-4A
school last year.

The Eagles, who won once in their first season, have already
won three of their first seven games this season, though
coach Tammy Walls admitted "We still have a ways to go,"
after Tuesday's 8-1 loss at Monahans.

The Loboes won their district last year, which included
Mountain View, Fabens and Clint. All those teams, plus
Canutillo and San Elizario, have already gotten at least one
look at each other during the first two weeks of the regular
season, and the Lobos fared better than any of their 2-4A
rivals this past weekend at the Lower Valley Softball
Tournament in Clint.

After opening the season with a 15-5 loss to El Paso
Parkland and a first round loss in the Clint tourney,
Mountain View came back to rout private school Loretta
Academy on Friday, 24-4, then beat district rivals San
Elizario, 11-5, and Clint, 18-17, on Saturday to win
consolation.

Clint had beaten Canutillo on Friday by a 19-3 score, while
San Elizario defeated Fabens in a tournament game that day,
16-7.

Heather Bustamantes was one of the winning pitchers for
Mountain View, while Suzy Alva went 8-for-12 in the three
games. Kristi Avila added three hits in the win over Clint,
in which Mountain View scored six times in their final
at-bat, after the Lions scored six times in the top of the
seventh to take a 17-12 lead.

San Elizario faces Fabens and Clint takes on Canutillo in
Saturday's other District 2-4A openers.

Pecos track team competing in Kermit


PECOS, Mar. 5 -- The Pecos Eagles track teams will have a
few more people to work with an a few less teams to compete
against today, when they compete in the Permian Basin Relays
at Kermit.

Field events were scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. with the
running finals to follow. Boys coach Vance Washington said
the races would be timed finals today instead running
preliminaries and finals as was done last weekend at the
Comanche Relays.

Both Pecos' boys and girls teams placed fifth in Division
II at Fort Stockton a week ago, with San Angelo Lake View
taking each division title. Today, neither the Chiefs or
Maidens will be at Kermit, with the host Yellowjackets,
along the Monahans, Crane, Greenwood and Denver City making
up the rest of the field.

***

While the track teams will begin their Spring Break after
today's action, Pecos' golf and tennis teams will be
competing in tournaments both today and Saturday before
their holiday break.

The Eagles' tennis team will be at the Fort Stockton
Invitational, as they look to improve on their results so
far in tournament play. Pecos' boys will also look to move
up in the standings today when they play in the first round
of the Andrews Invitational, while the Eagle girls hope to
move up after three straight fifth place finishes in 36-hole
tournaments, when they play in the Tall City Invitational at
Midland.

Men's softball tourney set March 20-21


PECOS, Mar. 5 -- A men's open softball tournament will be
held in Pecos the weekend of March 20-21, with an entry fee
of $110 per team.

The will be no home run limit in the tournament, which will
be played under A.S.A. rules. Deadline to enter is 8 p.m. on
March 18.

For further information, call 447-9652 and ask for either
Lupe Herrera or Keith Windham, or call 445-4413 and leave a
message.



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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 1999 by Pecos Enterprise