It took two years of waiting, but the Pecos Senior League All-Stars
gained some measure of revenge against Ballinger's J.J. Martinez.
Now, thanks to a late afternoon thunderstorm, they were given 24 hours
to figure out how to break through against Alpine's Oscar Rodriguez, or
whoever else the Big Bend All-Stars throw at them later today.
Pecos couldn't figure out Brian Portillo on Friday at Kokernot Field, as
they stranded nine runners in scoring position while managing just a
John Gutierrez sacrifice fly in a 4-1 loss to Big Bend. That sent them
into Saturday's elimination game against Ballinger, where they had their
problems with Martinez, but still connected enough times to post an 7-4
victory.
The win sent them back to Alpine on Sunday, where they had as much
trouble with Rodriguez has they had run into with his teammate. He had
shut out Pecos on just one hit over the first four innings of the game,
and held a 1-0 lead when rains forced suspension of the contest with two
out and a runner on first for Big Bend in the top of the fifth inning.
The game is scheduled to be resumed tonight in Alpine at 6:30 p.m.
However, if the field is still unplayable, the game would be moved to
Maxey Park.
If Pecos rallies to win, the deciding game in the District 4
double-elimination tournament would held either after the second game,
of on Tuesday, if the game can't be started before 8:30 p.m.
"We've got to do it," a hopeful Pecos coach John Salcido said while
waiting out Sunday's thunderstorm. "I think the delay will benefit us.
It will give a chance to relax a little and get things back together.
That's the only way you can look at it."
Alpine hadn't done much in 9_ innings against Pecos' Moses Martinez, who
came on in relief of starter Cisco Rodriguez in the second inning on
Friday. Rodriguez ran into control problems and left down 2-0. One more
run scored, and another came across off Martinez in the third, but Big
Bend was shut down the rest of the way.
On Sunday, they got their run off Martinez in the fourth, as with two
outs Noe Lujan doubled to left-center field and Justin Molinar then
blooped a ball that hit the chalk down the right field line to score
Lujan.
Both teams had earlier scoring chances. Alpine put two on with one out
in the third, only to see Cisco Rodriguez haul in Justin Yarborough's
deep fly to left-center, then throw out Oscar Rodriguez trying to tag up
and go to third.
Pecos has used a couple of walks to threaten. Hector Garcia got as far
as second base with one out in the third, and Rodriguez did the same in
the fourth. But both times, the next batter struck out, and while
Rodriguez would steal third, the inning ending on a Jack Gonzales ground
out.
Pecos' only hit of the day was barely one, as Oscar Luna reached base on
an infield single just off the glove of a diving Portillo at third base.
Luna didn't have a great day on Saturday on offense, getting called out
once for stepping on the plate, and getting picked off third base in the
sixth inning. But he saved the game for starter Louis Valencia in the
top of the sixth, after Ballinger had cut a 5-2 lead to 5-4 and had the
tying run on second with none out.
He fanned Jeff Hamilton, got Bubba Quarles on a grounder back to the
mound, and then struck out Chris Jalomo to end the inning. In the
seventh, Luna saw Raul Gonzales reach on a two out error by Hector
Garcia, but then got Martinez on a grounder to second to end the game.
Martinez had come into Pecos two years earlier against most of the same
players and won both games of a doubleheader, as Ballinger took the
Junior League title. This time, he had more problems in the early going
controlling his curve ball, as Pecos came back from a 1-0 deficit with
three runs in the bottom of the first.
Ballinger's run came as Robert McNaley scored when Raul Granado threw
the ball past first trying for an inning-ending double play on Douglas
Ruppert. But Martinez walked three of the first four batters he faced,
and saw Marc Vasquez scored on a passed ball and Gonzales single to
right to bring in Luna and Rodriguez.
Gutierrez made it 4-1 with a home run to left-center field in the third,
but Martinez got that back with a homer to right-center in the fourth.
In the fifth, Gonzales had another two out, run scoring hit, an RBI
single to left to score Rodriguez, who had walked. But in the sixth,
Valencia tired, as he walked Martinez and saw Ruppert double to
right-center. Both then scored when Justin Dankworth singled down the
line in right, with Dankworth going to second on the throw home.
Luna then came on an shut Ballinger down and in the sixth, Pecos got
another big two-out hit, this one a pinch double to right-center by
Garcia. It came after Martinez struck out the first two batters of the
inning, before Sammy Chavez reached on an error by Blake Wiley at first
base and Vasquez and Luna followed with singles to left field.
Sunday's game was to have started at 1 p.m., but rain the previous night
had forced the game to be delayed for three hours, so the field could
dry. Pecos coaches were supposed to be told by 1 p.m. today whether or
not the field had dried out enough to resume the game there. Alpine is
scheduled to host the Region I Senior League Tournament later this week
at Kokernot Field.
The Pecos Junior League All-Stars were unable to hold onto a late lead
Saturday afternoon in San Angelo, as the San Angelo West All-Stars
rallied for a 9-8 victory to win the District 4 championship.
Pecos pitcher Gilbert Fierro ran out of gas in the final inning, as San
Angelo scored three times to rally from an 8-6 deficit to get the win.
Brian Weatherman singled to left field with one out and runners in
scoring position to cap the comeback, and give San Angelo its second win
in three days over Pecos. West had downed Pecos on Thursday in San
Angelo, 10-2, and Saturday win avenged last year's Little League
Tournament final, when most of the same Pecos squad downed the same
group of San Angelo West players for the District 4 crown.
Pecos earned a return trip to San Angelo on Friday with a victory over
San Angelo Lake View, in their only home game of the double-elimination
tournament.
Benny Juarez scored Pecos' first run on a Tori Rodriguez ground out in
the opening inning, while he and Chris Bryant had RBI hits in the second
to bring home Pifi Montoya and Michael Herrera. San Angelo would rally
to tie the game at 3-3 on an RBI hit by Weatherman in the second and a
two-run single by Cameron Sims in the third.
A balk by Scott Rosser and a throwing error in the fourth inning allowed
Pecos to go out to a 7-3 lead. San Angelo added a run in the fifth and
Pecos got their final run in the sixth, before San Angelo scored twice
in the bottom of the inning. Rosser then shut down Pecos in the top of
the seventh.
Friday's game was also a rematch from an earlier tournament contest, and
just like in Saturday's final, the second time around was a lot closer.
Pecos had jumped out ahead of San Angelo Lake View 17-1 last Tuesday on
the way to a 21-10 victory. This time, Lake View pitcher Ryan Monyahan
kept the Junior Leaguers off-balance for most of the way, until a close
call at first and a throwing error by shortstop Lee Morrison gave Pecos
four runs in the sixth inning, as they rallied for an 8-5 victory.
Michael Herrera barely avoided being doubled off first base on an Ernie
Baca pop up, after a leadoff walk in the sixth. He then stole second,
went to third on a passed ball and with two out, scored the tying run
when Angel Villalobos' soft line drive landed just in front of a diving
Jeremy Ybarra at second base.
Tori Rodriguez followed with a double and then Benny Juarez hit what
should have been an inning-ending grounder to short. But Morrison's
throw sailed way over first baseman Tim Abbot's head, scoring one run,
and Rodriguez came in when catcher Stephen Marx dropped the ball trying
to tag out Rodriguez. Juarez wound up on third on the play, and hen came
in moments later on a wild pitch by Monyahan.
Juarez had started on the mound, but left in the second after walking
five hitters in 1_ innings. Baca came in down 1-0 and with the bases
loaded and proceeded to walk Abbot to force in a run, then saw Marx
bring home run No. 3 on a ground out.
Pecos tied the score over the next two innings, getting two in the
second off a pair of errors and a Juarez sacrifice fly, and one in the
third on a walk, error and a fielder's choice ground out by Fierro. They
went ahead 4-3 in their next at-bat, thanks to two errors by Morrison,
but he came up in the bottom of the inning with two out and two on and
doubled to left-center field, giving San Angelo a 5-4 lead.
The win sends San Angelo West on to the Regional Junior League
Tournament, scheduled for this weekend in Lubbock.
San Angelo North, meanwhile, won the District 4 Little League title on
Saturday, with a 5-0 victory over San Angelo West. North, which defeated
Pecos, 8-4, on the way to the title, will play this week at the regional
tournament in Borger.
Pecos Eagles' junior varsity girls basketball coach Patty Hall has been promoted to the head coaching position by athletic director Mike Belew.
Belew said two weeks ago that Hall would take over the position
following the resignation of Larnce Gardner, who had been the Eagles'
coach since the 1988-89 season.
"The last week in June he talked to me about it," Hall said Sunday.
"I'm real excited about it."
Hall is a 1984 PHS graduate, who also has been serving as the Eagles'
freshman volleyball coach. She was an all-state selection in volleyball
and an all-district player in basketball for Pecos.
"A lot of the kids I started working with in freshman volleyball," said
Hall, who takes over a team that went 4-6 in District 4-4A play, and
11-14 overall last year.
That team lost two players to graduation, while two others, including
Gardner's daughter Tamika, have moved away.
"We're going to be a pretty young team, but I feel they can make the
adjustments," she said, while adding, "It will be different for them
getting used to what I'm going to do."
Hall's appointment keeps one PHS head coaching position in the family.
Hall's uncle, Larry Payne, was replaced by Mike Sadler as the Eagles'
varsity boys basketball coach. Payne resigned his teaching position in
the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah school district last Thursday to take a position
in the El Paso area.
Hall's aunt, Pecos Eagles' volleyball coach Nora Geron, will continue
to serve as PHS freshman basketball coach as well, while the JV position
is currently open.
"I'm going to try and keep the freshman together and keep all three
teams going so coach Geron can work on their fundamentals," Hall said.
The Eagles have had problems over the years getting enough girls out to
have a both a JV and freshman basketball team.
Fans of the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers who want to see their
teams' first West Texas appearance in years need to hurry, as just over
5,000 tickets remain for the Cowboys and Oilers controlled scrimmage
game at the Sun Bowl in El Paso.
Dallas and Houston will face each other in El Paso on Aug. 8 at 7:30
p.m. MDT (8:30 p.m. CDT), and 45,000 tickets have already been sold for
the scrimmage at the UT-El Paso Miners' home field.
Ticket information is available either through the UTEP Ticket Office
(1-915-747-5234) or through El Paso Ticketmaster (1-915-544-8444).
Tickets are on sale from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. CDT through those two
outlets.
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