Colored Rock Map of Texas at I-20 in Pecos, Click for Travel Guide

Pecos Enterprise

Home
Site Map
Pecos Gab

ARCHIVE
Pecos Country History
Archive 62
Archive 74
Archive 87
1987 Tornado Photos
Rodeo Photos 88
Archive 95
Archive 96
Archive 97
News Photos 1997
Rodeo Photos 97
Archive 98
News Photos 1998
Rodeo Photos 98
Parade Photos 98
Archive 99
Photos 99
Archive 2000
Archive 2001
Archive 2002
Archive 2002
Photos 2000
Photos 2001
Photos 2002
Photos 2003


Archive 2004

Archive 2005

Archive 2006

Archive 2007

Archive 2008

Area Newspapers
Commerce
Classified
Economic Development


|

Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Softball goes 2-4 in games at tournament

Pecos Eagles’ coach Tammy Walls said there were a few things she liked this past weekend that her team did at the Prairie Dog Classic in Lubbock, and a few things the Eagles need to improve on, as the Eagles went 2-4 against six Class 5A and 4A teams over the three days of the tournament.

Walls said the Eagles started off on the wrong foot, with a error-plagued 9-7 loss to the Plainview Bulldogs on Thursday morning, and then were beaten by eventual tournament champion Lubbock Coronado that afternoon by a 13-2 score. Pecos then got its first win Friday morning by a 5-2 score over Amarillo Tascosa, and held a two-run lead in their second game over Canyon Randall, only to see Randall rally for three runs in their final at-bat to defeat the Eagles, 7-5.

Pecos then closed out the tournament with a split of their games against Lubbock’s other two Class 5A schools, beating Lubbock High, 9-1 and then falling to Lubbock Monterey by a 7-1 score.

“Overall, I was pleased the way we played against those bigger schools, but we have some holes we have to work on and some weak spots we need to fix,” Walls said.

One of those problems was infield defense, in the opening against Plainview.

“Defensively, we started out sluggish. Our bunt defense was not too good. We made several errors on bunts and either ran into each other or threw the ball away,” Walls said.

“I felt like we should have beaten Plainview, but we did work on our defense and it got better throughout the tournament,” she added.

Defense couldn’t help the Eagles in their loss to Coronado, as the Mustangs used a series of home runs to beat Pecos, on the way to a 6-0 record in the tournament and a 16-0 mark for the season.

“Coronado is good. Their girls 1 through 9 in the lineup can hit the ball,” Walls said. Pecos’ runs also came off a home, as Diana Parada had a two-run shot for the Eagles.

Walls said Pecos hit well in Friday’s morning’s victory over Tascosa, while jumping out to 3-0 and 4-1 leads midway through their game against Randall. Pecos scored once in the top of the seventh to take a 5-3 lead over the Raiders, but Walls said, “They had some bloop Texas League hits into centerfield we couldn’t get to, and they came back to win.

“I thought we played well Saturday in beating Lubbock High. We played well and hit the ball early. We scored four runs in the first, so that helped us, and the defense looked pretty solid that game.”

Against Monterey, the Eagles fell behind 1-0 in the first, and Lubbock added another run in the third before scoring three times in the fourth and twice more in the fifth.

Gabby Garcia pitched all the tournament games for Pecos, which saw it’s record go to 8-8 on the season. “The good thing about coming to a tournament like this is it’s a good learning experience. Gabby’s got to learn to control her pitches. She can’t just throw strikes, she had to work on locating them,” Walls said.

She said that the Eagles’ next game, this Friday at home against Greenwood, has been changed from a 5 p.m. to a 7 p.m. start. “We couldn’t get officials down here in time, and Greenwood doesn’t have a JV team,” she said.

Golf teams get 10th, 11th in Midland, Andrews

The Pecos Eagle boys golf team finished 11th on Saturday in their division of the Andrews Invitational Tournament, while Pecos’ girls ended up 10th overall in their division of the Midland Girls Golf Invitational.

The boys shot a 348-346-694 to place 11th out of 23 teams entered in Andrews. The host Mustangs shot a 648 to win the tournament, while Greenwood was second with a 661 score.

“Like I told the kids, we’re not real competitive right now,” said coach Gaylon Doan. “For us to be competitive with Monahans and Fort Stockton, we’ve got to get into the 320s, which means shooting in the low 80s.”

Pecos played the opening round with only four golfers, and overall got the best two rounds out of freshman Coe Duke, who shot 83s both days for a 166 total. Richard Dutchover was next with an 89-81-170, and was followed by Nathan Duke, with an 83-92-175, and Mateo Tarango, with a 93-92-185. Heath Armstrong played only Saturday’s round for the Eagles, shooting a 90.

“The most consistent one we had was Coe. He shot 83-83. The others made mental mistakes. Nathan and Heath should be doing better, but right now we’ve got the younger kids playing better than the older ones.”

Monahans and Fort Stockton also were entered in the tournament. The Loboes placed seventh with a 678 score, 16 shots ahead of the Eagles, while the Panthers only brought three golfers to Andrews, one short of a team score, but all three scores were below 180.

“It’s going to be a dogfight. If the kids want to go to regionals, they’re going to have to be more dedicated,” Doan said.

Playing at Greentree and Nueva Vista in Midland, the girls shot a 355-371-726 in their division, which was won by Andrews with a 619 score, 25 shots ahead of second place Monahans. A total of 19 teams competed in Division II of the tournament.

“We played Greentree the first day and the kids play well on it,” said coach Tina Doan. “I was real pleased with the outcome, since that was the lowest round we’ve shot all year.

“Nueva Vista is a more open course, and if you start spraying shots, you have to recover, so if costs you a few shots and the greens are harder than at Greentree,” she said. “I hated that the kids’ scores went up, but overall we have improved and I’m proud of them.”

Individually for Pecos, senior Rica Pino had the low score overall, shooting a 82-91—173 for the 36 holes of play. She was followed by freshman Tatum Windham, who shot an 86-89—175. Kayla Natividad had a 97-92—189; Samantha Sparkman shot a 90-100—190; and Ari Alligood had a 102-99—201 for the girls’ other scores.

Pecos’ girls will be going to Andrews this coming Friday, while the Eagles’ JV will play on Thursday in Crane. The boys will go to San Angelo for their tournament this weekend, playing at Bentwood Country Club on Friday and at the Riverside Golf Course on Saturday.

Eagles get 5th, 6th at Pecos Relays

Pecos Eagles track coaches Donna Gent and Derek Price were happy with their teams results on Saturday, running at home in the West of the Pecos Relays, even though neither the boys or girls team placed among the leaders in their divisions.

Andrews’ girls won with 141 1/2 points to 123 for Greenwood, while Monahans’ boys won their division by a 119 1/3 to 118 point margin over Midland Christian, in the day-long meet at Eagle Stadium.

Pecos’ girls were fifth in their division, with 73 1/2 points, while the boys finished sixth overall in their group, scoring 49 points. But with several people absent on both sides for Saturday’s meet, Gent and Price said things went about as well as could be hoped for at this point in the season.

“With 10 girls and 73 points, I couldn’t be happier,” Gent said. “The girls gave me everything they had.”

“Ally Salcido placed in four events, with three golds and one silver, and the mile relay cut 13 seconds off their time last week,” Gent said. Salcido, along with Brittany Quintana, Jasmine Rayos and Trina Morales, won the 1600 meter relay with a 4:22.20 time, while Salcido took the 100 meter low hurdles with a 17.19 time, and won the 300 meter hurdles with a 50.15 time, after placing second in the pole vault Saturday morning, clearing 7-feet.

Pecos had one other medal on the day, from freshman Kayla Natividad, who finished third in the 3200 meter run with a 13:16.24 time. The Eagles’ other finishes included a fourth and sixth place by Catherine Moore in the shot put and discus, a fifth by Quintana in the pole vault; a sixth by Olivia Castilleja in the 300 meter hurdles and fourth and fifth place finishes by Pecos 800 and 400 meter relay teams.

“Catherine Moore and Trina Morales did an exceptional job filling in on the relays,” said Gent, who was missing some runners due to Pecos’ softball tournament in Lubbock, while Rayos only competed in the mile relay, after hurting her knee while long jumping the previous week at the Comanche Relays.

Price was without several of his runners due to UIL automotive technology competition, but was able to pick up points with senior Vincent Palomino Saturday morning, before he had to leave for the Eagles’ baseball game in Monahans against Big Spring.

“Vincent got third in the long jump, and he only took three jumps,” Price said. It was one of two medals for the Eagles in the field events, and one of three overall on the day for Pecos.

Palomino went 19-feet-6 to win the bronze medal in the long jump, while Robert Herrera was second in the discus and Luis Morales was second in the 200-meter dash. Herrera 143-feet-11 and lost by 4 /12 inches to Andrews’ Eric Kelton. Morales won his heat of the timed finals with a 23.34 time and was second overall to Midland Christian’s David Thomas.

Pecos also picked up fourth place finishes from German Rodriguez in the 800 meter run, Gus Mendoza in the 1600 meter run, Jeremiah Soto in the discus and by Morales, Dillon Garcia, Isaiah Patino and Jonathan Dominguez in the 400 meter relay. Garcia was fifth in the 100-meter dash, as was the Eagles’ 800-meter relay team, while Herrera finished sixth in the discus.

“We threw further, jumper further and ran faster than last week, so I’m very, very pleased,” Price said. “That’s what you look for in these meets, to get a little better each week and then hopefully you’ll peak out at the time of regionals.”

The Eagles also had a few people entered in the junior varsity division of the meet, where the girls finished with 18 points and the boys with 12 in divisions also won by Andrews’ girls and Monahans’ boys.

The girls had only one entry, Abigail Valenzuela, who placed third in the 100 meter hurdles and the long jump, and also had a fourth place in the triple jump and a fifth in the 300-meter hurdles. The boys JV got a second place finish from Stephen Apolinar in the 200 yard dash, a fifth and sixth place by Frankie Morin in the 3200 and 1600 meter runs and a sixth by Larry Sparkman in the high jump.

Monahans’ varsity girls, with 113 1/2 points, and Midland Christian with 95 1/2, were the other teams ahead of Pecos. Fort Stockton had 35 points, Kermit 27 and Presidio 11 to round out the scoring. On the boys’ side, Fort Stockton had 113 1/3 points, Andrews had 81, Kermit 72, Greenwood 42 and Presidio 4 1/3 points for the other totals.

Gent said she hoped to have all of her girls available this coming weekend with the end of softball tournament play, when Pecos goes to the Golden Crane relays in Crane on Saturday. Price said he won’t have all his boys available until after Spring Break, due to baseball tournaments the next two weekends for the Eagles in Snyder and Midland.

Pecos avenges Big Spring loss, earns consolation at Sandhills

Two days after suffering their first loss of the 2008 baseball season, the Pecos Eagles got a second chance at beating the team that defeated them in the opening round of the Monahans Sandhills Tournament.

The Eagles, who saw the Big Spring Steers rally in their final at-bat on Thursday to defeat Pecos by a 5-4 score, got back at the Steers on Saturday afternoon in the consolation finals of the tournament, defeating Big Spring by a 4-2 final score.

The win came after the Eagles scored their second victory of the season on Friday over Greenwood, defeating the Rangers by a 10-5 score in their consolation semifinal game.

Vincent Palomino improved to 2-0 on the season in Saturday win, surviving jams in the first, third and fifth innings to get the victory.

“He didn’t have as many strikeouts, but he got a lot of ground outs and fly outs,” said Eagles coach Eric Garcia, as Palomino allowed solo runs in the third and fifth innings. “He got out of a jam in the top of the fifth, and shut them out in the top of the sixth, and the time limit ran out on them after that.”

Palomino gave himself an early lead on Saturday, leading off the bottom of the first with his first home run of the season, off Steers’ pitcher Raymond Rodriguez. But Big Spring’s leadoff hitter Martin Yanez would tie the game in his second at-bat against Palomino, with a solo shot in the top of the third inning.

Palomino again pitched out of trouble after that, stranding two runners, before the Eagles came back to score one run in their half of the inning and two more in the fourth.

“Their pitcher walked a couple of people, and we got a couple of hits to drive in some runs,” Garcia said. “Lucas Chavez had a triple that drove in a couple of runs.”

In Friday’s win, Pecos hit three home runs, including a two-run shot in the third by Joseph Ontiveros to break a 4-4 tie, and a solo home run in the sixth by Timo Reyes, who went the distance in picking up his second victory of the season.

“We slugged the ball pretty good today with three home runs,” Garcia said. “Normally, we’re not a good power hitting team, but we got good wood on the ball and it carried out of the ballpark.”

The Eagles jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first two innings off pitcher Dean Smith, who had shut down Pecos two years in a playoff win by the Rangers over the Eagles. That included a two-run homer in the second inning by Geno Leos, but the Rangers responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. Bryce Williams and Tyler Legrande had back-to-back doubles off Reyes, but the Eagles avoided further damage when Jake Peine was thrown out trying to go to second on an RBI single, and Legrande was caught trying for third on a passed ball by catcher J.R. Lujan.

By the time Greenwood scored again, Pecos had built up a 9-4 lead. Ontiveros’ shot to left made it 6-4 in the third, and in the fourth the Eagles scored three more times, on a walk to Palomino and a Timo Reyes RBI double, a passed ball by catcher Bevan Moody than scored Reyes, and a double steal by Lucas Chavez and Chris Sotelo, who scored after running for Lujan, who reached on a bloop single.

Legrande scored the Rangers’ final run, walking and moving up on a Blake McCullough single, then coming home on a passed ball by Lujan. But Reyes came back to strike out the next two batters and retired the side in order in the sixth, when the game ended under the two-hour time limit.

“He pitched an excellent game and threw strikes early,” said Garcia. “But it seems like each game we struggle in one inning. If we can stop doing that, we’ll be OK.”

Garcia said a seventh inning throwing error allowed Big Spring to rally from a 4-3 deficit for the victory on Thursday. “They had a runner on second, and that put the winning run on third with none out,” he said.

He said errors hurt both teams early, as Big Spring took a 3-0 lead only to see Pecos tie it in the fifth and take a one-run lead in the sixth, on a walk to Chavez and an RBI double by Ontiveros. “We had about 4-5 errors in the second inning and let them score early,” Garcia said. “Our bats were cold at first. I think we went three up, three down in the first three innings before we finally got a couple of runners on base, and in the fifth they had a couple of errors.”

While Saturday’s game was the third for Pecos in he tournament it was the fifth for Big Spring, thanks to the 10-team format. The Steers followed up their win on Thursday over Pecos by losing a tiebreaker to Presidio in a 3-3 game. That dropped them into the consolation bracket on Friday, where they defeated Denver City in four innings, 14-0, and Morton by a 16-2 score in four innings to advance to the finals against Pecos. The tournament championship was won by Brownfield, 6-5 over Hereford, while Presidio was routed by Monahans in the third place game, by a 12-3 final score.

The Eagles will stay on the road for two long trips this week, going to Sweetwater on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. game versus the Mustangs, and then to Snyder for tournament play starting on Thursday. They’ll face the Pampa Harvesters in an 11:30 a.m. game, then take on Abilene Wylie in a 2 p.m. contest.

Google
WWW Pecos Enterprise


Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
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 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise