|
Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Netters seek regional slots at 2-3A meet
The Pecos Eagles tennis team will have two of the four top seeds on Tuesday, for the District 2-3A Tennis Tournament at Fort Stockton High School.
Francisco Ornelas will be seeded first in boys’ singles, while Amber Pando and Kristal Ikeler are seeded first in girls’ doubles. On the boys’ side, Jesse Hanks and Jerris Rayos are the No. 2 seeds in boys’ doubles, while Cody Zamarippa and Paul Zubeldia are seeded fourth in that bracket.
The top two seeds in each bracket will advance to Region I-3A competition later this month in Odessa. Coach Bernadette Ornelas said Tuesday’s tournament will start at 9 a.m., and with just the Eagles, Monahans and Fort Stockton competing, should be completed by 4 p.m.
Ornelas said Zamarippa and Pando placed third on Friday in mixed doubles competition at Fort Stockton, in the final tournament prior to district for the Eagles.
“We only took about half the team due to the one-act play, so we had a lot of players not playing with their normal doubles partners,” Ornelas said.
The district tournament will also feature a junior varsity division. Ornelas said Pecos would have one seeded player there, Elias Alvarado, who is No. 1 in boys’ singles.
Ornelas said the district junior high tournament will be held on Thursday in Fort Stockton. Pecos hosted six teams on Saturday in the final regular season junior high tournament. Results of those matches will be in Friday’s Enterprise.
JH, elementary swimmers earn firsts at meet
Pecos’ junior high and elementary school swim teams earned the majority of the top finishes on Saturday, at the Eagles’ own swimming and diving meet at the Pecos High School pool, though overall numbers gave Monahans’ girls and Andrews’ boys the team titles.
Monahans girls overall had 422 points to win the elementary division over Andrews, with 230 points, and the Eagles, with 186, while Pecos’ junior high swimmers won by a 303-186 margin over Pampa. On the boys’ side, Andrews edged Pecos for first in the elementary division, 239 points to 237, while Monahans was first in the junior high bracket, with 213 points to 189 for Pampa and 145 for the Eagles.
The junior high girls had several easy wins, including both relay events. Conner Armstrong, Alyson Reynolds, Alexcia Mendoza and Lauren Elliott took the 200 medley relay with a 2:07.13 time, just under 23 seconds in front of Pampa, while the same four won the 200 freestyle relay with a 1:55.65 time, 24 seconds in front of Odessa Bowie.
Individually, Reynolds took the 200 free with a 2:08.03 time, with Elliott second at 2:20.71. She also set a new meet record in winning the 200 individual medley with a 2:24.07 time, with Mendoza second at 2:32.83 and Tiffany Hunter fourth; and in the 50-yard breaststroke, winning with a 35.68 time, while Mendoza again placed second, with a 40.46 time, and Amanda James was seventh.
Also winning first three times was Armstrong, who took the 50-yard freestyle with a 27.27 time, the 100 free with a time of 59.70, and the 50-yard backstroke with a 32.18 time. Mendoza won the 50-yard butterfly, with a 31.42 time, while Elliott was second in the 100 free with a time of 65.54, and third in the 100 back with a 39.03 time. James earlier in the meet took first place in the 1-meter diving competition, with a 134.95 score, and later was sixth in the 50 free; Hunter was eighth and Victoria Machuca ninth in the 100 fly, and Hunter was 10th in the 50 backstroke.
The junior high boys’ got their lone first place finish on the day from Tanner Hardwick in the 1-meter diving, with a 182.65 score, and later was second in the 200 individual medley and third in the 50-yard butterfly. Hardwick, Clay Teague, Carlos Navarro and Abraham Lujan took second in the 200 medley relay and third in the 200 freestyle relay, while Navarro was second in the 50-yard breaststroke, fourth in the 50 fly and sixth in the 100 free.
Teague was 15th in the 50 free and Lujan was 24th in the 100 free, while the two were 14th and 16th respectively in the 50-yard breaststroke for Pecos’ other points.
On the elementary grade level, the Eagle boys were the ones with most of the first place finishes.
Nathan McCormick, Steven Miller, Bradley Shaw and Sterling Hannsz won the 200 medley relay with a 2:55.42 time and took the 200 free relay with a time of 2:33.90. In the individual events, Hannsz swam a 3:24.47 to place first in the 200 freestyle; McCormick won the 100 individual medley with a 1:30.63 time, with Hannsz second; Shaw won the 50 free with a 31.16 time, with Miller finishing fourth, and Shaw also won the 50-yard butterfly with a 33.54 time; McCormick won the 100 free with a 1:16.82 time, with Miller third, and also took the 50-yard backstroke in 41.49, with Hannsz second, while Shaw set a new meet record in the 50-yard backstroke, a 40.50, with Miller placing third.
The elementary school girls got firsts from Dana Conger and Rayann Box. Conger won the 100-yard individual medley in 1:30.74, the 50-yard butterfly with a 41.04 time, and the 100 free, with a 1:20.238 time, while Box took the 200-yard freestyle with a 3:18.61 time and was second in the 50-yard backstroke and sixth in the 100 free.
In the relays, Box, Conger, Brooke Hale and Maleke Abila were second in the 200 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay. Abila was third in the 50 free and also fifth in the 50 fly and seventh in the 100 medley, while Hale was third in the 50 back and seventh in the 100 free.
The previous weekend in Andrews, Pecos’ junior high girls also took first place in their division, with 256 points to 234 for Monahans, while the Loboes had 332 points to win the boys’ division, while the Eagles had 69 points to place fourth in the junior high division. On the elementary level, Andrews boys edged Pecos, 243-223 for first, while Monahans girls had 333 points to win that division, with the Eagles fourth with 146 points.
McCormick, Shaw and Navarro picked up individual first place finishes for Pecos in the boys’ elementary division at Andrews, while Reynolds had an individual win for the junior high Eagle girls, who also captured first in both relay events.
Eagle girls 2nd at Kermit, boys 9th at Angelo
The Pecos Eagle girls track team came up with their high-point performance so far this season on Saturday, while placing second at the Permian Basin Relays in Kermit, while points were harder to come by for Pecos’ boys at the San Angelo Relays, but coach Robbie Ortega said the team did improve on some of their times and distances, going into the final week before the District 2-3A track meet.
The Eagle girls scored 147 points to finish 11 points behind Monahans in Kermit, while the boys ended up with 10 points and placed ninth in the Division III standings, which was won by Taylor, by a 139-113 margin over Abilene Wylie, with Monahans third at 111 points.
“I was really pleased with how the girls performed,” said Eagles’ coach Donna Gent. “We had a couple of girls who I felt didn’t perform to the level they’re capable, but we have a few nagging injuries, and we’re doing treatment over the next two weeks so they’ll be ready for district.”
The girls had four first place finishes on Saturday, two apiece by senior Chantell Mazone and sophomore Jasmine Rayos. Mazone was first for the fourth time this season in both the discus and shot put, winning the shot with a throw of 38-foot-2 and taking the discus with a 121-foot-8 effort. Rayos captured first in the triple jump with a 33-foot-10 1/2 effort and later won the 200-meter dash with a time of 28.08.
Rayos also earned a fourth place in the long jump, and was a member of the 1600-meter relay team, which placed first with a time of 4:19.3.
Brittany Palomino was third behind Rayos in the triple jump, with a 32-foot-4 1/2 jump, while Bianca Baeza was fourth, and Palomino and Baeza were fifth and sixth in the long jump. Pecos also picked up a fourth place finish in the field events from Angel Millan in the discus.
Pecos also earned a second in the 800-meter run, with a time of 1:51.08, while the 400-meter relay team was fifth.
“Michelle Contreras was hurt, so none of my relays were the way they were supposed to be,” Gent said. “Brittany Palomino filled in for Michelle on the 800 and she ran a good leg, but we were a second slower than normal, and Monahans was able to beat us on a lean at the finish. But on the mile relay Ali Salcido filled in for Michelle and she ran an excellent leg of 64 seconds, and we won with the fastest time we’ve had all season.”
Salcido and Heather Lamka also earned two medals apiece at the meet. Salcido was second in both the 100 meter intermediate hurdles and the 300 meter low hurdles, with times of 17.05 and 50.52, while Lamka was second in the 1600 meter run with a 6:04.17 time and third in the 3200 meters, with a time of 13:35.
Pecos’ other medal Saturday was a second from Melissa Carrasco in the 400-meter dash, with a 68.43 time. Cheyenne Carrasco was fifth and Lisa White sixth in the race, while Gent said the Eagles could have had more points, but lost Brittany Quintana when she jumped on the start of her heat.
Pecos’ other points came from Lamka’s sister, Kathryn, who was fifth in both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs, while Bianca Baeza was fourth in the 100 meter dash and Olivia Castilleja was fifth in the 300 meter hurdles.
For the second time this season, the boys’ points came from a third place finish by senior Larry Johnson, a fifth from freshman Robert Herrera and a sixth from the Eagles’ 1600 meter relay team.
Johnson ran a 51.3 to take third in the 400-meter dash, while Herrera placed fifth in the discus, with a throw of 127-feet-9 and the 1600-meter team ended up sixth with a 34:39.61 time.
“The times went down,” Ortega said. “We had some good times in the open events. We were just not able to place in the Top 6.”
The Eagles did compete without some of their runners and field event people due to Friday’s baseball game, though severe thunderstorms that hit the Concho Valley on Friday morning ended up cutting the San Angelo Relays to a one-day event.
“Everything was postponed on Friday because of bad weather, so everything was just times finals today (Saturday), and in the field events, everybody just got three throws.”
“Larry also ran a good 200, but just missed out placing. But he was right behind (Monahans) Devon Fann,” Ortega said. Fann was sixth in the race, and the Eagles’ coach said the 1600 meter relay team’s time was two seconds in back of the Loboes, who ended up fourth in the race.
“Our 4-by-200 also ran real well and had a shot at pointing, but we had a problem with the baton and dropped it. That’s the first time that’s happened this year,” Ortega said.
He said Herrera’s throw was two feet better than the previous week at Wink, when he placed second. Monahans’ Michael Murphree did place second in the event, 19-feet in front of Herrera, but that was still 27 feet in back of winner Hayden Ballilo of Whitesboro.
Pecos’ JV boys and girls also placed fourth in their divisions at Kermit. Gent said on the girls’ side Andriel Martinez won the 100 meter hurdles and was second in the high jump and 300 hurdles, Destiny Medina and Aileen Rayos were second and third in the long jump and the 400 meter relay team also placed third.
Because of the Good Friday holiday, the Eagles will go to Crane on Thursday to compete in the Golden Crane Relays, starting at 1:30 p.m., before the District 2-3A meet in Fort Stockton next week. Both the boys and girls teams will be short members on Thursday, with the Eagles hosting Presidio in softball and baseball that day.
Pecos’ junior high track teams, meanwhile, will be at home on Tuesday, hosting Presidio, Monahans and Fort Stockton for the District 2-3A junior high track meet. It’s scheduled to get underway about 4 p.m. at Eagle Stadium, with the field events and the finals of the 2400-meter run. The remainder of the running finals will start about 7 p.m.
Pecos bothered by wind, Valles in 7-1 loss
Monahans Loboes pitcher Steven Valles had more control of his pitches and hit Loboes teammates kept windblown balls under better control Friday night, and the result was the Loboes’ first win in two years over the Eagles.
Valles struck out 11 Eagle batters while walking just one walk and seven hits, while Eagles’ starter Robert Nunez struggled with his control, walking five in two-plus innings, and Pecos’ fielders had problems with the wind after that, as the Loboes took a 4-0 lead after three innings and went on to a 7-1 victory.
Anthony Cota took advantage of the wind blowing out in the early innings, opening the game with a home run to centerfield off Nunez, one of just four hits on the night by Monahans. Two others came in the second, when Loboes then used an RBI double by Kenny Almanza and three straight walks to add two more runs. They then collected four unearned runs in the third and fifth innings on just one hit off reliever Geno Leos.
“We didn’t have anyone play very good tonight,” said Eagles’ coach Eric Garcia. “Geno came in and pitched well, which was probably the only positive thing we got out of this.”
Pecos’ defense did help out their pitchers in the early going. Nunez hit Tico Olivas after Cota’s home in the first, but the Eagles then turned a Sean Merrick grounder to Isaiah Rayos into an inning-ending double play. In the fourth, after Olivas reached when John Paul Salcido couldn’t corral his bloop into short right field, Rocky Lozoya then doubled courtesy runner Brandon Jaquez off first on a Blake Hughes line drive to centerfield.
But in the third, Monahans got a free run when a curveball by Leos got past catcher Chris Garnto on a two-out strikeout of Colin Furfer, and in the fifth Lozoya would drop a two out fly ball to center by Cota, allowing three more runs to come home.
“We just made a lot of little mistakes, and when you do that against a good ballclub like Monahans, that’s what happens,” Garcia said.
Leos had come on with the bases loaded and none out in the third, after Merrick reached on an error by Rayos and Nunez walked Paul Dominguez and Valles. He struck out Almanza and got Dominique Estorga to bounce to Jose Reyes at third, who threw to Garnto for the force on Merrick. In the fifth, Leos walked Valles and then hit Almanza with a pitch to open the inning, then fanned Estorga and Fulfler before Cota got a fly ball up into the wind that Lozoya went back on before having it drop in for a two-run error. Olivas then followed with an RBI single for the final run of the night.
Pecos’ run had come in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Chavez’s line drive to center took a bad hop over the head of Rocky Rivera for a triple with one away. One out later, Isaiah Rayos singled to left to score Chavez to cut Monahans’ lead to 4-1. The Eagles came close to making it a one-run game, but Garnto just got under a pitch, and Rivera was able to haul in his fly just in front of the fence in center field.
Valles came back to strike out the side in the fifth, then survived a leadoff double by Timo Reyes and a walk to Salcido to open the sixth, as Olivas and Hughes were able to fight off the wind to make catches on pop-ups by Chavez and Isaiah Rayos, around a fielder’s choice ground out by Kenny Rayos.
Pecos would get their first two runners on again in the seventh, on singles by Garnto and Leos, but pinch-hitter James Garcia’s line drive down the line was snagged by Hughes, who stepped on first to for a double play, and Valles then fanned Vincent Palomino to end the game.
“We had a leadoff double and wasted that, and we had a couple of other situations where we didn’t get the hits we needed,” said Garcia.
The loss dropped Pecos back to .500 on the season, at 6-6-2, and put them at 1-2 in district going into their 7 p.m. game on Monday in Fort Stockton. The Eagles opened district play on March 23 with a 7-5 home loss to the Panthers.
Garcia said Palomino, who no-hit Presidio last Tuesday, would start on the mound in Monday’s game at Fort Stockton. The Eagles will play Presidio again on Thursday in Pecos, a game moved up one day due to the Good Friday holiday.
Eagles miss late chances in 3-2 loss to Loboes
The Pecos Eagles made up a lot of ground, but they couldn’t catch the Monahans Loboes, in the second of their three District 2-3A softball games, Friday afternoon in Pecos.
The Eagles, 12-1 losers at Monahans 10 days earlier in the teams’ district opener, allowed the Loboes just single runs in the second, fourth and sixth innings on Friday. But that was enough for pitcher Heather Shuler, who survived some late defensive problems by her teammates to earn a 3-2 win and give Monahans a two game lead over Pecos and Fort Stockton in the 2-3A standings.
The Eagles and Prowlers, who defeated Presidio on Friday, were set to break the second place tie on Monday afternoon with a 5 p.m. game at Fort Stockton. Pecos will finish up the second round of the three-round district schedule at home on Thursday, with a 5 p.m. game against Presidio.
Dina Ortiz went 3-for-4 and scored all three of Monahans’ runs off Amaile Herrera, while the Eagles’ pitcher was 3-for-3 off Shuler, but scored just once, and was tagged out by Ortiz near third base while trying to score on a Barbara Cota error with none out in the fifth. Another Cota error and one by shortstop Kellie Almanza would allow Claire Weinacht to score, but Almanza was able to force Gabby Garcia at second before throwing the ball past Bailey Marcum at first base Kristen Ikeler’s grounder, and Shuler then struck out pinch-hitter Lily Jaramillo to end the inning.
“I thought we did all right defensively, and Amalie pitched a good game overall, but we didn’t hit the way we need to,” said Eagles’ coach Tammy Walls. “She (Ortiz) really hit the ball, and they can all hit if you don’t pitch well, but Amalie did a good job with them.”
Mitchell opened the game by doubling off Herrera, but she was thrown out by Jasmine Rayos trying to go from second to third on a Kristi Wilson grounder back to the pitcher. But after Ortiz opened the second with a double down the line in left, she scored on a single by Lana Santiago.
Two innings later, Monahans made it 2-0 when Ortiz again led off with a double, this time to left-centerfield. Herrera would come back to get two outs, but Cota then blooped a single to right-center just out of reach of second baseman Brittany Palomino, allowing Ortiz to score.
The Eagles to that point had been held to just a first inning single down the line in left by Herrera, but after she singled to right with one out in the fourth, Weinacht followed with an infield hit off the glove of Santiago at third, and Garcia singled to right, scoring Herrera to make it a 2-1 game. But Shuler then struck out Ikeler and Bianca Baeza to end the inning.
A falling catch in the outfield by Garcia from her shortstop position kept the Loboes from scoring in the fifth. Garcia would pull in Shuler’s pop up after two-out hits by Mitchell and Wilson, but in the sixth, two errors by the Eagles led to the Loboes’ last run of the game.
Ortiz again led off an inning with a hit, this time a single, and went to second on a bad pickoff throw by Weinacht, on a strikeout of Santiago by Herrera. She the fanned Bertha Felon for the second out, but Jana Jarrett followed with a fly ball to right that Cassandra Terrazas misjudged and then dropped for an error, allowing Ortiz to score.
In the bottom of the inning, Herrera opened with a double to left-center, and then was sent home when Cota couldn’t handle Weinacht’s grounder, but she was able to recover in time to get the ball to Ortiz, who then chased Herrera back to third and tagged her out just before she reached the base.
“In this kind of game, you have to be aggressive,” Walls said. “You can’t play it safe. Their second baseman was still running towards the ball and had her back to the plate, and I didn’t think she could make the throw, but she did.”
Pecos would get the tying run on with one out in the seventh, on a walk to Terrazas, but she would be tagged out going to second by Cota on a Jenny Palomino grounder, and Cota then threw to Marcum for the game-ending double play.
“We’ve got to get better hitting out of the rest of our order,” said Walls. “We left runners on second and third once and we left another runner on third where a base hit scores two runs with our speed.”
The loss left the Eagles with a 16-6-2 record and 2-2 in district, while Monahans improved to 17-9 and 4-0 going into their game on Monday at Presidio. The Loboes can clinch a playoff spot with a victory over the Blue Devils, while the Eagles can do the same with a pair of wins this week over Fort Stockton and Presidio.
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
|
