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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Pecos teams look to advance, stay alive in tourneys
Two Pecos youth baseball teams are in the finals, two teams are trying to work they way towards the finals, and one saw its District 37 season come to an end on Monday, following a weekend of play in Pecos, Monahans and Fort Stockton.
Advancing to the finals were the 11-year-old and 12-year-old Little League teams, with the 11-year-olds set to try and clinch their title at home on Tuesday while the 12-year-olds will try to advance to sectional play with a victory in Fort Stockton on Thursday.
Trying to keep their seasons going on Tuesday were 9-10 year old Little League team and the 13-14 year-old Junior League squads, as they need wins in their games in Monahans and Fort Stockton to advance in the double-elimination tournament. But the season ended on Monday night at home for Pecos’ 15-16 year-old Senior League squad, following back-to-back losses to Monahans and Fort Stockton.
The 11-year-olds were looking to become the first team to advance to sectionals out of the new district, with a win over Monahans on Tuesday, in a 6:30 p.m. game. Pecos opened the tournament on Friday with a 3-2 win over Monahans at Chano Prieto Little League Field, and then shut out Fort Stockton the following night by an 8-0 score. Monahans stayed alive with a win over Kermit on Saturday, then eliminated Fort Stockton on Monday to advance to the finals.
Annalee Rodriguez’s home run to open the fifth inning provided the margin of victory in Pecos’ Friday win, after Monahans had rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game on a two-run homer by Rudy Robledo. Jesus Salgado got the win in that game, and Brandon Garnto picked up the shut out victory the following night against Fort Stockton, allowing only three hits, while Pecos collected 12 hits in the game.
Down in Fort Stockton, the 12-year-olds had to win three games to advance to the finals. They opened with a 4-0 win over Martin County, and then beat the host team by an 11-5 score before blanking Coahoma on Monday night in the semifinals by a 5-0 margin.
Tad Rodriguez had 13 strikeouts and allowed just two hits in Monday’s win, while Joel Chavez, who had a pair of doubles in the victory over Fort Stockton, had two of the three hits Pecos collected, as the Little Leaguers took advantage of seven walks by pitcher Pete Acosta. Chavez had a first inning RBI single and then homered in the fifth inning, as Pecos scored twice in the first inning and then added solo runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings.
The 9-10 year-olds had to play one extra game in their nine-team tournament bracket, opening with a 5-0 preliminary round win over Greenwood last Thursday before edging Martin County by an 8-7 score on Friday. Rains following that game pushed the tournament schedule back a day, and on Monday night Pecos lost a semifinal game against Coahoma by a 10-3 final score.
That moved them into a rematch against Greenwood at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, and to win the tournament, they’ll have to win five games over four days, including a pair of wins on Friday.
The Junior Leaguers got a break on Monday, as they were able to rest their pitching following their first two tournament games, when Trans-Pecos pulled out of the 13-14 year old tournament. The Junior Leaguers dropped their opening game to Fort Stockton by a 5-1 final score, then came back to defeat Martin County in an elimination round game by a 20-1 margin.
That moved Pecos into a 6 p.m. game on Tuesday against Monahans, with the winner advancing to take on either Winkler County or Fort Stockton in a 7 p.m. game on Wednesday.
Coach Tony Reyes Sr. said Timo Reyes took the loss on the mound against Fort Stockton, as defensive problems hurt the Junior Leaguers. “At first the errors got us. We had a lot of errors,” he said.
Jonathan Dominguez had Pecos’ lone run in the loss. “We had a few kids get on, but we just left a lot on base,” Reyes said.
Against Stanton, Reyes said Pecos batted around in one inning, jumping out to a big lead over Martin County at the outset, which allowed the Junior Leaguers to pull starter Salvador Baez after the first inning and let Dominguez finish the game. The move allowed both Baez and Timo Reyes to be eligible to pitch Tuesday’s game against Monahans.
Pitching and defense were problems throughout the tournament for Pecos’ Senior Leaguers. After jumping out to a 6-0 lead in their opener against Trans-Pecos on Friday, the 15-16 year olds fell behind 8-6, then saw the visitors almost wipe out a five-run lead a few innings later before pulling away for a 20-12 win. Chris Garnto picked up the winning, allowing five runs, two earned, in five innings of relief.
Against Monahans on Saturday, Pecos did little at bat against B.J. Santiago, while the visitors took advantage of the Senior Leaguers’ mistakes to score five times in the first and three more in the second off starter Robert Nunez, on the way to an 11-2 victory. Then on Monday, Pecos was ousted from tournament play by Fort Stockton, which outscored the Senior Leaguers by a 9-7 final.
The win put Fort Stockton into Tuesday’s tournament title game against Monahans, which opened the tournament with an 11-1 victory over Fort Stockton. The winner of the tournament will advance to sectionals in Midland.
If Pecos’ 11-year-olds win their tournament, they’ll advance to sectional play in Fort Stockton next week. The 12-year-olds’ sectional will be held in Lubbock, while the 9-10 and 13-14 year olds would travel to El Paso and San Angelo respectively, if they come back through the elimination brackets to win those tournament titles.
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
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Copyright 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise
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