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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
El Paso hosts hoop tournament
A summer youth basketball tournament along with a refereeing camp will be held in El Paso in early June.
The Sun city Summer Classic Tournament will have three divisions, ages 18, 16 and 14 and under, and will run from June 3 through June 5. Registration is $125 per team, with a deadline of May 27 to enter.
A team trophy and T-shirts will go to the first place finishers in each division, while second place winners will receive medallions. An MVP award will also be given out in each of the divisions.
The refereeing camp has a registration fee of $80 per person, also with a deadline of May 27 to sign-up. The camp will run from June 2-5, and no prior experience is necessary.
For further information, or to register, call either Rob at (915) 203-0660, or Joe at (915) 241-3783.
Rec dept. starts sign-ups For softball, T-ball
The Reeves County Community Sports and Recreation Department has begun enrolling children for its spring T-ball and softball programs between now and May 13
The softball program is for girls ages 7 through 14, and will have a registration fee of $10 per player. The T-ball program is for boys and girls between the ages of 4 and 7 and also carries a $10 per player registration fee.
Parents can pick up registration forms at the RCCRD office in the old Pecos High School gym during office hours, from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 4 to 6 p.m. on Fridays and from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Saturday. Forms must have the signatures of both parents and a birth certificate also needs to be provided when the form is returned.
For further information, call the RCCRD office at 447-9776.
Pecos ends year with Friday loss, Saturday win
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Not much went right for the Pecos Eagles softball team on Friday afternoon at home against the Greenwood Rangers, and things didn’t start very well Saturday morning against the Presidio Blue Devils, either.
The Eagles, who had lost by a 4-2 score in Greenwood two weeks earlier, committed five first inning errors on Friday against the Rangerettes, falling behind at the outset, 6-0. Pecos would cut that lead in half in their first at-bat thanks to some Greenwood mistakes, but the Rangers would add a run in the second inning and then exploded for nine runs in the fourth inning to bury the Eagles, 16-3, and clinch the District 3-3A softball title.
Then on Saturday, the Eagles faced the winless Blue Devils, who they had scored nine runs off of in the first inning last month, in a 24-2 win at Presidio. This time, the Eagles went quietly in the first inning after surviving a pair of two-out singles by the Blue Devils to open the game, and then lost first baseman Hillery Hinojos, when she was hit in the mouth by a low throw on an Elfodia Olivas ground ball to open the second inning.
Hinojos ended up having to go to Odessa for emergency dental work, but things did get better for the rest of the Eagles after that. Amalie Herrera struck out the side after Olivas reached base, and Pecos would score seven times in the bottom of the second inning and go on to a 15-2 win over Presidio, to close out the 2005 softball season.
“I think they were a little frustrated, and a little nervous after Friday,” said Eagles’ coach Tammy Walls, who was able to make wholesale changes to her lineup in the third inning, and saw the reserves score four times that inning, after Presidio had gotten two runs in the top of the third.
“I was proud of them. They came in there and hit well. The defense was a little shaky, but they did a good job after most of them didn’t get much of a chance to play this year,” Walls said.
Both teams stranded two runners in the first inning, while Olivas was left on first after reached on Vanessa Valeriano’s throwing error in the second. In the bottom of the inning Valeriano opened by reaching when Donita Renteria dropped her fly ball to left field, and after walks to Bianca Baeza and Olga Mendoza loaded the bases, Savanna Ewing singled to center field to score two runs off starter Amy Velasquez.
She left the mound after walks to Brittany Palomino and Herrera made it 3-0 but her replacement Crysta Carrasco, didn’t fare any better. Jessica Florez greeted her with a two run single to center, and after a walk to Danielle Garcia, Valeriano singled to center to score two more runs and make it 7-0.
Presidio would get their runs on a walk to Jessica Gutierrez in the third inning, an error by shortstop Maritza Acosta on a Velasquez grounder and a two out error by Katherine Ramirez at second base on a Vanessa Armendariz grounder, after Brittany Ybarra forced Gutierrez on a grounder to third base.
Ramirez would then force Armendariz at second on a grounder by Olivas, and in the bottom of the inning Carrasco began by walking Kendra Renteria and Ybarra, then misplayed Jessica Trujillo’s grounder to load the bases. She then got the only two remaining starters in the line-up, Herrera and Florez, to pop up to second and ground into a force play at home, but Ybarra ended up scoring when Gutierrez couldn’t hold onto Armendariz’ throw back to third, trying for a double play.
Skye Gabaldon then singled home a run, and after a walk to Acosta, Lindsey Shaw doubled to center field to make it a 10-2 game. Carrasco then hit Ramirez with a pitch and Renteria followed with an RBI single to make it 11-3.
Walls put her starters in after that, and the Eagles would get four more runs with only a lead-off infield hit in the fourth, thanks to two wild pitches by Carrasco, a passed ball by Armendariz and a missed pickoff throw by Olivas at first base.
In Friday’s game the Eagles were the ones give up most of the gift runs, starting with the very first batter of the game. Kim Smith’s deep fly ball to center bounced off Baeza’s glove and over the fence for a four-base error and a 1-0 Greenwood lead. Mendoza than dropped Savannah Neely’s fly ball to right, and scored on Veronica Carruth’s double. She would come home on singles by Shannon Richards and Daisy Roman, who advanced an extra base when Mendoza misplayed her single to right.
After a walk to Jenny Adkins, Stephanie Ledbetter singled to left, and went to second when Palomino misplayed that hit. That made it 5-0 before there was an out, and the Eagles did get the next two batters, as Valeriano threw out Dublin and Adkins at third on grounders by Paige Crowell and Smith. But when Neely grounded another one to Valeriano, she threw it by Ewing at third this time for an error, and Ledbetter scored to make it 6-0.
“Four errors in the outfield is very uncharacteristic,” said Walls whose team allowed almost twice as many runs in their six district home games as they did in their six 3-3A road contests this season. “Bianca hasn’t dropped a ball all year, and drops one over the fence, and then we couldn’t pick up the ball.”
Crowell started for Greenwood for the second straight game, after their regular pitcher, Kendall Schneider, was lost to grades. She was beaten by Monahans in her first start, 9-3, and got herself into trouble in the first inning by misplaying Palomino’s one out grounder and another one by Florez, after Herrera walked following another error, when Carruth dropped her foul pop-up. A ground out by Garcia scored Palomino, Herrera then came home when Ledbetter booted Valeriano’s grounder to third, and Baeza singled to score Florez to make it a 6-3 game.
The errors subsided after that, but outside of the third inning, the Eagles were unable to shut down the Rangerettes’ hitters. A single by Carruth and a double by Richards in the second made it 7-3, and after both teams went quietly in the third, seven of the first eight batters in the fourth inning reached on hits, with the only out coming on a sacrifice bunt by Adkins. Those hits made it 12-3, and Ledbetter then scored by beating a throw home by Valeriano on a Smith grounder to shortstop, and Neely capped the inning with a three-run homer to center field to close out the scoring.
“We kind of battled back and got three runs, but their first five batters today were hitting extremely well. We were trying to pitch around them and they hit bad pitches,” Walls said.
Greenwood clinched the district title with the win, and finished with an 11-1 record, a game up on Monahans, while Fort Stockton wound up getting third place in the District 3-3A standings. The weekend split left the Eagles with a final record of 5-7 in district play and a final record of 8-13 for the 2005 season. Garcia will be the only player Pecos loses to graduation, and Walls is hoping the returning players work to improve during the off-season.
“I told them to play this summer, because that’s where you get a lot of experience,” Walls said. “A lot of teams that have done well in the playoffs have had several kids playing in the summer.”
Friday
Greenwood 6 1 0 9 0 -- 16 14 5
Pecos 3 0 0 0 0 -- 3 2 6
Crowell and Carruth. Herrera and Florez. W - Crowell. L - Herrera.
E - Greenwood, Crowell 2, Carruth, Ledbetter, Neely. Pecos, Baeza, Mendoza 2, Palomino, Valencia, Garcia. DP - Greenwood 1. LOB - Greenwood 4, Pecos 3. 2B - Greenwood, Carruth, Richards 2, Crowell. HR - Neely. S - Adkins. SB - Greenwood, Neely.
Saturday
Presidio 0 0 2 0 0 -- 2 3 5
Pecos 0 7 4 4 x -- 15 8 3
Velasquez, Carrasco (2) and Armendariz. Herrera and Florez. W - Herrera. L - Velasquez.
E - Presidio, Armendariz, Renteria, Carrasco, Gutierrez, Olivas. Pecos, Valencia, Acosta, Ramirez. 2B - Pecos, Shaw. SB - Presidio, Carrasco. Pecos, Herrera 2, Valeriano 3, Baeza 3.
HBP - Ramirez by Carrasco. WP - Presidio, Carrasco. PB - Presidio, Armendariz3. Pecos, Florez.
Eagles pick up medals at qualifiers meet
The Pecos Eagles track teams picked up one first place finish and several second and third place finishes on Friday, at a regional qualifiers meet in Iraan, while holding out a few runners preparing for this coming weekend’s Region I-3A Track and Field Championships at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa.
Nine Eagles qualified for regionals at last weekend’s District 3-3A meet in Fort Stockton, but only six participated in the regional meet, three on both the boys and girls sides.
The boys were minus senior Rashad Terry, who reinjured his leg while winning the 200-meter dash at district, while the girls were without two of their five qualifiers on Friday.
“Heather (Lamka) I decided not to run because of her leg, and Jessica (Florez) was at softball,” said coach Veronica Valenzuela. Lamka qualified in both the 1600 and 3200 meter runs, while Florez earned regional berths in the discus and shot put.
The girls’ other regional qualifier in the discus and shot, sophomore Chantel Mazone, threw 35-foot-10 to finish third in the shot put and went 106-6 in the discus and wound up fifth. Her shot put throw was just a half-inch less than her winning throw at district, while her discus throw was actually five inches further than her third place effort a week earlier.
Valenzuela said Kathryn Lamka did run in the 3200 meters on Friday, and placed third with a 13:49 time. “She cut nine second off her time,” the Eagles’ coach said, after Lamka ran a 13:58 to finish third at district.
Senior Jummy Akinyode ran only one of the two events she qualified for regionals in, competing in the 200-meter dash. “Jummy got second in the 200 behind (Monahans) Cassie Smalls. She ran a 26.5,” Valenzuela said.
Akinyode also placed second at district to Smalls in the 200, with a 27.15 time, while winning the 400-meter dash, with a time of 60.59.
The boys got a first place finish from Chad Evans in the discus at Iraan, though coach John Fellows said the senior didn’t have his best throw on Friday. “He threw 143-3,” Fellows said, which was three inches below his third place throw at district, and about 12 feet short of his best throw of the year.
Ricardo Morales and Pete Juarez were the other two Eagles to make the trip to the qualifier’s meet. “Yao (Morales) cleared 6-feet in the high jump and got third. He almost didn’t clear the opening height, but came back,” Fellows said. “Pete got third in the 200. He ran a 23.3 and Yao finished fourth, and he ran a 23.5.”
Morales placed third and Terry second at district in the high jump, while Juarez was second at district to Terry in the 200 meters and Morales was a regional alternate after finishing fourth. Morales’ effort on Friday was the same as his best jump at district, while he cut about .4 second off his 200-meter time and Juarez was a quarter-second better than his second place time at district.
All of the Eagles’ regional qualifiers will compete on Friday at district, with the finals of the boys high jump and discus, the girls discus and 3200 meter runs, and the running preliminaries in the 200 and 400 meter dashes. The girls’ shot put finals will be on Saturday, along with the remaining running finals.
Eagles split games, keep playoff hopes alive
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles’ playoff hopes took another hit Friday night, and their 2005 hitting woes continued in their final home game of the season, in a 8-0 shutout loss to the Presidio Blue Devils. But a day later the Eagles would hammer one of the two other pitchers who had shut them out in district this season, and then took advantage of some Greenwood mistakes to get to the only pitcher to beat Presidio so far this season for a 12-10 victory, which kept their hopes alive for a seventh straight post-season trip.
Hector Rodriguez homered in the second inning on Friday, and Presidio would go on to score seven more times in the third and fourth innings to clinch their second straight District 3-3A title, to end Pecos’ run of six straight post-season appearances. Then on Saturday the Eagles would rack up 12 hits off starter Dallas Golden, who had two-hit them in a 2-0 win on March 24 in Pecos, and then got to reliever Logan Bawcom twice, for the go-ahead runs in the sixth inning, and then for a two-out rally in the seventh, after the Rangers had tied the game at 9-all.
“It was a combination of both our teams that showed up,” said Eagles’ coach Elias Payan. “The one that’s there when we play well and hit the ball, but then we also went up there and took some call third strikes and we made some mistakes in base running. Had we played well, there would have been no problem.”
Both Golden and Eagles’ pitcher Isaiah Rayos got through the first two innings unharmed, got into trouble in the third and then got through the fourth and fifth innings without and runs scored, before being relieved in the sixth. Rayos, who ended up as the emergency starter on Saturday due to problems the Eagles had the previous night, gave himself a 1-0 lead in the third by doubling home Kenny Rayos, after he had singled and Donnie Myles walked, and one out later Jonathan Garcia collected his first home run of the year, a three-run shot to left for a 4-0 Pecos lead.
But Payan said the Eagles missed a chance to get more when Miguel Estrada didn’t get out of the batter’s box fast enough on a grounder to Bryce Williams at third, after Jose Chavez and Edward Valencia singled after Garcia’s home run. “He tried to tag Jose but missed, but he still had time to throw Miguel out at first,” Payan said. “He made up for it later, but it got them fired up, plus we made some errors after that.”
David Hill and Bawcom doubled to open the third against Rayos, and after a fly out and a walk, Williams doubled to make it a 4-2 game. Greenwood tied the game after that on a Dean Smith single, and after another base hit and a walk, took a 5-4 lead when Miguel Estrada couldn’t come up with Chad Caver’s grounder to third. A sacrifice fly by Hill then made it 6-4, and Noe Rodriguez scored on a passed ball third strike by Chris Garnto for a 7-4 lead.
The Eagles missed a chance to score in the fifth, when Chavez was thrown out at home plate after he, Valencia and Estrada all singled with two away. But in the sixth the Eagles would score five times to grab a 9-7 lead.
Kenny Rayos singled to open the inning, and then with one out Williams threw away Myles’ grounder to third base, trying for a force on Rayos. Myles then stole second, and both runners scored on an Isaiah Rayos base hit to make it a 7-6 game. Eddie Vela followed with a double down the line in right to tie the score, after which Bawcom, who beat Presidio on April 15, came on to pitch.
Garcia would reach on a passed ball third straight by Toby Bunch, but Greenwood would get Vela trying to score on a double-steal attempt. Chavez then reached when Golden, now at third base, couldn’t field his grounder, and after an intentional walk to Valencia, Estrada singled to left on a 3-2 pitch to score Garcia and Chavez and make it a 9-7 game.
Again, the lead was short-lived, as Caver and Hill singled and Bawcom walked to open the bottom of the inning. Rayos then struck out Bunch, but walked A.J. McCullough to force home a run, and was replaced on the mound by Valencia. He got out of trouble, but the Eagles weren’t able to turn a double play on a grounder to short by Williams and Hill scored, to tie the game.
Bawcom would strike out the first two batters in the top of the seventh, but the sophomore then saw Isaiah Rayos single, and Vela and Garcia reach on infield hits Williams couldn’t get to at shortstop, before Chavez sent a bases-loaded single past the shortstop, and then by Caver in left field, allowing all three runners to score for a 12-9 Pecos lead.
“Their field was in terrible condition, the worst I’ve seen,” Payan said of the Rangers’ field, which will be replaced with a new field next season. “It was lumpy and the ball would either bounce over your head or it wouldn’t come up. He just bobbled it and we were running on the play.”
Greenwood had rallied the last two times Pecos scored, and in the bottom of the seventh tried to match the Eagles’ two-out rally with one of their own. Caver doubled and Hill and Bawcom singled to get the Rangers to within two and put the tying runs on base, but Valencia got Bunch to hit a first pitch ground out to Kenny Rayos at first base to end the game.
“He came on with the bases loaded and got out of trouble with them scoring only one run,” Payan said. “He was the stopper when we needed it, and came in and did a good job, and Isaiah also did a good job.”
Valencia, like Rayos, saw his first mound action in over a month this past weekend, coming on to relieve both on Saturday, and in Friday’s game against Presidio after Vela started and allowed all nine runs. However, Payan said despite the number of runs given up, he didn’t think Vela did a bad job.
“Outside of the home run, they didn’t have many hard shots. Most of their hits were bloop hits. They were just finding the holes,” Payan said.
The second and third runs scored on a bloop single by Calderon in the third inning, with Armando Dominguez coming home when Isaiah Rayos got caught napping and failed to see the Blue Devils’ baserunner continue around third after fielding the ball. Presidio made it 4-0 on a strange play, as Jaime Ortega scored on Alonzo Amacio’s base hit, but Amacio was called out on interference when Ortega took out Estrada, who caught Friday’s game, after crossing home plate.
In the fourth, Vela had control problems, wild pitching one run home while walking four batters, and then seeing Rodriguez clear the bases with a bloop triple that bounced past a diving Jaime Mendoza down the right field line.
Meanwhile, Pecos’ only hits off Calderon were a two out single by Garcia in the second inning and a two-out hit by Isaiah Rayos in the third. Calderon would strike out nine batters, including a first inning called strike out of Josh Anchondo, who was pulled out of the game, and then tossed out of the dugout for throwing his bat and helmet and then arguing with assistant coach Junior Williams and Payan. Anchondo had been scheduled to start Saturday’s game on the mound against Greenwood.
The win kept Pecos’ playoff hopes alive, even with a 5-6 district record. “We’re still in it if Greenwood loses both their games this week and we win (Friday at Lamesa), we’re in a playoff for third,” Payan said. Pecos would need the 6-4 Rangers to lose Tuesday to Fort Stockton and Friday against Monahans, while the 5-5 Panthers would also have to lose their final game on Friday against Presidio to force a three-way playoff for third.
The Eagles have a 10-14 overall record, while Presidio improved to 9-1 with their Friday win, 22-2 overall, and Greenwood fell to 6-4 with their loss on Saturday and 9-10 on the season. The Eagles have Tuesday off, then wrap up their 2005 baseball season with their first trip in 17 years to Lamesa for Friday’s 5 p.m. game.
Friday
Presidio 0 1 3 4 0 0 0 -- 8 9 0
Pecos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -- 0 2 1
Calderon and Rocha. Vela, Valencia (6) and Estrada, Garnto (6). W - Calderon. L - Vela (5-3).
E - Pecos, I. Rayos. DP - Presidio 1. LOB - Presidio 9, Pecos 3. 3B - Presidio, Rodriguez. HR - Presidio, Rodriguez. S - Presidio, Aguilar. SB - Presidio, Dominguez, Natividad, Cocomo, Aguilar. Pecos, Garcia. CS - Presidio, Dominguez (by Garnto).
HBP - K. Rayos by Calderon. WP - Pecos, Vela 2. PB - Pecos, Estrada 3.
Saturday
Pecos 0 0 4 0 0 5 3 --12 17 2
Greenwood 0 0 7 0 0 2 1 --10 13 7
I. Rayos, Valencia (6) and Garnto. Golden, Bawcom (6) and Bunch. W - Valencia (2-1). L -- Bawcom (2-4). 2B - Pecos, I. Rayos, Vela. Greenwood, Williams, Caver. 3B - Greenwood, Hill. HR -- Pecos: Garcia.
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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