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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Tuesday, February 8, 2005

Pecos hosts first scrimmage minus some players

Pecos Eagles softball coach Tammy Walls will be seeing a few new players and will be without several returning ones on Tuesday, when the Eagles host Presidio, Alpine and Kermit in their first pre-season scrimmage of the 2005 season.

Pecos had its best ever post-season in 2005, defeating Lubbock Cooper and Muleshoe before losing to District 4-3A and eventual Region I-3A champ Monahans in the regional quarterfinals. Pecos finished third overall last season, behind the Loboes and Greenwood, and will open 2005 looking to fill three holes in the starting lineup.

“We’ll be new right up the middle; pitcher, catcher and centerfield,” Walls said. Pecos will be looking to replace Stephanie Herrera, who was the team’s No. 1 pitcher for the past four seasons, along with Brittany Lobstein and Bre’Ann Windham, who played ay catcher and centerfield for the past two years.

“I’ve been looking at Bianca Baeza at centerfield, and she’s bee doing an outstanding job in practice,” Walls said. “And I would imagine I’ll have both Hillery (Hinojos) and Amalie (Herrera) pitching this year.”

Herrera is one of several Eagles who have been in basketball during the opening week of practice. She and Hinojos both saw limited action on the mound last season, while Herrera played at shortstop and Hinojos at first base other times.

Right now, Walls said she’ll have junior Jessica Florez and senior Kelsey Flores at shortstop and second base, while Hinojos and Herrera may share time at first base. Meanwhile, last year’s third baseman, Savanna Ewing, is one of several players the Eagles are looking at to replace Lobstein at catcher.

“We could move her in from there, but then we’d lose her on defense at third base,” Wall said. “I’m still waiting for the girls from basketball to come in to see what they look like. Jenny Palomino says she wants to try and play catcher, so we’ll be looking at her, too.” Palomino and Cassandra Terrazas started as freshmen in the outfield last season for Pecos, and Palomino had the top batting average among the players returning for the Eagles from last season.

Walls said she has about 13 players back from a year ago, along with several others who are playing for the first time this season. They’ll get a chance to see action at home on Tuesday starting at 4 p.m. in the scrimmage against the Blue Devils, Bucks and Yellowjackets, and on Saturday Walls will have all her returning players except for swimmer Catherine Minjarez available when Pecos scrimmages Marfa and Crane, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Pecos High School softball field.

Regular season play starts next week against Marfa, followed by competition at the Andrews Invitational Tournament on Feb. 12-13.

Pecos girls 5th, boys 10th in opening tourneys

The Pecos Eagle girls’ golf team place fifth in their division over the weekend, at the season-opening San Angelo Girls Classic, while Pecos’ boys opened their 2005 season with a 10th place finish at the Monahans Invitational Tournament.

The Loboes won both their own tournament and the Blue Division in San Angelo, shooting a 684 to finish 30 shots ahead of second place Andrews. Snyder was another 28 shots behind the Mustangs, at 742, while the Eagles ended up one stroke in back on Wichita Falls, shooting a 762 over 36 holes.

“It was a good warm-up for us,” said coach Tina Doan. “I wish we could play that kind of course later in the season. It was an eye-opener, but overall the girls fought back the second day, and they know what we have to do to compete.”

Pecos did cut 43 strokes off their opening day total of 403, as most of the teams entered did better in the second round of play. Junior Shelly Martinez finished fifth overall in the medalist race, shooting an 83-78-161, while Eleanor Mason shot a 100-89-189, Jennie Canon shot a 99-96-195, Stephanie Galindo shot a 121-104-225 and Rica Pino had the biggest drop of the two days, going from a 126 to a 97 for a 223 score.

“The course was a little easier the second day,” said Doan. “We just have to have to get in a lot of work on golfing on the greens and gain a little confidence.”

The boys were one player short on Saturday at Monahans, and saw their opening day total of 363 rise by 34 shots to 397, as they finished overall with a 762 score. Monahans won with a 651 score, while Fort Stockton placed second, with a 664 total and another District 4-3A rival, Lamesa, was next, with a 703 score.

Individually, defending district medalist Michael Nichols shot a 76-77-153 to finish second overall at the tournament, two shots behind Brent Bennett of Midland Trinity. Joseph Tarin shot an 88-97-185, Jake Weinacht shot a 100-94-194, and Jesse Prieto shot a 117-129-246. The Eagles’ other golfer, Zack Morton, shot a 101 on Friday, but withdrew prior to the final round due to a conflicting event.

Monahans was able to cut 19 strokes off their opening day’s total to pass Fort Stockton on their home course and pick up the win, though overall most teams either saw their scores rise or remain unchanged during the second day of play on the Ward County Golf Course. Coach Kim Anderson was unavailable on Monday, but cold, windy weather plagued most of the golfers over the final 18 holes of the tournament.

This coming Friday and Saturday both Pecos golf teams will be in Big Spring for the two-round Big Spring Invitational. The girls will open at the Big Spring Country Club course while the boys will play the municipal course on their first day, and then the teams will switch for Saturday’s final round.

Aggressive Tornadoes run down Pecos girls

Playing the night before with just seven players seemed to have more of an effect on the Pecos Eagle girls basketball team than traveling 450 miles on a bus over two days did on the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes Friday night in Pecos.

The Eagles, who had only seven players available on Thursday for their 44-37 loss at Midland Greenwood, were bothered by both the full-court press and in the overall aggressiveness on offense by Lamesa, which had scored a 33-point win at Fort Stockton the previous night in a neutral site game against Presidio. The Tornadoes jumped out to a 15-8 lead after one period, were up by 20 at one point in the second period and maintained a wide lead throughout the second half, winning by a 61-35 final score. “We played pretty good on Thursday, but I'm afraid we're going to be bone-tired,” said Eagles' coach Lisa Lowery before the game, and the Eagles did have their problems keeping up with the Tors for much of the game.

Lamesa guard Bailey Harris got loose outside for five three-pointers, while the trio of posts Erica Stafford, Kyla Barrington and Christy Marmolejo combined for 23 points inside.

“Lamesa is physical and just dug ourselves a hole and couldn't get out,” Lowery said. “Their posts were a lot more physical than ours, and on defense they didn't have as much trouble getting the ball down there as we did.”

The Eagles got some inside scoring early from Adriana Armendariz and Chantel Mazone. Armendariz had a pair of baskets late in the first period to help cut an 11-3 Lamesa lead to 13-8, but the Tornadoes would score nine of the first 10 points of the second period, and were up 24-9 before Pecos finally get a basket in the period, on a lay-up by Mazone. The third of Harris' five 3-pointers would widen the margin to 31-11 a short time later. Baskets by Danielle Garcia, Armendariz and Olga Mendoza would cut the margin to 35-20 by halftime, but another 3-pointer by Harris to start the third period widened the gap to 18, and Pecos then missed three of four foul shots before Marmolejo hit a short jumper to make it a 40-21 game.

A lay-up by Jessica Carrasco turned out to be the Eagles' only basket of the period, and they trailed 49-23 going into the fourth quarter. Lamesa's lead would grow to as much as 31 points in that period, before a late run by the Eagles narrowed the final score to a 26-point margin.

Garcia ended up with 11 points and Armendariz 10 for Pecos, while Harris had 20 and Marmolejo 12 for Lamesa, which clinched at least a tie for a playoff spot with their victory. The Tornadoes are 8-3 in district and 11-21 on the season.

In Thursday’s loss at Greenwood, the Eagles played without Mazone, and were down early by nine points, then cut the lead to as little as two but were never able to get in front of the Rangerettes. Greenwood would take a 26-13 lead at halftime, then held off Pecos in the second half after the Eagles used a 13-4 third quarter run to get to within 30-26 going into the final period.

“People who hadn't had a chance to play much stepped up and did a good job,” Lowery said of Friday's loss.

Without Mazone, Greenwood had the size advantage inside, though Eagles’ forward Adriana Armendariz led all scorers with 17 points. Nine of those points came on a trio of 3-point shots, while Danielle Garcia also was in double-figures with 11. “She did a good job,” Lowery said of Armendariz. “Danielle posted up some and Adriana came outside and hit a few shots.”

The two losses left Pecos with a 3-8 district record and a 4-21 overall mark, going into their final regular season game on Tuesday at Seminole. The Maidens remain the only District 4-3A team with an overall winning record, and will be trying to complete an undefeated district season. Seminole won in Fort Stockton on Friday over Presidio, 52-10, and in Pecos last month defeated the Eagles, 73-32.

Friday LAMESA (61) Harris 7 1-1 20; Gonzales 0 1-2 1; Pierce 1 1-2 3; Quisenberry 0 0-0 0; Stewart 2 0-0 4; Martin 1 0-0 2; Henderson 4 0-1 8; Stafford 3 0-0 6; Barrington 1 3-4 5; Marmolejo 4 4-4 12. Totals 23 10-14 61.

PECOS (35) Valeriano 0 0-0 0; Carrasco 1 0-0 2; Garcia 4 2-5 11; Valdez 0 0-0 0; Ortiz 0 0-0 0; Mendoza 2 3-6 7; Armendariz 4 1-2 10; Mazone 2 1-5 5. Totals 13 7-18 35. Lamesa 15 20 14 12 -- 61 Pecos 8 12 3 12 -- 35 Three-point goals: Lamesa 5 (Harris 5), Pecos 2 (Garcia, Armendariz). Fouled out: None. Total fouls: Lamesa 16, Pecos 14.

Gholson first to file for May’s local elections

Filing began Saturday for candidates in the May 7 city and school district elections, with two seats up for election in the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah school board race and three seats in the other area races. Meanwhile, one incumbent already has filed for a new term on the Reeves County Hospital District board.

Candidates could file on Saturday if election offices were open, though according to the Texas Secretary of State’s office, governmental entitles did not have to open over the weekend and could begin the filing period on Monday.

School board president Billie Sadler and board member Paul Deishler are the two whose seats will be up for election in May, and as of mid-morning on Monday, P-B-T ISD secretary Tracy Shaw said no one had filed to seek one of the three-year terms. Sadler is seeking her third consecutive term on the school board and had served on the board in the past, while Deishler is finishing up his first full term on the board, after previously serving an unexpired term.

The filing period lasts one month, and ends on March 7, about 10 days earlier than last year. “The reason is they moved the election up to the first Saturday in May,” Shaw said. “Last year they moved it to the third Saturday in May, but for this year the legislature moved it back up.”

In the Town of Pecos City election, the seats held by mayor pro-tem Gerald Tellez and councilmen Frank Sanchez and Danny Rodriguez will be up for election. Tellez has served on the council for over a decade, while Sanchez was elected after serving as mayor back in the 1980s, and Rodriguez won election to the council in 2003 after being defeated for re-election the previous year.

As of late Monday morning no one had filed to run in the city election, which also has a filing deadline of March 7.

Elections will also be held on May 7 for the Reeves County Hospital District, though Nadine Smith with the hospital said there was no starting date to file for those races, but there is still a March 7 deadline.

A pair of two-year terms will be up for election, along with one unexpired term on the RCH board. Voters in Precincts 2 and 4 will be casting ballots for the regular terms, while voters in Precinct 3 also will be voting to fill the remaining year of the term of Bill Wendt, who won re-election last May but died three months later.

Pablo Carrasco currently holds the Precinct 4 seat on the board, while RCH board president Linda Gholson is the Precinct 2 representative, and Smith said she already has filed for a new two-year term.

Down in Balmorhea, city voters will be deciding three two-year terms on their council. Sammy Baeza, Dora Woodruff and Ike Ward presently hold those seats. In the Balmorhea ISD elections, the terms of Jesse Matta, Javier Lozano and Jaime Barragan will be up for election on May 7.

Barstow voters will also be deciding three races in the May 7 vote. Olga Abila, Dora Villaneuva and Ted Porras won election two years ago to the seats that will be decided in May.

If there are no contested races in any of the local elections as of the March 7 deadline, those elections can then be cancelled by the group involved in order to save money. Early voting for the May 7 election will get underway on April 20 and run through May 3.

Netters drop matches against Loboes, Indians

The Pecos Eagle girls picked up their team’s only wins this past Thursday and Friday in play against district rivals Seminole and Fort Stockton, even though one of the matches was on the boys’ side of the bracket.

The Eagles lost at Monahans on Thursday by an 8-5 score, and then dropped a 12-1 decision to Seminole on Saturday at Odessa College. The girls won all five of the matches against Monahans, while against Seminole, Amber Pando picked up the Eagles’ lone victory, playing against the Indians’ Jim Bolt.

“I didn’t have enough guys, and on the other side she only had three girls,” said coach Mike Ortiz about the unusual match-up. Pando won a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) decision, while Sara Natividad lost her match to Seminole’s Jake Dyck, 6-4, 6-2. Earlier, the two girls had lost to Bolt and Dyck in doubles, by an 8-3 margin.

“They kind of put it to us. Thursday’s match was a lot closer,” said Ortiz. “It was 8-5 ad we had chances to win a couple of matches, but it just didn’t happen for us.”

Natividad, Pando and Catherine Garcia picked up the wins in singles play for Pecos on Thursday, while Natividad and Garcia and Imari Ornelas and Crystal Ikeler won their doubles matches. The closest match on the boys’ side was a 6-4, 7-5 loss by Jerris Rayos to Chris Garcia.

The Eagles’ next matches will by at home this coming weekend, when they host their own invitational tournament. Ortiz said Monahans, Midland Trinity, Greenwood and Sanderson would be at the tournament, and Fort Stockton may also play in the event, which starts Friday morning.

Thursday Pecos (5) at Monahans (8) Boys Singles Pedro Gomez lost to John Wilhelm, 8-6; Curtis James lost to Steven Martinez, 8-1; Jerris Rayos lost to Chris Garcia, 6-4, 7-5. Girls Singles Mimi Ornelas lost to Laura Ramirez, 6-1, 5-7, 17-15; Crystal Ikeler lost to Treena Escamailla, 6-4, 6-2; Sara Natividad defeated Tiffany Bean, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3); Catherine Garcia defeated Cheyenne Smith, 6-3, 6-1; Amber Pando defeated Jennifer Rodriguez, 6-4, 6-0; Sade Orona lost to Emily Acker, 6-0. Boys Doubles Gomez and James lost to Wilhelm and Martinez, 8-3; Day and Rayos lost to Gacia and Kesey, 8-2. Girls Doubles Ornelas and Ikeler defeated Ramirez and Bean, 8-6; Natividad and Garcia defeated Rodriguez and Smith, 8-6; Orona and Pando lost to Escamilla and Acker, 8-3. Pecos (1) vs. Seminole (12) Boys Singles Pedro Gomez lost to Colby Morris, 6-2, 6-2; Francisco Ornelas lost to Steven Boehm, 7-5, 6-1; Curtis James lost to Gavin Castillo, 6-2, 6-2; Jerris Rayos lost to Silas Garcia, 6-3, 6-2, Sara Nativdiad lost to Jake Dyck, 6-4, 6-2; Amber Pando defeated Jim Bolt, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). Girls Singles Mimi Ornelas lost to Susie Wall, 6-0, 6-0; Crystal Ikeler lost to Annie Friesen (no score available); Sade Orona lost to Monica Sierra, 6-1, 6-1. Boys Doubles Ornelas and Rayos lost to Morris and Boehm, 8-1; Gomez and James lost to Garcia and Castillo, 8-0; Natividad and Pando lost to Dyck and Bolt, 8-3. Girls Doubles Ornelas and Ikeler lost to Wall and Friesen, 8-0.

Eagles bombed by 3-pointers in twin losses

The Eagles were the ones being bombed from the skies Thursday and Friday, as the Greenwood Rangers finished off their game against Pecos with a series of long-range baskets and the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes started their game the following night in Pecos the same way.

Lamesa hit six three pointers in the first half on Friday, while the Eagles went cold after a good shooting start, putting in just five points in the third period and allowing the Tors to pull away for a 61-38 win over the Pecos. But Lamesa's first half was nothing compared to what happened the previous night at Greenwood.

Against the Rangers, the Eagles started out better than they did last month, when the Rangers jumped ahead of Pecos by 15 points in the opening quarter. But after going into halftime down only by a 28-21 margin, the Eagles lost a 3-point shooting battle in the third period.

Addison Stewart had three of his six 3-pointers in the period, and the Rangers hit 10 of their 12 baskets overall from 3-point range as part of a 51-point half that turned their seven-point lead into a 57-37 advantage after three quarters. The Rangers then added 10 more points to their lead in the final period.

“We were only down by seven, and they just came out and put us down by 17,” said Eagles' coach Art Welborn, whose team will hope their opponents' shooting slacks off a little on Tuesday, when they travel to Seminole for a 7:30 p.m. game. “We were packing it in because their big guy (Ryan Beeler) killed us the last time, and they weren't hitting those shots in the first half.”

Stewart had 18 of his game-high 20 points from behind the 3-point line, while Beeler scored from inside for the Rangers and finished with 16 points. The Eagles were led by Lupito Bustamantes, who was the only player in double figures with 12 points.

Bustamantes hit a short jumper off the opening tip on Friday, and Luis Licon sank a 3-pointer the next time downcourt to give Pecos a quick 5-0 lead. But then Lamesa started doing what Greenwood had done the previous night. Adam Salinas, Austin Hunter and Jordan Chapman hit 3-pointers on the Tors' next three possessions and grabbed a 9-6 lead, and while Licon would tie the game with another 3 right after that, it was his last of the night, and Salinas would hit a short jumper moments later to put the Tornadoes ahead to stay.

Matt McCall would hit a trio of 3s on the night for Lamesa, the first in the closing minutes of the opening period that helped Lamesa go up by a 22-13 score. Bustamantes would hit the first of his two 3-pointers to open the second period, but then the Eagles began missing good scoring chances and would manage just 12 points over the next 15 minutes of play.

Another 3 by McCall made it a 33-23 game at halftime, and in the second half the Tors did more damage from inside, mainly by Salinas, who finished with a game-high 21 points. Pecos managed just a pair of free throws by Ricardo Morales and another 3-pointer by Bustamantes in the third period, and came out down by 19 points, 49-28. “It's the same old problem for us. We can't score,” said assistant coach Michael Valencia. “I don't think we're patient enough. We don't realize when it's a good time to shoot and when it's not a good time to shoot, and we put up some bad shots.

“We can't afford to have those type of quarters,” he said of Lamesa's 16-5 advantage in the third period. “They're going to go on a run once in a while, but we can't afford a five-point quarter.”

Bustamantes was again the lone Eagle in double figures on Friday with 16 points. The two losses dropped Pecos to 1-8 in district and 4-20 on the season. Greenwood, which had Friday off, improved to 8-1 in district while Lamesa is 7-3, and is battling Presidio for the third and final playoff spot, after losing to the Blue Devils on Thursday night. Seminole defeated Presidio on Friday and goes into their game with Pecos on Tuesday with an 8-1 record, 12-14 overall. Following that game, the Eagles play their final home game on Friday against Monahans, and close out the 2004-05 season at Fort Stockton on Feb. 15.

Friday LAMESA (61) Hill 1 0-0 3; Hunter 2 0-2 5; McCall 3 2-2 11; Free 1 2-5 4; Hawkins 3 2-2 8; Moreno 1 0-0 2; Enriquez 1 0-02; Seal 0 0-0 0; Salinas 9 2-8 21; Chapman 1 0-0 3. Totals 22 8-19 61.

PECOS (38) Morales 2 0-0 4; Pina 1 0-0 2; Guajardo 0 1-2 1; Licon 3 0-0 8; Anchondo 1 2-4 4; Estrada 0 1-2 1; Bustamantes 6 2-2 16; Macha 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 6-10 38. Lamesa 22 11 16 12 -- 61 Pecos 13 10 5 10 -- 38 Three-point goals: Lamesa 7 (McCall 3, Salinas, Hunter, Chapman, Hill), Pecos 4 (Licon 2, Bustamantes 2). Fouled out: Anchondo. Total fouls: Lamesa 13, Pecos 19.



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