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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, March 11, 2005
Rec volleyball, soccer sign-ups
Saturday is the final day to sign up boys and girls for the Reeves County Community Sports and Recreation Department’s spring soccer and volleyball programs.
The spring soccer league is open to boys and girls ages 4 1/2 to 7, with a cost of $10 per player. The spring volleyball league will be for children in grades 2 through 8 and also has a $10 per player enrollment fee.
Enrollment form for both leagues are available at the RCCRD office at the old Pecos High School gym from 4 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. Returned forms must have the signatures of both parents, and a birth certificate must be provided when the form is returned.
For further information, call the RCCRD office during business hours, at 447-9776.
Pecos hosting Seminole after win
The Pecos Eagles softball team hadn’t had much trouble with the Lamesa Golden Tornadoes in recent years, and they didn’t again on Tuesday, in the District 3-3A opener for both teams.
Now the Eagles will hope to have the same success in district play against Seminole that they had last year in non-district competition against the Maidens, when Pecos plays Seminole at 5 p.m. on Friday in their district home opener.
The Eagles, who had won several non-district games over the Tors in recent years, welcomed Lamesa into the district with a 10-1 victory on the Tors’ home field. Cassandra Terrazas’ two-out triple in the third scored two runs and broke a 1-1 tie, and Pecos went on to score seven runs over the next two innings to back the three-hit pitching of Amalie Herrera.
Herrera struck out five and walked four, one of whom, Christy Marmolejo, would score Lamesa’s only run in the second inning, coming home on a passed ball with none out. Herrera would settle down and get the next three outs with the lead run on third base, and the Tors would get only one base runner as far as third the rest of the way.
Savannah Ewing had driven in Pecos’ first run in the top of the second, and in the top of the third Terrazas tripled to left field off starter Maida Demos, after Danielle Garcia and Jessica Florez singled with one away. Demos got the final out of the inning after that, but didn’t make it through the fourth inning, when the Eagles added four more runs.
Hillery Hinojos would single and move to third on an error, before scoring on a Jenny Palomino base hit with one out. She would score with two away, after a bunt single by Herrera, on a single by Florez, and both runners would then come home on a double by Bianca Baeza.
Ali Borrego replaced Demos on the mound and would get out of the inning, but gave up Pecos’ final three runs in the fifth inning, all with two away. Hinojos walked and scored on a triple by Ewing, and after Palomino walked and Herrera was hit by a pitch, Garcia blooped a single into right field for the final two runs of the game.
The win improved Pecos’ overall record to 4-6 going into their game on Friday against Seminole, which dropped its district opener to 3-3A favorite Monahans by a 14-0 final score. The Eagles faced the Maidens for the first time in softball last season, beating them in Seminole by a 12-0 score and then winning at home, 18-9. Hinojos shut out the Maidens in the road win, while Herrera picked up the win in relief three days later in Pecos, after Seminole had rallied from a 3-0 deficit off Hinojos to grab a 7-3 lead.
Tuesday again rough on Eagles before tourney
Tuesday Night at the Ballpark was a rerun for the Pecos Eagles, and not a good one, either, as for the second Tuesday in a row, the Eagles were beaten big on their home field.
Odessa High was the visitor this time, and just as with Snyder a week earlier, the Bronchos took advantage of a series of defensive mistakes by the Eagles after the first inning to break the game open, scoring seven time in the second inning and seven more over the next two innings for a 14-1 victory.
The Eagles will now hope to turn things around this weekend the way they did last weekend at the Monahans Sandhills Tournament, as they compete the Snyder Tournament . Pecos opened tournament play with a 4 p.m. game against Coahoma, and then faced the host Tigers in a 7:30 p.m. start on Thursday. Their lone game on Friday was at 9 a.m. against Levelland in the pool play tourney, and their final match-up is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday against Perryton.
The top finishers in the two tournament pools will meet Saturday night in the tournament title game. The tournament games are the final ones for Pecos before their District 3-3A opener, next Tuesday at Fort Stockton.
Isaiah Rayos was the victim of the Eagles’ sloppy defense for the second Tuesday in a row. He retired OHS in order in the top of the first, then got some help from catcher Chris Garnto, who threw out Hector Aguilar trying to steal following a leadoff error in the second. But after Eli Hinojos followed with a single and Blake Neitherland then blooped a single over Kenny Rayos’ head at first base, the errors set up the Bronchos for five unearned runs.
“When we don’t have our 1-2-3 pitchers in there, defensively I don’t know what happens to us,” said Eagles’ coach Elias Payan, who saved Eddie Vela and Edward Valencia for this weekend’s tournament, while No. 1 pitcher Josh Anchondo remains out while recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. “Isaiah buckled down and didn’t pitch bad, but we just didn’t do anything behind him.”
Hinojos scored when Jonathan Garcia couldn’t hold onto Mason Mungoia’s pop up in short center field. Hector Phillips followed with an RBI single and moved up when Juan Garza misplayed the ball in left field. Another RBI single, by Richard Vaughn, followed, and then Phillips scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Daniel Flores, when Garnto couldn’t hold the throw from third baseman Edward Valencia.
Chandler Goode followed with an RBI single before OHS came back with another suicide squeeze bunt, by Virgil Mancha. This time, Valencia went to first base for the out as Flores scored, but Goode kept running from second base and scored when the ball popped out of Kenny Rayos’ glove as he tried to throw home.
The Eagles would get on the scoreboard in their half of the second off Hinojos, but two errors by the Bronchos netted Pecos just a single run, as both came with two away. Garza reached on a passed ball third strike, when Vaughn dropped the throw to first by Mancha, and Robert Nunez got on when Aguilar dropped his pop up in short center field before Garnto singled to left field to score Garza. But Hinojos then got Juan Garza to foul out to Mancha, ending the inning.
Hinojos and Neitherland opened the third with singles, and a run scored when Jose Chavez missed Mungoia’s grounder to shortstop. Neitherland then scored on Phillips’ sacrifice fly, and after a walk to Vaughn, Payan replaced Rayos on the mound with Javier Mendoza. He would balk home a run before throwing his first varsity pitch, but then got Flores to ground hard to Valencia, who threw out Vaughn at home plate, and Garnto then threw out Flores trying to go to second on the play.
Things didn’t go as well for Mendoza in the fourth, as Goode walked and Mancha homered to open the inning. A walk to Aguilar followed, and then Hinojos circled the based on an RBI double, when the ball bounced past Garnto and to the backstop trying for a play at home on Aguilar. Miguel Estrada then came on for Mendoza and saw only two runners reach base, on a walk and a pass ball third strike, in two innings or work.
Martin Patino and Mancha would pitch the final two innings for Odessa High, allowing just one hit, a one-out ball into short center by Garcia that he was able to leg out into a double. But Patino got the next two outs and Mancha would retire the side in order in the fifth to end the game under the 10-run rule.
“Snyder is ranked 16th, and this time we got a 5A school,” Payan said. “I don’t know if some of our kids are scared out there when we play good teams. But we can’t catch a fly ball, and we let guys take extra bases because we’re not aggressive out there. Until we start believing we can play with anyone, we’re going to be inconsistent like we were tonight.”
Aside from being the second straight five-inning loss at home for Pecos, it was also the second straight game played minus the main bank of lights on the first base side of the field. A transformer on the tower burnt out and needs replacement, but the remaining lights were strong enough to keep the missing lights from affecting play.
Odessa High improved to 7-2 with their win, while the Eagles dropped back under .500, at 4-5 on the season. Rayos bounced back from last Tuesday’s brief outing against Snyder to beat Seminole in the quarterfinals of the Sandhills Tournament, around wins over Big Spring and Monahans, as the Eagles placed second to Crane in the tournament. This weekend’s field at Snyder will be tougher, with both the Tigers and Perryton ranked in the Class 3A Top 20, along with Lubbock Cooper and Abilene Wylie on the other side of the 12-team bracket.
Odessa High 0 7 3 4 0 -- 14 9 2
Pecos 0 1 0 0 0 -- 1 3 7
Hinojos, Patino (4), Mancha (5) and Mancha, Jones (5). I. Rayos, J. Mendoza (3), Licon (4) and Garnto. W - Hinojos (1-0). L - I. Rayos (1-2).
E - OHS, Vaughn, Aguilar. Pecos, Chavez 2, Garza, Garcia, Garnto, K. Rayos, I. Rayos. DP - Pecos 1. LOB - OHS 1, Pecos 4. 2B - OHS, Hinojos. Pecos, Garcia. HR - Mancha. S - OHS, Mancha. SF - OHS, Phillips. SB - OHS, Neitherland. CS - OHS, Aguilar (by Garnto).
Balk - Pecos, J. Mendoza. WP - Pecos, J. Mendoza. PB - OHS, Mancha. Pecos, Garnto 3.
Eagles run in Odessa, hope for return in April
The Pecos Eagle boys and girls track teams will be in Odessa this weekend for the annual West Texas Relays, and will be hoping to be back there six weeks from now when the Region I-3A meet takes place at Ratliff Stadium.
About half of the Eagles’ District 3-3A rivals will be in Odessa this weekend for the West Texas Relays, which has become an annual event for Pecos’ boys, but is a meet the Eagle girls haven’t attended for several years.
“We’re going back there because t will give our girls a chance to see where the regional meet will be,” said Eagles’ coach Veronica Valenzuela, who was able to get into the girls division of the meet after it was not originally on Pecos’ 2005 track schedule.
The girls picked up third place competing at home this past Friday at the West of the Pecos Relays, while sophomore Chantel Mazone had the Eagles’ only two gold medals, in the shot put and discus. Her 38-foot-10 3/4 throw in the shot put would have been good enough to earn a state berth at last year’s Region I-3A meet in late April.
Two Pecos girls did run at regionals in Odessa last year, senior Jummy Akinyode in the 200 meters and junior Jennifer Martinez in the 1600 and 3200 meters. This year, Martinez is running in the 800 and 1600 meter races, where she placed 10th in Odessa at regionals a year ago, while Akinyode has added the 400-meter dash to the 200 meters, where she just missed securing a regional finals spot in 2004.
She finished second in both races in Pecos last week, though Valenzuela said she was not feeling well during the week, while Martinez was third in the 1600 meter run and fourth in the 800 meters in her first meet of 2005.
For the boys, this weekend’s meet will be the first of the season for senior Rashad Terry, who qualified for state in both the 100 and 200 meter dashes a year ago. Terry missed the West of the Pecos Relays after a two-week disciplinary suspension, but coach John Fellows said he would run in both the sprints as well as in the 1600 meter relay in Odessa.
“If I can at least have my mile relay set up (at Odessa), I’ll be happy,” said Fellows, who did not have enough runners in Pecos last Friday to field a 400 meter relay team.
Chad Evans, who also earned a regional berth last year, picked up the boys’ lone gold medal in Pecos last week. He took the shot put competition and also finished second in the discus. Fellows said some of the Eagles who competed on the junior varsity level the first week of the season would probably move up to the varsity for this weekend’s West Texas Relays.
Some of the field event finals, along with the 3200-meter run and the other running preliminaries, will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Friday at Ratliff Stadium. The remaining field events will be held Saturday morning, with the running finals starting about 12:30 p.m.
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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