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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Salgado edged for powerlifting state meet spot
Pecos Eagles’ sophomore Ruben Salgado came up just short of a trip to state on Saturday, as he placed third in his weight class at the Region I Powerlifting Meet in Lubbock.
Salgado was beaten out by Lamesa senior J.D. Wells for second place in the 242-pound weight class, while teammate Albert Lopez finished eighth in that same division, coach Patrick Willis said.
“Ruben got beaten out by five pounds,” Willis said. “I thought there was no way he wouldn’t go to state, but the Lamesa kid snuck up on us. He went up 50 pounds on his dead lift and got it.”
Willis said Salgado lifted 550 pounds in his squat thrust, 285 in his bench press and 470 on the dead lift for a 1305-pound total. “Ruben increased his total by 75 pounds,” Willis said, while Lopez went up 100 pounds in his lifts overall, and finished with an 1,180-pound total.
“Ruben was real disappointed in missing a chance to go to state, but he’s got a promising future,” Willis said. “They’re both sophomores, so they’ll have a couple of more chances.”
Eagles have 1-3 weekend at Snyder tourney
The tougher the opponent, the better the Pecos Eagles pitching was over the weekend at the Snyder Tournament. But the Eagles’ defense and hitting weren’t tough enough to beat either the host Tigers or state-ranked Perryton Rangers, while they only got enough hitting to win one of their two other games at the tournament.
Eddie Vela held Snyder scoreless for the first three innings on Thursday night, but two errors helped the Tigers score three times in the fourth inning, and the Tigers scored three more times after Vela left with a sore elbow and was replaced by Robert Nunez on the mound in what turned into a 6-0 Snyder win.
Nunez would get his first varsity start two days later against Perryton, and was in a 3-3 tie with the No. 2-ranked Rangers until tiring in the fifth inning. Perryton’s Brett Watson doubled home two runs in the fifth, and the Rangers scored three more runs in the sixth to defeat Pecos by an 8-3 final score.
In-between those games, the Eagles dropped an 11-5 decision on Friday to the Levelland Lobos, while they opened the tournament by falling behind Coahoma, 11-3, then rallying in the fifth and sixth innings for nine runs to win by a 12-11 final score.
The losses left Pecos with a 5-8 record, going into their District 3-3A opener on Tuesday night at Fort Stockton against the Panthers. Payan said he was planning to pitch Vela if his arm was ready. Vela defeated Fort Stockton last month in a non-district game by an 11-3 final score.
Nunez had been the Eagles’ DH for most of the games this season, until getting his chance on the mound in Snyder. “I guess we found a diamond in the rough,” coach Elias Payan said. “Robert said he wanted to pitch, and we put him in in relief against Snyder and he did a decent job.
“He was excited to start against Perryton, and they really didn’t hit him that hard. They were mainly little bloop singles. The ones that were hit semi-hard we misplayed in the outfield,” Payan said, as Vela served as DH for the final two days instead of playing in the outfield, in order to rest his arm for Tuesday’s game.
Against Perryton, the Eagles took advantage of a second inning error to score all three of their runs off pitcher Ryan Howard. Chris Garnto had an RBI single after Jonathan Garcia walked and Nunez reached on a dropped fly ball with one away. Miguel Estrada and Jose Chavez then had two out RBI hits, though Estrada was caught off second base after Chavez’ bloop single into short right field.
A walk and a couple of passed balls in the bottom of the second got two of the runs back for the Rangers, as they set up RBI singles by Jarrett Caster and Howard. Perryton then tied the game in the third after Nunez couldn’t catch a Trey Allen pop up and he scored on a two-out single by Bret Torres.
Estrada would lead off the fifth inning with a single off Howard, but was stranded at third base, while Pecos would put two runners on in the seventh against reliever Adam Hoffman, but he came back to get Vela and Isaiah Rayos to end the game.
In the loss to Snyder, the Eagles committed two errors that led to runs in the third inning, while Alex Neal had a bloop RBI single for the Tigers. Meanwhile, Pecos’ hitters had as much trouble with Snyder’s Lance Day on Thursday as they did 10 days earlier, in a 16-1 loss in Pecos. Day, who retired all nine batters he faced that night, allowed only a single to Chavez, while striking out 10 Eagle batters in getting his second win of the season over Pecos.
“He throws pretty hard, but he’s got a good curveball, and it was the old problem. We’re up there guessing, and fall behind in the count, then the pitcher comes with an off-speed pitch and makes us swing at bad pitches,” Payan said.
Freshman Geno Leos picked up his first varsity win in relief just before that game, when the Eagles rallied from eight runs down to defeat Coahoma. “Isaiah had pitched good against Seminole, but he didn’t have any pop, and was walking a lot of people, and then the freshman came in and he walked a lot of people until he settled down. We never should have been behind like that,” Payan said.
Pecos scored six times in the fifth despite seeing Vela caught stealing at third after opening the inning with an infield hit. Rayos reached on an error and then scored on a Kenny Rayos single. He would come home on a hit by Louis Valencia, and a single by Garcia and an error on a Garnto grounder then loaded the bases.
Pitcher Tad Wright got Nunez to hit into a fielder’s choice out at home, but he then hit Juan Garza to force home a run and Chavez followed with a two run single, with Garza coming in on an error to make it 11-9 Owen Mansfield came on to pitch and got the final out, but in the bottom of the sixth he would hit Isaiah Rayos, and then after striking out Kenny Rayos and Valencia, walked Garcia.
Garnto followed with an RBI double to tie the game and Nunez then singled to left for the game-winning run, as play was called due to the time limit.
In the loss to Levelland, the Lobos scored early against Valencia, who like Vela would leave the game with a sore arm after only three innings. Meanwhile, Payan said the Eagles squandered their chances to put up more runs.
“The problem was we left the bases loaded four times. We didn’t get the key hit when we got runners in scoring position, and I told the kids we’ve got to take advantage of those situations,” he said.
After Tuesday’s game with Fort Stockton, the Eagles will play their home opener on Friday against Monahans. Payan said Pecos will still be without their No. 1 pitcher Josh Anchondo, though he said Anchondo could be used as the designated hitter this week, as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery.
Girls 8th, boys 13th in Andrews, Angelo golf
The Pecos Eagles’ girls had their full team out and placed eighth in a group of 19 Class 3A through 5A golf teams over the weekend at the Andrews Invitational, while Pecos’ boys were one golfer short this weekend in San Angelo, and struggled with their team score, finishing 13th out of 15 teams at the San Angelo Invitational.
The girls shot a 356 on Friday and then a 363 on Saturday to finish with a 719 score for 36 holes. El Paso Coronado won the tournament with a 676 score, 12 strokes ahead on Monahans, which finished at 688. Snyder, with a 706 score, was the only other 3A team ahead of Pecos, while the Eagles broke a tie for eighth on Saturday with Carlsbad, which shot a 371 and finished with a 727 score.
Shelly Martinez shot an 82-83-165, while Eleanor Mason was one stroke behind, shooting an 86-80-166 for the two days. “Eleanor had two really good rounds for her. She’s shaping up,” coach Tina Doan said. “She and Shelly both finished in the Top 10, so I was really proud of them.”
After that, the Eagles’ other scores were Jennie Canon with a 92-94-186, Rica Pino with a 98-106-204, and Carolina Briones with a 96-119-215. “They just didn’t do their course management,” said Doan. “It was windy, but it wasn’t that bad. They just made some bad decisions on their shots.”
The boys only had four players in San Angelo, with the absence of senior Jake Weinacht, which hurt Pecos in the opening round, when they had to include a 126 by Jessie Prieto in their team score. He cut 16 strokes off that total on Saturday, while Joseph Tarin and Zack Morton also lowered their scored and helped the Eagles drop from an opening round 389 to a 361, for a 750 total.
“We had some spring breakers away,” said coach Kim Anderson, who only expects to have seven or eight golfers competing in the district tournament. “This is the smallest number I’ve had, but we’ve got some good players coming up from the junior highs next year.”
Pecos’ No. 1 golfer, Michael Nichols, shot 77s both days at the tournament, and wound up just missing Top 10 medalist honors with a 154 score. “The one Mikey went head-to-head with last year at regionals, Seminole’s Brady Shivers shot a 72-74-146 to win medalist honors. He beat Mikey by eight strokes, so he’s going to have to pick it up a little now that district is here,” Anderson said.
Canyon Randall won the Blue Division of the tournament with a 619 score, five strokes ahead of Sonora. Snyder had the best score among the Class 3A teams entered, placing third with a 634 score, while the only other District 3-3A teams entered, Seminole and fort Stockton, finished 10th and 15th respectively, Seminole with a 669 score, and Fort Stockton just behind the Eagles with a 753.
Anderson said t he boys would be taking a one-day trip to Seminole on Wednesday for their final pre-district tournament. “They’ll get a chance to see Seminole, since it’s a district site, and district’s right around the corner.”
Pecos’ junior varsity girls also will be in action on Wednesday, with a tournament in Crane. Doan said the varsity girls would hold a couple of dual meets with Fort Stockton between now and March 30, when District 3-3A play opens in Pecos.
Eagles facing tough week after easy 11-1 win
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
After pulling away from one of their two new District 3-3A softball rivals on Tuesday, in a 10-1 win at Lamesa, the Pecos Eagles went out and did the same thing at home to their other new district rival on Friday.
The Eagles spotted the Seminole Maidens one run in the top of the first inning, then came back and scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the first and kept adding runs after that, before scoring one more time in the fifth inning to defeat Seminole under the 10-run rule, by an 11-1 final score.
The win put the Eagles at 2-0 in District 3-3A and 5-6 on the season going into two much tougher home games this week, on Tuesday against Fort Stockton and Friday against Monahans. The Prowlers lost their district opener on Friday to the Loboes, 11-0, but defeated Pecos last month at the West Texas Classic Tournament in Midland.
“I felt like we made some good plays on some balls, and we hit,” said Eagles’ coach Tammy Walls. “We definitely have good speed. That’s one of our assets, but we need to hit to take advantage of it.”
Amalie Herrera allowed only two hits, both in the first inning, and walked three to get the win. Herrera only struck out two Seminole hitters, but the Eagles were able to make several plays on line drives, and committed just one error to stay out of trouble for most of the game, while the Maidens ended up making 10 errors on the afternoon.
Janna Morales singled and Kimbre Jamison doubled over the head of Cassandra Terrazas with two outs in the first inning to get Seminole their early lead. But Terrazas would make a running catch on Laura McManns’ line drive to right field to end the inning, and the Eagles then grabbed the lead off a series of errors in the bottom of the first.
Jesse Jamison dropped Savannah Ewing’s fly ball to center field to open the inning and then with one out Morales fielded Herrera’s bunt attempt and hit the Eagle baserunner in the back of the head with the ball, which went into right field and got past outfielder Sarah Thompson. Those errors allowed Ewing to score and Herrera to go to third, and she would come home when Morales took Jamison’s throw and threw past McMinns at third base.
Pecos would add three more runs in the second inning off Morales, two of which were unearned. Vanessa Valeriano walked and scored with two outs on a single to left by Ewing. Jenny Palimino then singled down the line in right and later stole second, and both runners scored when shortstop Patti Ortiz’ throw to first pulled Karelyn Roh off the bag.
Another double-error play helped set up three more runs for the Eagles in the third. Jessica Florez reached third when Kimbre Johnson fell down trying to catch her pop up in short right field and the ball again got past Thompson. She scored on Bianca Baeza’s sacrifice fly and then with two away Valeriano singled and scored on Hillery Hinojos’ double to left-center field. Hinojos then scored when a grounder by Ewing went through McMinns’ leg at third base.
Pecos made it 10-1 in the fourth as Herrera singled, stole second and scored on a bloop hit by Daniel Garcia. She went to second on the throw home and on to third when catcher Katie Morris’ throw got by Ortiz, and scored on a Florez sacrifice fly. Then in the fifth the Eagles ended the game under the 10-run rule on a single by Palomino, after a bloop hit by Hinojos and a walk to Ewing with one away.
Meanwhile, Seminole came close to scoring only one more time, on plays again involving Morales and Kimbre Jamison. Morales reached on a two-out error by Florez at shortstop, and after Jamison walked, both runners moved up on a passed ball by Baeza. Her throw to third got past Ewing and into left field, but Morales was then thrown out at home plate by Valeriano to end the inning.
“Amalie did a good job pitching. She got the ball where she needed to,” Walls said. “And I thought we batted well throughout the lineup. The bottom of our lineup did well, and the top of the lineup did well, and we did some scoring with two outs, which is what we also did on Tuesday, and that’s important.”
Walls said she would use the same lineup on Tuesday against Fort Stockton, which defeated Pecos in the Midland tournament by a 7-1 score. “We made seven errors that day and just gave them the game,” Walls said. The Prowlers beat out the Eagles two years ago for the final District 3-3A playoff berth, while Pecos took third behind Monahans and Greenwood last year by sweeping Fort Stockton in their two district games.
Seminole 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 10
Pecos 2 3 3 2 1 11 9 1
Game ended with one out in fifth under 10-run rule
Morales and Morris. Herrera and Baeza. W - Herrera. L - Morales
E - Seminole, J. Jamison, Morales 2, Thompson 2, Ortiz, K. Jamison, McMinns, Morris 2. Pecos, Florez. LOB - Seminole 4, Pecos 5. 2B - Seminole, K. Jamison. Pecos, Hinojos. SF - Pecos, Baeza, Florez. SB - Herrera.
WP - Pecos, Herrera. PB - Seminole, Morris 2, Baeza.
Pecos get two golds, four medals at Odessa
The field events provided most of the points for the Pecos Eagle boys, while running events accounted for all of the points for Pecos’ girls over the weekend at the West Texas Relays in Odessa, with the girls picking up one medal and the boys three, including a pair of first place finishes on Friday.
Senior Chad Evans won the Division II shot put title, his second win in the event in as many weeks, while Rashad Terry took the high jump, while competing for the first time this season. Terry also had the best time in the preliminaries of the 200 meter dash, but finished second in the finals on Saturday to Monahans’ Tyquelly Fletcher, running a 23.33 to Fletcher’s 22.92.
“Rashad tightened up a little bit yesterday, so he didn’t want to overextend it,” said Eagles’ coach John Fellows. “He really hasn’t had a full workout, but he was in pretty good spirits after the race, and he’ll come around.”
Terry advanced to state in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes last year, but didn’t run the 100 in Odessa. “It’s still too early and he hasn’t worked out enough,” said Fellows. Terry did clear 6-foot-4 to win the high jump, after advancing to regionals in that event last year.
Evans also earned a regional berth last year in the shot put, and on Friday won that event with a 51-foot-1 throw. “That’s his personal best. He’s been trying to get over 50 feet,” said Fellows.
Evans failed to place in his other event, the discus, scratching on three throws in the preliminary round.
Aside from Terry, the boys only had one other finals qualifier, junior Andrew Grant, who placed eighth in the 400-meter dash. The Eagles did get one of their two relays into the finals, and placed sixth their in the 1600 meters, with a 3:39.22 time.
“They ran a little faster on Friday. They had a 3:35 time,” Fellows said. The team was changed from the one Pecos ran a week ago, with Pete Juarez, Larry Johnson, Justin Hannsz and Ricardo Morales making up the squad.
Fellows said the Eagles just missed qualifying for the finals in the 800-meter relay. “We were beaten out by one one-hundredth of a second. Seminole ran a 1:36.11 and we ran a 1:36.12. But Rashad will end up running in that later,” he said.
Coach Veronica Valenzuela was missing a several of her girls for this week’s meet, both due to injuries and to the Spring Break holiday.
“We just had the Lamka twins, Jummy (Akinyode), Jessica Florez and Shatavia (Hightower),” Valenzuela said. “We brought up one of the JV girls who wanted to do some running, but we didn’t use Octavia (Hightower) because her knee was still hurting, and both of the Lamka girls were hurting.
“Kathryn got fifth in the two-mile (3200), but her calf kept acting up, so she ran a little bit slower than last week,” she said. “Heather’s hip’s been bothering her, so she didn’t run in the two miles race. She had the fifth fasted time in the mile (1600) on Friday, but she’s still hurting so she’s not going to run.”
Akinyode earned the Eagles’ lone medal, taking third place in the 400 meters with a 1:04.06 time, while placing fourth later in the 200, the event she had won at district the past two years. Two other district runners, Cassie Smalls of Monahans and Erin Sheets of Seminole, placed ahead of the Eagles’ senior.
“Jummy had a little trouble recovering from the quarter (400). She’s just going to have to get a little stronger,” Valenzuela said.
Sophomore Chantel Mazone, who won both the shot put and discus at the West of the Pecos Relays, was out of town for Spring Break, while Valenzuela said Florez, who also placed in Pecos, only competed in one of her two events.
“She had a bad day in the shot, and she wanted to get back to Pecos for the softball game, so she didn’t throw the discus,” she said.
Monahans won the Division II boys title with 92 1/2 points to 80 for Canyon, while Pecos’ 30 points tied them for sixth with Midland Christian. On the girls’ side, Canyon won by a 187-132 margin over Monahans, while the Eagles’ placed 11th based on Akinyode’s 10 points in the 200 and 400 meter races.
Both Eagle teams are hoping to come back to Odessa on April 29-30 for the Region I-3A Track and Field Championships. District competition is two weeks earlier in Fort Stockton, and for the first time this year, the top three finishers from each event will advance to the regional meet.
Pecos Enterprise
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