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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Tuesday, February 15, 2000
Eagles face Tors in softball opener
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Feb. 15, 2000 -- The third season of Pecos Eagle softball play
gets underway this afternoon in Lamesa against the Golden Tornadoes, and
coach Tammy Walls has a little more continuity on her squad than most major
league teams can manage, with virtually her entire team from last year
back for the 2000 season.
That includes all nine starters from last year's playoff squad, including
pitcher Alexa Marquez, who got in three innings of work on Saturday in
a scrimmage game at Kermit.
"Alexa did good for the first three innings," Walls said. "We played
a strong nine innings, and hit the ball well and played defense very well
for the first scrimmage of the season.
"I saw some improvement, especially in batting. I think all of our starting
nine had a good base shot, and we still didn't have Beca (Wein), who led
us in batting last year," Walls said. The Eagles' catcher was at the regional
swim meet on Saturday, and was out for her first day of practice on Monday.
Aside from Wein and Marquez, the Eagles other returning starters from
last year's team on the infield are Jessica Rodriguez at first base, Ashley
Salcido at second, Katrina Quiroz at shortstop and Valerie Gonzales at
third base. In the outfield the Eagles have Mireya Medrano, Kathy Maldonado
and Nicole Payne returning.
"The only two seniors are Katrina and Valerie, all the rest are either
sophomores or juniors," Walls said.
Among the newcomers, she said, "The people I've been the most impressed
with so far are Maricela Arenivas. She did an outstanding job on Saturday
after not playing last year, and Christina Arenivas and Neftali Salgado
also did real well."
Aside from Marquez at pitcher, Walls said she tried Salcido and freshman
Jennifer Mirales against Kermit. "Jennifer looked pretty good. She even
struck out a batter," said Walls. "Ashley Salcido pitched and also did
really well.
After a one-win season in 1998, the Eagles improved to 12-7 a year ago,
going 9-1 in District 2-4A play to take first over Clint. The Lions also
have most of their players back from last year, while all the other district
teams, like the Eagles, are in only their third year of play, which means
they also could look far different from a year ago.
"We can't take anything for granted," Walls said. "I know teams in the
district are going to be trying to take it away from us because we won
it last year. You can't do anything about that, but so long as we set goals
for ourselves and accomplish those goals and see improvement every game,
I'm happy."
Pecos got their first-ever home win last season over Lamesa and today's
game will be the first of three in four days for the Eagles. They'll play
their home opener on Thursday against Fort Stockton, and then go to Monahans
on Friday to face the Loboes.
Kermit player dies, scrimmage cancelled
PECOS, Feb. 15, 2000 -- The Pecos Eagles' varsity baseball scrimmage against
the Kermit Yellowjackets scheduled for today has been cancelled, due to
the death of one of the Kermit players on Sunday, Eagles' coach Bubba Williams
said.
Omar Gallardo, 16, died Sunday at Winkler County Memorial Hospital.
"The Kermit coach called me and said he died of an aneurysm," Williams
said. "Gallardo was Kermit's starting first baseman last season.
Funeral services for Gallardo are scheduled for Wednesday in Kermit.
Williams said the Eagles and Yellowjackets may reschedule the scrimmage
before the start of regular season play. The scrimmage was the last on
Pecos' schedule before their regular season opener, on Feb. 25 at home
against Monahans.
Girls finish eighth in Big Spring tournament
PECOS, Feb. 15, 2000 -- Frozen greens were not a problem for once at the
Big Spring Invitational, but the Pecos Eagle girls did have some problems
on Saturday that cost them one spot in the final standings.
The Eagles placed eighth in the 21-team tournament, shooting a 359-365-724
for 36 holes. "Pampa came up and got us the second day, so we finished
eighth," said Eagles' coach Tina Hendrick.
Snyder won the tournament over Abilene High on a tiebreaker, after both
teams finished with 653 scores. Fort Stockton, which was tied with Abilene
High after the opening round, finished third at 665, followed by Andrews
at 674, Abilene Cooper at 686, Amarillo Tascosa at 707 and Pampa, which
shot a 352 on Saturday to pass Pecos and finish with a 719 total. Lamesa
was ninth, 27 strokes behind the Eagles at 751, and the host Steers finished
10th, with a 785 score.
The teams played two different courses in the tournament, but Hendrick
said the change wasn't what hurt the Eagles on Saturday.
"It wasn't a tougher course. They just didn't stay focused the second
day," Hendrick said. "One or two of them were a little sick, but that's
no excuse. We just lost our concentration a little."
Lauren Martinez had the low round both days for Pecos, shooting an 86
on Friday and an 85 Saturday for a 171 total. Salem Mitchell was next with
an 89-87-176, followed by Amanda Stickels with an 89-97-186. Cassie Foster
and Brandi Bradley both shot 193s for the tournament, Foster with 97-96
scores and Bradley with rounds of 95 and 98.
Monahans, which was one of the teams trailing Pecos in the tournament,
will host the Eagles in a dual meet on Saturday, while the Eagles' junior
varsity players will go to Andrews for a tournament on Wednesday. "I set
up that date with Monahans just for practice," Hendrick said. "After that
we'll go back and see how we do the following week in Fort Stockton."
Pecos' hoop season ends in Canutillo
PECOS, Feb. 15, 2000 -- A 220-mile trip on a Tuesday night is about as
bad a way to close out what has been a bad season for the Pecos Eagles'
basketball team. But that's what the Eagles have to do today, as they get
their final shot at avoiding avoid a winless 1999-2000 season against a
team that can clinch the District 2-4A title with a victory.
The Eagles will go to Canutillo to face the Golden Eagles, starting
at 7 p.m. CST. The Eagles come into play with a 0-9 record and an 0-23
mark for the season, while Canutillo stands 7-2 in district, and thanks
to an upset win by Fabens over San Elizario on Friday, can clinch the district
championship with a victory.
If nothing else, the Eagles would like to avoid a repeat of either their
trip out west on Friday or their first game of the season against Canutillo
last month. The Golden Eagles jumped out to a quick 9-1 lead, led 21-8
after one period and went on to a 69-34 victory. Last Friday, the Eagles
lost by an 85-49 final score at El Paso Mountain View, in a game where
the Lobos took a 27-3 lead over Pecos after one period.
"We're going to play hard. There's no doubt in my mind we're going to
play hard," said Eagles' coach Tino Acosta about tonight's game. "The one
thing we did develop this season is the attitude we're going to play hard
and not lay down and die for anybody. That's something to carry into next
season."
Tonight is the final game for Pecos' two leading scorers, senior posts
Hector Rodriguez and Adrian Rayos. Rodriguez put in 20 points in Friday's
loss to Mountain View, while Rayos led the Eagles with 10 in last month's
loss to Canutillo. Golden Eagles' post Frank Lerma collected 24 points
that night, while guard Noe Cuevas added 12.
Lewis freed by judge on $1 million bond
By JUSTIN BACHMAN
Associated Press Writer
ATLANTA, Feb. 15, 2000 - Ray Lewis was free to return to Maryland after
a judge gave the Baltimore Ravens linebacker a $1 million bond allowing
him to await trial on murder charges at home instead of in jail.
After hearing from Lewis' family, two professional football players
and Ravens owner Art Modell, Superior Court Judge Doris Downs ruled Monday
that Lewis posed no significant risk to flee or to intimidate witnesses
in the case.
Lewis, 24, and two companions are charged with murder in the Jan. 31.
stabbing deaths of two men during a brawl at a post-Super Bowl party. He
had been held without bail since his arrest later that day.
Lewis was indicted Friday on murder charges along with Reginald Oakley,
31, of Baltimore and Joseph Sweeting, 34, of Miami. Sweeting surrendered
to Atlanta police Monday; Oakley remains at large.
Two NFL stars and Ravens owner Art Modell testified for Lewis at the
day-long hearing, calling the Pro Bowler a responsible, gentle-natured,
dependable man who zealously donated his time and money to charitable causes.
Modell testified that he was impressed when Lewis spent some of his
signing bonus money to buy his mother a house after the Ravens selected
him in the first round of the 1996 draft.
"There's no question in my mind that he would be dependable and live
up to his obligations, no matter what it is," Modell said, calling the
two-time team MVP "a good citizen for the Baltimore Ravens."
"He's held in the highest esteem by his fellow players and his coaches,"
he said.
The bond requires Lewis to stay in Maryland unless he is traveling to
Georgia for court appearances or to meet with his lawyers and doesn't permit
him to visit Florida, where his fiancee and two of his children live.
Downs also required that $200,000 of the bail be in cash and said Lewis
cannot use alcohol or drugs of any kind while he is out. She also said
Lewis must be home every night by 9 p.m.
The judge also imposed a gag order on all parties in the case.
Lawyers in the case declined to comment on the bond, but one investigator
said Lewis has sufficient money to flee if he wanted to do so.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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