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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Wednesday, October 18, 2000
Eagles scratch by Lobos, get playoff berth
PECOS, Oct. 18, 2000 -- Persevering. Surviving, Hanging on by your fingernails.
That's what the Pecos Eagles did Tuesday night to earn their
fifth straight trip to the Class 4A volleyball playoffs, with a
three-game victory in El Paso over the Mountain View Lobos.
The Eagles dropped the opening game to Mountain View, 15-9,
then blew a 9-0 lead in Game 2 against the Lobos, before coming back
to score a 17-15 victory. Then in the deciding game, the Eagles
were able to keep the Lobos from coming all the way back from a 12-6
deficit, stopping the rally at 12-11 and going on to win by a 15-11
final score.
"We had to work last night. Mountain View was a
totally different team than the first time we played them," said Eagles
coach Becky Granado.
Pecos ripped Mountain View at home last month by 15-2,
15-4 scores, which Granado said may have hurt the Eagles at the start
of play on Tuesday. "They were hustling and my girls weren't
ready for that," she said. "I think we
felt like we were going to go in there and Mountain View was going
to stand around and do nothing."
Instead, hitters Diana Gonzalez and Laura Torres helped
the Loboes turn a 5-5 tie in the opener into a 10-5 lead, and Mountain
View would then find some holes on the back line at the finish, after
the Eagles cut the deficit to 12-9.
"I think our defense was what let us down last night. They
really weren't hitting the ball hard, they were just getting us at the
corners, because our back line kids were leaving them open," Granado said.
Still, the Eagles' coach was happy her team was able to
get things back together in Game 2, after the Lobos turned their
9-0 deficit into an 11-10 lead.
"I was proud to see them hold their composure, because we
could have very easily given up and lost after they came back," she
said. Pecos came back to take a 14-12 and had game point twice
before the Lobos again tied the score. The Eagles would eventually take
15-14 and 16-15 leads before finally winning on a bad spike by
Yadira Silva.
In the third game, Mountain View led 4-3 when Pecos went on
a 9-2 run to go ahead by six, then were able to get things back
under control after the Lobos staged one last rally. Philly Fobbs again
led Pecos with 14 kills on the night, while Ashley Salcido added
seven and D'Andra Ortega had five. Salcido's kills came mostly in
the final two games.
The win put Pecos into the playoffs with a 7-2 record and
kept them tied for first with Clint, 15-13, 16-14 winners over
Fabens. Mountain View, meanwhile, fell into a tie for the third and final
playoff spot with San Elizario at 5-4 and will be rooting for the Eagles
this Saturday, when they close out their regular season by
hosting San Eli, in a 4 p.m. match. San Elizario defeated Canutillo, 15-9,
15-11 on Tuesday.
Pecos also won Tuesday's junior varsity game, 15-13,
16-14, and also took the freshman match against the Lobos. No score
was available for the ninth graders' games.
Bears rope Cowgirls, end losing streak
PECOS, Oct. 18, 2000 -- A five-game losing streak on the season, and a
far longer one in district play, came to an end for the Balmorhea Bears
Tuesday night, as they rallied at home to defeat the Grandfalls-Royalty
Cowgirls by 4-15, 16-14, 15-12 scores.
The Bears had played better in the first half of District 2-A than
in previous season, but until Tuesday night, they hadn't fared any
better in the standings against Grandfalls, Wink and Buena Vista. And it
didn't look like that was going to change after the opening game blowout.
"The first game was like a carbon copy of the way our last three
or four matches have started out," said coach Gary Gallego. "We
started out cold and looked terrible. The best thing about the first game
was it was over."
Gallego said things started much better in the second game,
as Chella Arredondo helped serve the Bears out to a 6-1 lead.
But Grandfalls would rally to tie the score at 6-all and would lead
12-11 before Balmorhea tied things up. The Bears and Cowgirls would
be tied at 13-13 and 14-14 before Balmorhea was able to win it, on
a kill by freshman Amber Briceno.
"The third match was back-and-forth. Celina Rodriguez made
two aces in a row for the 10th and
11th points to put us up 11-10,"
Gallego said. Balmorhea would led 13-12 when Toby Gomez scored on an
ace serve, and Rodriguez won it with a hit, her
16th kill of the match.
Gallego said Janie Jones and Julia Garlick did a good job in
place of setter Terri Hernandez, who was sick and missed Tuesday's match.
"She was too sick to play, but Janie and
Julia did a super job," Gallego said. Garlick had 15 assists to go along with
eight kills, while Jones had nine assists on the evening.
The victory puts the Bears at 1-3 in district and 12-10 on the season.
It assures Balmorhea of no worse than a .500 record this season, the first
time the Bears have been near that mark in years.
"I know Balmorhea in the past has gotten used to losing, and that's one
of the hardest things to do, to change the mindset for losing," Gallego said. "I
still think we can beat Wink on Saturday and have a shot at the playoffs."
The Bears will face the Wildcats in Wink, starting at 5 p.m., and close
out regular season play next Tuesday by hosting Buena Vista.
Yanks ride into Subway Series
By RONALD BLUM
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK, Oct. 18, 2000 — Father vs. son. Brother vs. sister.
Husband vs. wife.
That's what's happening in New York right now.
All because of Yankees vs. Mets.
Twenty-four hours, 38 minutes after the New York Mets won
their fourth National League pennant, the New York Yankees followed them
into the World Series, winning their fourth American League title in five
years, their record 37th overall.
Pulling up to baseball's biggest platform is the first Subway
Series since 1956.
"I hope that people behave themselves, because it's going to
split a few families up, I think," Yankees manager Joe Torre said Tuesday
night after a thrilling come-from-behind 9-7 win over Seattle Mariners won
the AL championship series 4-2. "I have a feeling the city is not going to
be the same for this next 10 days — and maybe for some time after that."
New York appeared headed towards a Game 7 with the
Mariners instead of a Game 1 with the Mets after Seattle took a 4-0 lead in the
fifth inning. But the Yankees answered with three runs of their own in
the bottom of the fifth and then in the seventh, David Justice hit a
three-run homer off Arthur Rhodes — a towering drive that,
appropriately, headed toward the No. 4 train. It landed in the right-field upper deck.
The Yankees were ahead 6-4. The old ballpark rocked.
"We want the Mets!" the fans soon chanted.
"It was magical," said Justice, one of seven players on the 25-man
roster acquired during the season. "It was unbelievable when I rounded
the bases, to see this place erupt."
Having won three straight pennants, the Yankees try to
become the first team since the 1972-74 Oakland Athletics to win
three straight World Series.
Starting Saturday night at Yankee Stadium, it's baseball's equivalent
of Hatfields vs. McCoys, Capulets vs. Montagues.
"It will be the ultimate experience," Mets general manager Steve
Phillips said.
It's been 44 years — excuse us, Reggie, for borrowing your
number — since the last Subway Series. Instead of Willie, Mickey and
the Duke, it will be Bernie, Benny and El Duque.
For New York baseball fans, these are the good old days.
"I was at that last one, when Don Larsen pitched the perfect
game against Brooklyn," Torre said.
To get to a Subway Series, you have to take an El (elevated line),
and the Yankees got there riding El Duque, although it was not the smoothest
of trips.
Orlando Hernandez became the first pitcher to go 8-0 in postseason
play, but allowed six runs and seven hits in seven-plus innings. Never before
had he allowed more than three earned runs in a postseason start.
"Probably the first easy thing we've done this year is get it over
in six," first baseman Tino Martinez said. "It's been an absolute battle, but
we never gave up, and here was are playing in the World Series again."
After Justice's homer, which earned him series MVP honors,
the Yankees broke loose, with Paul O'Neill hitting a two-run single and
Jose Vizcaino, whose infield single started the inning, adding a sacrifice fly for
a 9-4 lead.
It turned out they needed it. This year, the Yankees don't
steamroll, they sneak by.
Alex Rodriguez, who went 4-for-5 in perhaps his final game for
the Mariners, homered leading off the eighth and Hernandez left after a walk.
Mariano Rivera relieved and Mr. Automatic stalled, much like a
New York subway car. He allowed a double to John Olerud, then a double by
Mark McLemore that hit off first base as two more runs scored, ending
his postseason scoreless streak at 33 1-3 innings over three years.
But Rivera held on in the ninth.
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
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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