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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
April 2, 2001
Eagles survive rough start to score 7-5 win
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, April 2, 2001 -Hitting has been the biggest problem for the Canutillo
Golden Eagles so far in the 2001 baseball season. But you wouldn't know
it by the first inning of Friday's game against the Pecos Eagles.
Canutillo collected six hits off pitcher Angel Villalobos, and combined
with two Eagle errors they gave the visitors a quick 4-0 lead. The Golden
Eagles then used two more hits and an error in the second to go up by a
5-1 score, after Pecos had pushed across an unearned run in their first
at-bat.
But that turned out to be all Canutillo would score on the night. Villalobos
settled down, and survived a quartet of two-out jams in the third, fourth,
fifth and sixth innings, while the Eagles were able to scratch out runs
in the second through fifth innings to rally for a 7-5 victory, and remain
tied for first in the District 2-4A standings.
"One thing I liked about the game was they came out hitting Angel, but
we didn't give up," said Eagles' coach Bubba Williams. "We might not have
played our best, but when you come back like that it looked pretty good."
Back-to-back errors by outfielders Rigo Ramirez and Alex Garcia with
one out in the first got Canutillo on the scoreboard. Both misplayed singles
by Carlos Torres and Jesse Ramirez into errors. Torres scored on the second
error and Ramirez came home on an Eddie Hita ground out for a 2-0 lead.
But after that, the next four batters for Canutillo singled, with Edgar
Munoz and Joe Rodriguez' hits scoring Manny Jimenez and Paco Molinar. Villalobos
got out of the inning after that, but Julian Lopez singled to open the
second inning and after an error by third baseman Matthew Levario, he would
score on a base hit by Hita.
That got back the run Lopez had given up in the first, thanks to his
own bad pickoff throw to first base. It allowed Garcia to go to third base
with one out, from where he scored on Mason Abila's sacrifice fly. And
Lopez helped the Eagles again in the second, balking Rudy Magana to third
after his two-out double, and then scoring him on a wild pitch.
In the third, it was control problems by Lopez that helped the Eagles
out. He walked three batters in the inning, beginning with Richard Rodriguez,
who then scored on Garcia's single to left field. One out later, Lopez
walked Villalobos and Barney Rodriguez to load the bases, and then got
a break, when Molinar fielded Joey Ortega's grounder to shortstop with
the infield in and opted to try for an inning-ending double play. The throw
to second got Rodriguez, but Ortega was safe and Garcia scored to cut the
lead to 5-4.
Pecos took the lead with two more runs in the fourth, again without
benefit of a big hit. Rigo Ramirez beat out an infield hit and ended up
on second when Joe Rodriguez threw the ball past Jimenez at first base.
Richard Rodriguez then blooped a high pop up just fair down the left field
line for a single, and went to second on the throw to third base. Garcia
then scored Ramirez with a grounder to shortstop, and Lopez then wild pitched
Pecos into the lead, as Rodriguez scored.
The Eagles' insurance run in the fifth game on a throwing error by Molinar
on Magana's two-out grounder to shortstop, and an RBI single by Ramirez.
The Eagles might have had more, but Ramirez at third base made several
good defensive plays on the Eagles, while right fielder Luigi Rose robbed
Ortega of a double in the second inning, just before Magana's double to
nearly the same spot in right-center field.
"We didn't hit the ball the way I'd like, but you can't take anything
away from Canutillo. Their third baseman made some good plays and made
one throw from his knees, and that right fielder make a heck of a catch
on Joey," Williams said.
Meanwhile, Villalobos was keeping Canutillo from getting any more big
two out hits after the second inning. He fanned Torres after two hits put
runners on first and third with two outs in the third inning, got Munoz
too pop to shortstop after a two out single and error in the fourth, got
Ramirez to bounce into a fielder's choice to Magana at second with two
on and two out in the fifth and then got out of a slightly tougher jam
in the fifth, when Magana and Rodriguez turned an inning ending double
play on Munoz, after a Hita infield pop up fell in for a single and Molinar
blooped a hit to center field.
Canutillo ended up with 14 hits to only five for the Eagles, but Villalobos
was still able to pick up his third victory in four decisions, while the
Eagles improved to 3-0 in district and 12-5 on the season. Canutillo is
now 1-2 in district and - overall.
Pecos has only one game scheduled this week due to the District 2-4A
track meet this coming weekend. They'll host El Paso Mountain View on Tuesday,
and then take a week off before hosting San Elizario on April 10. Mountain
View fell to 0-3 in district with a 13-6 loss to Clint, while San Eli stayed
tied with Pecos for first by beating Fabens, 11-5.
Eagles have high, low points at Crane
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, April 2, 2001 -The final pre-district track meet for the Pecos
Eagles answered a couple of questions while creating a few more for both
the boys and girls squads at the Golden Crane Invitational Saturday afternoon.
Pecos' boys scored 23 points and picked up one medal on the afternoon,
a third place finish in the 3200 by Isaiah Juarez. Pecos' girls got 36
points and three medals, thirds by shot putter Stephanie Herrera and 3200
meter runner Mari Martinez and 800 meter runner Christina Arenivas, though
both teams were shorthanded in their best events so far this season.
The boys had to do without 400 meter runner Daniel Terrazas, who missed
the preliminaries to take SAT tests. He was still able to run in the 400
and 1600 meter relays, where the Eagles placed fifth, while the girls went
with one new runner in the 800 meter relay and as a result had a handoff
problem that cost them a shot at a third place medal.
The boys also got a fourth place finish from Peter Juarez in the triple
jump, a fifth from Nolan Blount in the 3200 meter run, and fifth and sixth
place results from Justin Mora and Will Armstrong in the pole vault.
"I'm happy with some results and unhappy with others, mainly towards
the end of the day. There was a lack of concentration," said boys' coach
Jerry Parent. Pecos failed to place any runner in the top six in an individual
event after the 3200 meter run, and two slow legs on the 1600 meter relay
caused the Eagles to run a 3:41 time, three seconds slower than a week
ago.
"I may have to do some juggling this week for district," Parent said.
"I make take him (Ricky Plummer) out of the half mile and put him in both
relays and the quarter (800 meter dash). It he could run a 53 (second)
split, he could place there at district."
The girls failed to qualify their 400 meter relay team, but got fourth
place in the 800 and 1600 meter run, though coach Lily Talamantez said,
"I had to do some subbing because a couple of my girls were hurt."
Talamantez held Michelle Saenz out of the 800 meter relay after she
placed fifth in the 800 meter run. "She said her knee was hurting and I
wanted to give her more time to rest to see if she could run the mile (1600
meter) relay," she said. Freshman Pilar Juarez ran in her spot in the 800
relay and left a little early on the first handoff, which cost the Eagles
a few seconds overall. "That's the first time she's run that race, and
she was a little nervous," Talamantez said.
Crane's boys and Midland Greenwood's girls took the division titles
at the meet, which featured number of the Eagles former, and possibly future
district rivals, in Fort Stockton, Monahans, Kermit, Alpine and Presidio.
The Eagles' district rivals for this year and next year will join Pecos
in Canutillo on Friday and Saturday for the District 2-4A meet, with the
top two finishers advancing to Region I-4A competition at San Angelo on
April 27-28.
Pecos stays in first with win at San Elizario
PECOS, April 2, 2001 -The Pecos Eagles opened up some room between themselves
and their closest District 2-4A softball rival on Friday, as they scored
a 15-5 win in San Elizario over their Eagle counterparts.
The Eagles, who went into Friday with a half-game lead over San Eli
in the District 2-4A standings, jumped out to a 6-0 lead on the host Eagles
before San Elizario got on the board. The teams traded runs in the third,
fourth and fifth innings, but then Pecos was able to put the game away
by scoring five times in the sixth inning, and pitcher Stephanie Herrera
then retired the side in the sixth to give the Eagles the win under the
10-run rule.
Herrera, who had shut down Clint and Fabens in relief to get wins, then
one-hit Canutillo in the Eagles' previous, game, was touched for earned
runs for the first time in district play on Friday. But coach Tammy Walls
said, "Stephanie had a good game. One girl hit the ball hard, but their
other hits were bloops in the gaps."
Meanwhile, the Eagles got to pitcher Valerie Soto throughout the afternoon,
though they didn't come up with a big inning until the sixth. "She was
the best pitcher we've see in district so far, but she had some control
problems and we took advantage," Walls said. "We were a little more patient
and when she threw strikes, we hit the ball hard."
Walls said Jessica Rodriguez went 2-for-3 on the day, and Rebecca Wein
and Ashley Salcido had doubles in the victory. "Defensively we looked real
good," Walls added. "Kathy Maldonado had a good game in centerfield."
The win improved Pecos' record to 4-0 in district and 7-9 on the season,
while San Elizario fell to 3-2 in district and 7-9 overall.
The Eagles go to Clint on Tuesday for what was to have been the start
of the second half of their district schedule. But last Tuesday's rain-out
against El Paso Mountain View means the game will be the midpoint of the
season for the Eagles, who began 2-4A play with a 13-9 win over Clint.
Pecos will make up their game against Mountain View this Thursday, starting
at 4 p.m. at Martinez Field.
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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