|
Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Friday, March 1, 2002
Eagles trounce Tors, face Bucks today
By JON FULLBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles have had more fun on the Monahans High School baseball
field so far this season than they've had in their own ballpark. But
even though they're playing in the Monahans Sandhills Baseball Tournament,
the Eagles will have to try and continue their success in Kermit today,
when they face the Alpine Bucks in a 3 p.m. quarterfinal game at the
Yellowjackets' baseball field.
The Eagles, who defeated Monahans on the Loboes' home field last week
to open the season, then lost at home to the Loboes and had a struggle to
hold on for a win over Fort Stockton on Monday, hammered Lamesa on Thursday
in their opening round game, 11-1. Barney Rodriguez, who pitched the Eagles'
10-inning victory last week in Monahans, only had to go five innings this
time to get this victory, allowing just three hits while striking out seven.
"Barney did a good job. When he's got his curveball going, nobody's going
to hit him," said Williams of Rodriguez, who was bothered by a stiff neck
on Wednesday and was questionable at the time for Thursday's game.
The Eagles came into the game off a 13-11 win at home over Fort Stockton,
in which they built a 13-5 lead and then had to hold on for the victory.
Freddy Torres' two-run home run in the fourth inning turned out to be the
game winner, while on Thursday Torres ended the game with a grand-slam home
run off reliever Alfredo Morales with one out in the fifth inning.
Pecos took advantage of some Lamesa fielding problems to take a 1-0 lead
in the first inning. Third baseman Adam Garza couldn't get to Richard Rodriguez'
lead-off grounder and then with two away, right fielder Neal Vela misplayed
Torres' deep fly ball into a run-scoring error.
Lamesa tied the game in the second, when Landon Mahurin led off with a
single, went to second on a passed ball and scored on Garza's double to right-center
field. But after a sacrifice bunt by Vela, Barney Rodriguez came back to
strike out Derrick Hunter and Anthony Hernandez to end the threat, and Pecos
took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning with two runs off starter
Koby Page.
Oscar Parada singled home Matthew Levario, who walked to lead off the
inning, and then scored on Richard Rodriguez' RBI single. Page got out of
trouble after that and got through the third inning untouched, but in the
fourth the Eagles scored four more times to up their lead to 7-1.
Parada would single and Richard Rodriguez doubled to start off the inning,
and both scored when Rigo Ramirez chopped a single to right through the drawn-in
infield. One out later Torres singled home Ramirez, and he would come in
later after another error by Garza and a single by Levario to right-center
field.
Parada would again single to open the fifth inning off Morales, who relieved
Page to start the inning. He then, stole second and went to third on Rodriguez'
fly out and was able to get back to the base safely on a fielder's choice
grounder by Mason Abila after a walk to Ramirez. Torres then connected for
his second home run in as many games, a shot over the 344 sign in left field
to end the game.
Defensively, the Eagles had a pair of errors in the game on plays at first,
as Ramirez missed a throw from Abila on a passed ball third strike in the
third inning and Barney Rodriguez had a low pickoff throw to first an inning
later. Both game with two outs, and the Eagles were able to get out of trouble
when Levario threw out Marcus Bunton on a grounder down the line at third
and Richard Rodriguez got Hunter on a slow bouncer to shortstop.
"We got good defense, good pitching a good hitting," said Williams. "The
bottom of the lineup hit good with Oscar Parada getting three hits and we
put the ball in play."
Today, Williams said Rodriguez would start on the mound against Alpine,
which won their tournament opening game from Denver City on Thursday by a
5-4 score. Rodriguez went the distance last Saturday against Monahans, allowing
six runs on 10 hits in a 6-3 loss to the Loboes.
The winner of today's game will come back at 6 p.m. for the tournament
semifinal game in Kermit, while the loser will play in the fifth place game
in Monahans on Saturday, though weather conditions could affect the tournament's
final day.
Pecos' Ornelas gets 2-4A all-defensive honors
Pecos Eagles' sophomore Natalia Ornelas was named to the all-defensive
basketball team for District 2-4A in voting on Wednesday by the district's
coaches, while three other Eagles received honorable mention, coach Veronica
Valenzuela said.
Pecos struggled to a 0-10 record in district this season after just missing
the playoffs a year ago, and had no players on the first or second team squads.
Ornelas, one of two junior varsity players brought up a month into the season,
was one of six players named to the all-defensive squad, while the honorable
mention selections for the Eagles were seniors Christina Arenivas and Jessica
Rodriguez and junior Tiana Terry, who were the teams' three leading scorers
this season.
Canutillo senior Brenda Gonzales was named the district's Most Valuable
Player, beating out Clint's Marissa Arnold, as the two teams both finished
8-2 in the final 2-4A standings. Other first team selections included Canutillo's
Dadia Garcia, El Paso Mountain View's Laura Torres, Fabens Rebecca Alarcon
and San Elizario's Valerie Soto.
Second team selections were Clint's Karina Card, Canutillo's Lorie Estrada,
Diana Gonzalez and Vanessa Ortiz from Mountain View and Fabens' Paula Portillo.
Joining Ornelas on the all defensive team were two other sophomores, San
Elizario's Jessica Rivera and Fabens' Lizette Provencio, along with junior
Selina Moreno of Clint and seniors Angela Reyes of Mountain View and Andrea
Acosta of Canutillo.
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 newsdesk@nwol.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 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
|
