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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Eagle girls host Kermit; boys take on Big Spring
The Pecos Eagles girls softball team faces a key game early in their
District 4-3A schedule this afternoon, when they host the Kermit Yellowjackets
at Martinez Field.
Meanwhile, Pecos' boys will be getting their final test before facing
Kermit on Friday in their district baseball opener, when they host the Big
Spring Steers this evening at Eagle Field.
The Eagles and Jackets will begin play at 5 p.m., while Pecos and Big
Spring will start at 6 p.m., as both squads look to overcome error-plagued
losses in their last game.
The girls haven't played since March 7, when they dropped a 12-5 decision
to Monahans, leaving them with a 1-1 record in district and 7-8 on the season.
Walks and an error helped the Loboes take a 2-0 lead in the first inning,
while the Eagles had three errors in the third inning, which combined with
nine Monahans hits to produce eight runs.
Pecos didn't have a hit until the third inning, when Kelsey Flores had
an RBI single. Neftali Salgado had an RBI single in the seventh, and circled
the bases on a Loboes' error.
Kermit is in need of a win even more than Pecos. The Jackets began district
play with a 7-1 loss to Monahans, and then were routed on March 7 by Fort
Stockton, 27-2.
Pecos defeated Kermit in scrimmage play last month, but have not faced
the Jackets since then. "When we saw them their coach said they still were
lacking some girls in basketball, but somebody told me later they didn't
get all of them out," said Eagles' coach Tammy Walls.
The boys' game will Big Spring will be their first against the Steers
since the teams were moved out of the same district in 1998. That was also
the case last Tuesday against San Angelo Lake View, when the Eagles rallied
from an early 1-0 deficit with a six-run second inning and held on to beat
the Chiefs, 6-3.
That was also the Eagles' best defensive performance in the past two
weeks. They made six errors this past Friday against Wimberly, but managed
to outscore the Texans in the semifinals of the Alpine Tournament, 10-9,
but couldn't overcome five errors in the title game against the Bucks on
Saturday and lost by a 6-3 final score.
Jaime Rojo allowed Pecos only four hits, as Alpine dropped the Eagles
to 11-5 on the season. "The sticks weren't there and the defense wasn't
there today, and we paid for it," said Eagles' coach Elias Payan. "They
made the plays when it counted and we didn't."
Big Spring had error problems of their own the previous weekend in losses
to Hereford, Abilene Cooper and Odessa High. Andrew Vizcaino allowed just
eight hits in the extra inning loss to OHS, who beat the Eagles in Pecos
to open the season.
Payan said either senior Rigo Ramirez or junior Jose Reyes would pitch
tonight against the Steers. Ramirez is 2-0, but struggled in Friday's game
against Wimberly, while Reyes is 2-2 after beating Alpine's JV in the opener
of the Bucks' tournament last Thursday.
Orona edged out of state powerlifting berth
Pecos Eagles senior Chris Orona finished fourth in the 198-pound weight
class at the Region I powerlifting competition on March 8 at Floydada, just
missing a trip to the Class 3A state finals, coach Brian Gibson said.
Orona was one of three Pecos competitors at the regional meet, with Hugo
Rodriguez competing at 220 pounds and Pablo Rodriguez lifting in the super-heavyweight
class.
"The regional did not go as well as I anticipated," Gibson said. "Chris
Orona probably should have qualified for state as an alternate, as he did
lift 480 on a squat, which would have bumped him to third."
However, Gibson said the judges did not give Orona a clean lift at that
weight. "You hate to see something like that happen, but that is the nature
of the sport."
Orona ended up with a 460-pound squat thrust lift, to go with a 305-pound
bench press and a 485-pound dead lift for a 1230-pound total. Rodriguez
had 430 on his squat, 275 on the bench press and 475 on the deadlift, while
Rodriguez did 450 on the squad, 285 on the bench and 400 pounds on the deadlift.
"All three lifters competed and tried to push their limits," Gibson said.
"Hugo did not have a great meet, at least for his standards. He very easily
could have placed in this meet, but was more concerned with earning a trip
to the state meet. He took chances he normally would not take.
"Pablo Rodriguez competed in the meet as an alternate. He was the only
lifter at the meet that actually was able to increase his total weight lifted,
as he did that by 15 pounds."
This was the final powerlifting meet for the Eagles, at least for the
immediate future. The 3-year-old program was cut out earlier this month
by the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah school board, as part of a budget cutting measure.
"I really enjoyed this season. The athletes that participated throughout
the year did a great job of competing and I am real proud of each of them
and thank them for their hard work," Gibson said. "I am really sorry that
this sport had to be cut out for next year due to budget modifications.
This is a great chance for young men and women to get stronger both mentally
and physically, but I also understand why it had to be done."
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 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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