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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, March 8, 1999
Pecos salvages win at Sandhills tourney
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, March 8, 1999 - Nine-run wins normally make Pecos
Eagles' coach Bubba Williams happy. But considering the
circumstances Saturday at the Monahans Sandhills Tournament,
Williams was not in a good mood after Pecos' 13-4 victory
over the Presidio Blue Devils.
That's because the Eagles opened the tournament by losing to
Alpine, 6-5 after blowing a 5-1, then were shut down by
Kermit's Ivor Ramirez on Friday, in a 7-3 loss to the
Yellowjackets. Combine that with Presidio's first two
tournament games, an 11-0 loss to Monahans and a 17-5 defeat
at the hands of Denver City, and Williams' lack of
satifaction at a seventh place finish was understandable.
"We're still flat. We need a leader to step up for us," said
Williams. "We need someone to take charge."
Pecos took a 1-0 lead early against Kermit, only to see the
Jackets score solo runs in the second and third innings and
two more in the fourth to grab a 4-1 lead. John Gutierrez'
two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth cut the lead to
4-3, but Ramirez shut out the Eagles the rest of the way.
Kermit got to pitcher Oscar Rodriguez for four of their 10
hits in the top of the seventh, and scored three times to
give Ramirez some insurance runs. J.J. Chavez had homered
early for Kermit, which had lost a 13-4 scrimmage game to
Pecos last month.
"We didn't hit the ball very well. He struck out 12 of us,"
said Williams. "We also made a couple more errors that hurt
ourselves."
Gutierrez and Joshua Casillas had four of the Eagles' seven
hits, and both also had a good day at bat in the win over
Presidio, though the Blue Devils' defensive work in the
first inning looked like one of Pecos' old Little League
opponents and contributed to a quick 7-0 lead.
Oscar Luna opened the game with his fourth home run of the
season, a shot to left field off Robert Rubio. After a
one-out walk to Casillas, Jeff Martinez and Gutierrez
followed with consecutive doubles for a 3-0 lead and then
the errors began.
Center fielder Jorge Medrano dropped Louis Valencia's fly
ball for a two base error, and first baseman Rene Aguirre
then missed Kevin Bates infield pop, scoring Gutierrez.
Valencia then scored on a wild pitch, Bates went to third on
catcher Ricky Carrasco's throw by Rubio at home plate and he
then scored when Rubio threw it past third baseman Abraham
Ornelas. Ricky Herrera scored the final run of the inning,
doubling to left-center field and moving to third on a bad
relay throw by shortstop Joel Pardo. He then scored on
Rodriguez' sacrifice fly.
Presidio got an unearned run in the first off singles by
Pardo and Carrasco and a throwing error by Valencia at
shortstop trying for an inning-ending double play on Rubio.
But the Eagles would get four more runs in the second, this
time all earned.
Mark Abila did score off an error by second baseman Joshua
Rey, who missed a throw on a stolen base attempt after Abila
was hit by a pitch. But after that Martinez walked, Casillas
reached on an infield single and Gutierrez followed with his
second double of the day.
He and Martinez would then score on sacrifice flies by
Valencia and Bates, and Pecos would then add their final two
runs in the third off Carrasco, who relieved Rubio in the
second and gave up Casillas' first home run of the season, a
two-run score after Martinez was hit by a pitch.
Casillas also picked up his second victory of the season,
striking out nine and allowing five hits in five innings,
though he did run into the same control problems at the end
that forced him out of Thursday's game to Alpine.
The win gave the Eagles a 3-2 record on the season, while
Presidio, which also has 14-4 loss to the Eagles' district
rival Clint on their record, fell to 0-6 overall.
Pecos was scheduled to play Midland High this afternoon, but
Williams said that game has been canceled and the Eagles'
next game will be at 9 a.m. on Thursday in Ira, against
Odessa High in the first round of the Snyder Tournament.
"We've got Chacho (Rodriguez) and Louis (Valencia, who
relieved Casillas on Thursday) with sore arms right now, but
they've got four days to work it out," Williams said. "We'll
bounce back and be ready for Odessa High."
Alpine ended up beating Fort Stockton on Friday, 10-8, then
won the tournament with a 6-4 win Saturday over Monahans.
Kermit won consolation with a 10-8 victory over Denver City,
while Fort Stockton beat Greenwood for third place, 15-7.
Eagles rout Lobos in district opener
PECOS, March 8, 1999 - The Pecos Eagles have never played a
district softball game in which the final score was closer
than 10 runs. But for the first time ever, they were on the
right side of the score Saturday afternoon at El Paso
Mountain View.
The Eagles who were either victims of the 10-run or the
15-run rule in all 10 of their district games during their
first softball season, found their new district much more
agreeable, as they went to Mountain View and came away with
an 11-0 victory over the Lobos.
"It feels great. I didn't know what to expect," said
Eagles' coach Tammy Walls. "We won 11-0 and we really didn't
play all that well."
The Eagles took a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning, and
held that until scoring again in the fourth and fifth
innings. "Their field faces north and the wind was blowing
pretty good or else Becka (Wein) would have hit two over the
fence," Walls said.
"We didn't hit as well as we have, and I think the girls
were a little nervous because it was their first district
ballgame," Walls said. "They didn't know what to expect, but
once they saw they could hit the ball they started gaining
confidence."
Wein was 2-for-4 on the day, as was Katrina Quiroz, while
Ashley Salcido and Nicole Payne had three hits apiece for
the Eagles, who got an extra inning at-bat thanks to the
umpires.
"They didn't call it on the run rule," Walls said, even
though the Eagles scored their final three runs in the sixth
inning. Pitching an extra inning didn't bother Alexa
Marquez, as she finished with a one-hitter and allowed only
five Mountain View runners to reach base.
"They didn't do anything against Alexa, and one of their
girls reached on an error," Walls said. Marquez' record
improved to 4-3 on the season while the Eagles are now 4-4
going into their District 2-4A home opener, at 4 p.m. on
Tuesday against Canutillo.
Track teams gain, lose people at Kermit meet
PECOS, March 8, 1999 - There were a few more subtractions
than additions to the rosters for the Pecos Eagle track
teams on Friday at the Permian Basin Relays in Kermit.
Pecos boys finished fifth for the second week in a row,
scoring 46 points, while Pecos' girls saw their point total
more than cut in half from the season-opening Comanche
Relays, as they managed 24 points and placed sixth overall.
The boys got points from junior Jacob Esparza and the girls
got points from freshman Brandi Harrision they didn't
collect a week earlier, but due to missing runners or
runners who had to leave the meet early a academic events,
neither team fielded a 1600 meter relay team.
The boys also failed to score in the 400 meter relay when
Esparza and Rudy Nunez missed on a handoff.
"We got zero points on the relays this week, so we lost
anywhere from 26 to 32 points," coach Vance Washington said.
"The main thing is overall we showed improvement in every
area."
Distance runner Oscar Medrano was in Austin at a state BPA
event and Orlando Matta had to go to Lubbock early after
placing second in the 800 meter run, while Washington said
hurdler Len Carson missed the bus to Kermit. Esparza took
his spot in the 400 relay, after he had gotten the Eagles'
first gold medal of the season, winning the triple jump with
a 40-foot-7½ effort.
Matta ran a 2:08.43 in the 800. "We sent him on some cross
country training, and he cut two seconds off his time this
week," Washington said.
Pecos' other medals came from Daniel Terrazas, who placed
second in the 400 meters with a 21.70 time and third in the
200, with a 23.50.
"Daniel had a great race," said Washington of the 200, for
which Terrazas was a last-minute entry. "Jacob coming out
also really helped us, even though we had that blunder in
the relay. But they just need to get their timing down."
Harrison picked up the girls' only silver medal of the day,
a second in the 3200 meter run, with a 14:05 time. Liz
Parent was fourth in that race and later finished third in
the 800 meters, with a 2:42.23 time.
The girls did get a sixth out of the 400 meter relay and a
fifth in the 800, but had to skip the 1600 when Shaye Lara
suffered a muscle twinge while running the 100 meter hurdles.
In the field events, the Eagles got points from Julie Lujan,
who was fourth in the discus and fifth in the shot put.
Overall, Monahans won the boys division with 147 points to
142 for Crane, while Greenwood's girls took their division
by a 192-120 margin over Monahans.
Both Eagle track teams will have this weekend off for Spring
Break. The boys return to action on March 19-20 at the West
Texas Relays in Odessa, while the girls go to the Mustang
Relays in Andrews on March 20.
Tennis Carnival set for March 18
The second annual USTA Tennis Carnival is scheduled for
Thursday, March 18 at the Pecos High School tennis courts, according
to Pecos Eagles' tennis coach Bernadette Ornelas.
"We had a big turnout last year, and we're hoping to do as
well," Ornelas said last week.
The event is sponsored by the United States Tennis
Association to promote the sport among elementary school-age
boys and girls. The event is free and will take place from 6
to 7:30 p..m. at the PHS tennis courts.
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 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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