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Weekly Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Pecos LL squads swept in sectional tournaments
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
It was two and out for both the Pecos 9-10 and 11-12 year old Little League All-Star teams over the weekend, in the West Texas Sectional Baseball Tournaments held in Abilene and at Carlsbad, north of San Angelo.
Playing at the North Concho Little League field where they had won the District 4 title two weeks earlier, the 9-10 year olds were able to stay close to the Midland Northern All-Stars through the first four innings of their opening round game, but saw Midland break things open in the fifth inning, scoring five times on the way to a 9-2 victory Friday afternoon.
Then on Saturday, Pecos took 3-0 and 5-2 leads over Abilene Dixie, but saw Abilene rally to tie the game, first at 6-6 and then at 7-7 after five innings. Pecos then failed to take advantage of a bases-loaded situation in the top of the sixth, while Dixie did in the bottom of the inning, winning by an 8-7 score to oust Pecos from the double-elimination tournament.
Pecos’ 11-12 year olds were playing at Dixie’s field in Abilene against Abilene Southern on Thursday. But after taking 1-0 and then 3-2 leads, the Little Leaguers were shut out over the next three innings by reliever Jay Jarrett, as Southern came back to win by a 7-3 score.
The bats remained quiet the following night against Lubbock Western. Ryan Reagor tossed a two-hit shutout, and Western scored three runs in each of their first two at-bats, on the way to a 13-0 victory over Pecos.
The 9-10 year olds had better luck at bat than the 11-12 year old squad, but they weren’t able to get many solid shots off Midland’s Cody Morris in Friday’s opener.
“We didn’t make good contact, and then we couldn’t catch a break,” said manager Orlando Fuentes. “Even the ones that were hard shots bounced off one’s glove and straight to another one.”
Fuentes was referring to Josh Hernandez’s shot in the top of the fifth inning that went off Kooper Lancaster at third base and right to shortstop Lance White, who threw him out. Earlier, Geronimo Ornelas had just beaten out a line drive off Morris’ hand that bounced right to White in the third inning, with Pecos trailing 3-0.
That came after Morris had made an error on a one-out grounder by Mark Quintana, and it set up Jose Salgado’s two out, two run single that made the score, 3-2. But Salgado would later be hurt by a Midland line drive back to the mound, off the bat of Brandon Hernandez in the fifth inning.
It was Midland’s fourth hit of the inning and made the score 5-2. C.J. Gomez would come on, but allowed three more runs, while Quintana allowed Midland’s final run in the sixth inning.
Midland also took advantage of Pecos’ lack of speed, turning two double plays on the Little Leaguers to get out of jams. Pecos would turn one in that game, but it was another double play on Saturday in the sixth inning turned by Abilene that killed the Little Leaguers’ chance to grab the lead after Dixie tied the game in the fifth inning.
Pecos used three errors and a bases loaded walk to Antonio Rodriguez to grab a 3-0 lead in the first, while Brandon Garnto’s two-run single in the second made it a 5-2 game, after Abilene scored twice off Garnto in the bottom of the first.
Dixie would add two more runs in each of the next two innings, finally tying the game at 6-6 on Ethan Jaquez’s two-run double, after Ornelas had made it 6-4 with an RBI single in the top of the third. Both Garnto and Brian Bollinger allowed only single runs over the next two innings, but while Bollinger was able to survive his sixth inning jam, Garnto couldn’t get through a bases loaded, one-out situation in the bottom of the inning. He did get a strikeout, but Blanton Nicholas then singled on the next pitch to win the game.
In Abilene, neither Pecos nor Southern hit the ball well last Thursday, but Southern took advantage of control problems by starter Linvel Mosby and some errors by Pecos’ outfield to score twice in the second inning and then four more times in the fourth to get the win.
A walk to Matthew Rodriguez, an Arthur Navarette single and a ground out by Ruben Orona gave Pecos a 1-0 lead in the second, an after Abilene took a 2-1 lead in their half of the inning Pecos came back to score twice in the third. A southern error and singles by J. Ross Lara and Kevin Fuentes tied the score, and Lara then came home on a wild pitch by starter Reece Williams.
He left the game after that, and Lara’s run turned out to by the last for Pecos in the tournament, while Abilene took a 6-3 lead in the fourth, and added one more run in the fifth off reliever K.J. Herrera.
Herrera and Lara would collect two-out hits in the first inning of Friday’s game, but Herrera overran third base and was tagged out to end the threat. Pecos would manage just four more base runners the rest of the way off Reager, on two walks and two errors.
Meanwhile, Lubbock’s Brennan Johnson would collect three doubles on the night, the first scoring the game’s first run off Lara in the opening inning, and the second a bases-clearing shot that made it 6-0. Lara settled down after that, allowing just one run over the next three innings, but Western would push across six more runs in their final at-bat against reliever Navarette and Rodriguez.
“Peanut (Mosby) threw a good game, but we just could not get any hits,” said coach Pablo Briones after Friday’s loss. “Tonight we had a couple of hits, but that’s all, and we tried everything we could.”
Eagles set workout schedules for teams
Pecos Eagle volleyball players can pick up their forms for the 2004 volleyball season now through the start of pre-season workouts, on Aug. 2, according to varsity coach Becky Granado.
The forms are available from Granado at the Pecos High School new gym weekdays from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and from 1 to 4 p.m. Two-a-day practice will open on Aug. 2 from 8 to 10 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. for sophomores, from 9 to 11 a.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. for freshmen, and from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. for juniors and seniors.
Players will need to have physical forms filled out and returned to their coaches before beginning practice. Physicals are being offered for $15 per student this Thursday and next Thursday from 2 to 5 p.m. at Dr. Orville Cerna’s office at 9:25 W. Daggett St.
Workouts will also start on Aug. 2 for Pecos Eagle varsity, JV and freshmen football players. Coach Patrick Willis said two-a-days would be held at the Crockett Middle School field while work is continuing on the installation of the new synthetic turf surface at Eagle Stadium.
The two-a-days will be morning workouts, and players need to report to the PHS field house by 6:45 a.m. Players also need to have their physical forms filled out by a doctor and returned to their coaches before they will be allowed to practice.
The volleyball team will hold its first scrimmages on Aug. 6 and 7 in Pecos and Monahans, and will start its 2004 season on Aug. 12 with matches in Wink against the Wildcats and Fort Davis. The Eagles’ football team holds its first scrimmage on Aug. 14 in Andrews, and starts regular season play two weeks later against Midland Christian at the Scharbauer Center in Midland.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2003-04 by Pecos Enterprise
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