State playoffs
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Gallup Lady Bengal Kaiel Blackgoat makes the catch at first base for an out against Bloomfield runner Gerilynn Delegarito April 20 at Gallup High School. The Lady Bengals earned the No. 3 seed for the New Mexico Class 4A state softball tournament and it will host No. 14 Deming Saturday morning.
By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times
ALBUQUERQUE
Class 4A top seed Grants and Class 4A No. 3 seed Gallup will lead area teams into this weekend’s opening round of the New Mexico State Baseball and New Mexico State Softball Championships.
Baseball
After being the No. 2 ranked team in Class 4A for much of the season, Grants earned the top seed for the opening round of the Class 4A state baseball playoffs.
The Pirates (21-5) swept former top seed and district nemesis St. Pius X twice during the regular season.
Grants will host No. 16 seed Deming (10-16) in the best-of-3 series in the first round of the Sweet 16 Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 10 a.m. If needed, a third game will follow.
No. 11 Miyamura (12-11) will travel to No. 6 Goddard (16-10), No. 12 Bloomfield (17-7) will be at No. 5 Artesia (15-11), and No. 13 Aztec (14-10) will visit No. 4 Belen (18-7) in opening round action Friday and Saturday.
In Class 5A, No. 11 Farmington (13-12) will play at No. 6 Centennial (22-4), and No. 12 Piedra Vista (15-11) will visit No. 5 Cleveland (18-7) Friday in its Best of 3 playoffs.
In Class 3A, No. 7 Santa Fe Indian (16-8) will host No. 10 Ruidoso (11-10), No. 9 Zuni (11-7) will visit No. 8 Hatch Valley (12-12), and No. 12 Navajo Prep (9-13) at No. 5 Robertson (14-7) in the first round of state.
In Class 2A, No. 4 seed Rehoboth Christian (17-6) received an opening round bye and will advance to next Tuesday’s state quarterfinals.
No. 10 Laguna Acoma (10-8) played at No. 7 Tularosa (15-7) Wednesday in the first round of state.
Softball
No. 3 seed Gallup (17-9) will host No. 14 Deming (9-16) Saturday at 11 a.m. in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs in a single-elimination contest.
No. 7 Miyamura (16-9) will host No. 10 Belen (14-11) Friday at 4 p.m.
No. 12 Bloomfield (12-14) will play at No. 5 Los Alamos (19-7) Friday at 4 p.m. at the Pojoaque Field. No. 13 Aztec (12-12) will play at No. 4 St. Pius X (17-6) Friday at 4 p.m.
In Class 5A, No. 4 seed Piedra Vista (23-3) will host No. 13 Sandia (15-11) Friday at 4:30 p.m.
No. 11 Farmington (17-9) will visit No. 6 Volcano Vista (17-10) Saturday at 1 p.m. in a first-round single-elimination game.
Pick up Thursday’s Navajo Times at your local newsstands for a more in-depth story.
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