Kristin Griego Rio Rancho Tournament: Aztec softball outhits KC for 5th place

RIO RANCHO, N.M.

Spurred by a 16-hit effort, the Aztec Lady Tigers defeated district rival Kirtland Central in the fifth-place game of the Kristin Griego Rio Rancho Tournament on Saturday.

“If we have a good attitude and do what we need to do, we can play with pretty much anybody,” said Aztec coach Joshua French, whose team improved to 7-10 overall. “But credit to Kirtland. They have gotten a lot better. The coach over there has done a fantastic job with that team. They’re a team that we’re going to have to take seriously.”

The Tigers went 4-1 during the three-day tournament as Aztec reached the quarterfinals with a pair of wins over 5A teams West Mesa (8-2) and Rio Rancho (13-12).

In the quarters, Aztec came up short to 5A Carlsbad, 8-5, on Friday afternoon. The Tigers bounced back with a 9-3 win over Sandia to set up its play with KC in the consolation championship game.

“Those are all quality teams,” French said. “Those teams are going to be state playoff teams, so for sure this was a good tournament for us. It’s going to get us ready for district.”

The Broncos (7-9 overall) reached the consolation championship by beating the likes of 5A schools Atrisco Heritage Academy (11-1), Cleveland (12-11). KC came up short to Sandia (14-12) and Hobbs (7-2).

“I think the girls did great this weekend,” first-year KC coach Dillon Mason said. “I thought we did really well. We didn’t start off the way we wanted to against Sandia, but we still gave a good fight. We should have walked out of that one winning, but, you know, it’s the little stuff that we got to work on.

“And then we had good run there,” he added. “You know, we went after it. We had a hell of a game against Atrisco. We had a hell of a game against Hobbs. And then, you know, we did what we needed to with Cleveland.”

In the consolation championship, the Broncos gave up six runs each in the first and third frames to Aztec. Other than that, the KC coach believes his team played on even terms with the Tigers.

“They had some good hits, but I think in some spurts we played above them,” Mason said. “We just gotta get it out of our heads and remember that we’re a whole new team and a whole new program.”

The Tigers had five hits in that opening frames which was highlighted by a two-run homer by junior Kamora Henry as Aztec led 6-0 heading into the bottom of the first.

KC rattled off the next five runs, scoring one in the first and four in the next frame. The second-inning spurt included a two-run double from outfielder Hailey Loyd, who also earned some pitching duties for the Broncos.

After KC cut their lead to 6-5, Aztec batted around its lineup for five hits including a pair of extra base hits from outfielder Keanu Justice and second baseman Cheyenne Yellow.

Justice nailed an RBI double while Yellow cleared the bases for a two-run double as Aztec opened up a 12-5 cushion.

“When we’re going, we’re hard to beat,” French said. “When our bats gets going and when we hit the ball good, we’re hard to stop.”

And while KC plated one run each in the third, fourth and fifth, the Tigers put across two runs in the fourth and four more in the six as the game reached its time limit.

Hitting-wise, the Tigers had three players that collected three hits with shortstop Alexyn Candelaria, Yellow and Henry going 3-of-4 at the plate.

In the circle, Henry gave up eight runs on nine hit in six innings of work. The junior aced finished with three strikeouts.

“Kimora is one of the toughest kids that I’ve ever coached,” French said. “She’s hard worker. She hits her spots in games because she hits her spots in practice. She goes about things the right way and she’s the ultimate team player. We have a fantastic pitcher in the circle.”

In addition to Henry, the Aztec coach says his four seniors – Madeline Kaiser, Reagan Bradshaw, Justice and Candelaria – had an outstanding showing at the Rio Ranch tournament.

“I got four fantastic seniors,” French said. “You know, Alexyn hit a home run, Madeline hit a home run, Reagan hit a home run and Kiki had a very good batting average.”

For KC, Loyd led the Broncos with three hits and 2 RBIs while first baseman Tamirra Chee had two hits and 3 RBIs.

“Tamirra Chee is a phenomenal batter,” Mason said of his senior left-handed batter. “I believe, she had four home runs all together in this past weekend. I mean, she’s a great kid, great leadership. I mean, she’s a role model to the younger kids.

“She’s able to shake it off, roll it off her shoulder,” he added. “She knows what she’s capable of, and sometimes she gets a little ahead of herself. But when she’s in her comfort zone, that’s when she does the most damage.”

For the consolation championship, the KC coach utilized three pitchers with sophomore Kiana Tsosie earning the start. She was relieved by Loyd followed by freshman Elania Hosteen.

“You want to see what you got, and you want to challenge them,” Mason said. “You want to put them into tough situations because you learn more that way than you do easy games. So I definitely think the three that I pitched today, they were challenged.”

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