Hózhó softball reaches 1A title game: Aztec, KC girls earn wins

ALBUQUERQUE

The New Mexico softball playoffs resume on Thursday with three area teams earning wins.

In the small-school tournament, the third-seeded Hózhó Lady Wolves (27-4) worked its way through the elimination rounds as they knocked out No. 5 Capitan, No. 9 Eunice and No. 6 Jal in the Class A/2A bracket and advanced into Friday’s championship game.

The Wolves will play No. 1 seed Loving in the finals at 10 a.m. at the Lobo Softball Field on the UNM campus in Albuquerque. The title tilt is a rematch of last year’s championship game.

“It was a tough three games,” Hózhó head coach Rayfert Spencer said. “Each team we played it was a bit stressful. You know, we worked so hard to get on base, but we just knocked ourselves out with base running.

“We were just not tagging, and we were running when we didn’t need to run,” he added.

The Wolves defeated Capitan 13-12 in eight innings in its first elimination game. Hózhó then took care of Eunice with a 12-9 triumph.

“We had some key hits that pulled us through,” the Hózhó coach said.

The Wolves capped the day with a 14-12 win over Jal as Hózhó avenged an 8-6 loss to the Panthers in the first round of the double-elimination bracket.

“The girls wanted revenge and they were really focused,” Spencer said of its game with Jal. “They beat us at our home place, and they wanted this bad. It came down to less errors and hits.”

The championship game will be Hózhó’s second meeting with Loving as the Wolves came up short to the four-time defending state champ 8-6 during a regular season tournament in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

“We had opportunities to pull ahead,” Spencer said of that late March game. “We had bases loaded, but with one out we hit right to them. In other innings, we had girls in scoring position, but we couldn’t get the hits to pull it off.

“I feel confident going in,” he added. “If we can hit off their pitcher, we’ll be fine, but we have to be smart with our base running in this championship game.”

Should Hózhó win, an if needed game will be played at 2 p.m. to determine the state champ.

For the championship game, the Wolves are looking to start senior righthander Alysha Skeets in the circle.

“She had a better outing against them when we were in Las Cruces,” Spencer said.

Class 4A 

The top two seeds in 4A advanced with convincing victories at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, to set up today’s semifinal showdown between No. 1 Artesia and No. 2 Aztec.

Artesia (25-4) shutout No. 5 Lovington 6-0 while Aztec posted an 11-4 win over No. 3 Silver.

First pitch is scheduled for noon at Cleveland High School with the winner advancing into Saturday’s championship game at 10 a.m. at the Lobo Softball Field in Albuquerque.

“Year-after-year they’re predominantly one of the best teams in the state,” Aztec coach Joshua French said of Artesia. “So, we have to show up to play, offensively and defensively.”

In Thursday’s game, the Tigers (21-5) pounded 12 hits with first baseman Kayci Phillips lining up a three-run homer in the first frame.

“When Kayci sees the ball really good and she’s aggressive, she crushes the ball,” French said. “That kind of set the tone for us the rest of the game. When we get a hit, usually the other girls kind of fall in line. I mean, we were hitting the ball hard all game long, so I was very pleased with how we approached at the plate today.”

Aztec senior ace Kimora Henry gave up four runs (one earned) on eight hits while adding five strikeouts.

“Kimora keeps us in games,” French said. “We had some issues with some pop flies, but we’ll correct.”

In the elimination game, No. 7 seed Kirtland Central made easy work of No. 11 Belen with a 15-0 shutout win that went four innings.

The Lady Broncos (20-9) put the game out of reach in the third frame by plating 10 runs in the third frame that allowed KC coach Dillon Mason to rotate girls into the lineup. All told, KC played 13 players.

“The plan was to get those extra girls in there,” Mason said. “I mean, I got 13 solid girls and there are only nine positions that I can play, and so it’s hard to get them in.

“They came through and two of them got on base,” he added.

The Broncos finished the contest with 14 hits headed by shortstop Easton Myhre, who went 2-for-3 at the plate with a triple, a home run and 5 RBIs. Right fielder Hailey Loyd added triple and four RBIs.

In the circle, Rory Benally pitched a no-hitter while striking out four batters.

“The defense came ready to play, and they were ready to play,” Mason said.

KC will play Lovington at 9:30 a.m. as they will need to win three games to reach Saturday’s championship game.

“It’s going to be long day, but we’re ready to take on that challenge,” Mason said. “I told the girls one game at a time, and it starts with Lovington.”

Class 5A 

The Piedra Vista softball team gave up nine runs to No. 10 Las Cruces (17-12) in the first frame before falling 14-5 that sent the Lady Panthers (21-8) to the 5A consolation bracket.

“I told the girls, only the best are standing and you’re not going to play anyone bad the rest of the way,” PV coach Kevin Werth said. “So, you got to play your best and if you take away the top of the first, maybe we reset and have a better outing.”

In that opening frame, Las Cruces pounded out 10 hits, including a pair of homers from first baseman Krista Barela and catcher Erica Silva.

With that, PV made two pitching changes. The Panthers finally settling in with junior Michaela Perea, who gave up five unearned runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings of work.

“I thought Michaela came in and threw a phenomenal game,” Werth said. “We didn’t give her much help on defense, and I don’t think she gave up any earned runs.

“Our defense just hurt us today,” he added. “A lot of our girls hit well, but after the first inning we couldn’t string them together.”

The Panthers finished with 12 hits headed by the right fielder Isabella Jessee’s three hits and Druscilla Nabors’ two.

PV will need to win three games today to reach the 5A championship game starting with its 9:30 a.m. game with Las Cruces Centennial.

“We live for another day, and we got to come back (on Friday) and try to fight our way into the championship game,” Werth said. “You know, the teams in 5A are pretty even and if you play well you could get on a hot streak and win three games to get to Saturday.”

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