Lady Coyotes sweep twin bill from PHS

Playing their third and fourth games in less than 24 hours, Portales High's softball team saw the competition level go up significantly on Saturday.

PHS blew out Santa Fe Indian 15-0 and 16-0 on Friday in its season-opening twin bill on Friday night, but fell to the Lady Coyotes 12-2 and 5-2 on Saturday at Wheeler Park.

"They're always a good team," PHS coach Robbie Crowley said of Roswell High (3-2). "They're very well-coached and fundamentally sound. They don'tbeat themselves.

"But you have to face teams like this if you want to get better."

Freshman Anissa Munoz scattered seven hits in pitching Roswell High to the first-game win. The Lady Coyotes led 6-0 in the third inning, then put it out of reach with a six-run fifth.

Simone Laurenz and Mariah Lovato hit RBI doubles in the bottom of the fifth for PHS, but it wasn't enough to avoid the 10-run rule.

The Lady Rams were much more competitive in the second game, but after a hit batsman, an error and a walk loaded the bases with no one out in the sixth, Roswell High's Vanessa Garcia unloaded them with a grand slam.

Portales got solo homers from Laurenz in the third and Kailee Ramirez in the sixth, but eighth-grader Makaya Olivas was tough other than that despite allowing 12 hits.

Laurenz had three hits for the Lady Rams, while Kacie Terry and Kaylee and Kiersten Ramirez all added a pair of hits.

Portales returns to action with a 6 p.m. clash on Thursday at Hobbs.