Softball deals Ruidoso loss, Portales baseball ready for Warriors

ALBUQUERQUE — The No. 2 Portales baseball team will take on No. 7 Ruidoso today in the second round of the Class 4A state tournament, the two teams' fourth and final meeting of the season.

Along with No. 1 Hope Christian and No. 8 New Mexico Military Institute, the Rams (21-7) and Warriors (14-10-1) round out half of the remaining tournament teams left, all from District 4. While the teams may be somewhat familiar with one another, Rams coach Dusty Nusser thinks it will be a whole different game than the team’s first meeting.

“Coach (Gilbert) Alvarado does a good job with (Ruidoso) and they get better as the year goes on, but hopefully so did we. It was the first district series when we played them, so both teams are probably very different now,” said Nusser.

The Warriors were one of only two teams to take two-of-three games from the Rams during the season, with Hope Christian being the other. The Warriors took the first two games of the March 31-April 1 series, winning 4-3 and 7-5 before falling in the final game 12-6.

The Rams will throw their ace pitcher Emilio Lovato and while the senior was hung for the loss in their district series against Ruidoso, Nusser isn’t concerned with his standout going into today’s matchup.

“He kind of just needs to do what he needs to do all year,” said Nusser. “The first game against them he threw, but I think he only had one earned run and we had a lot of errors behind him.”

As for the Warriors, Portales may be facing somewhat of an unknown arm from the mound, as the starter who got one of the wins against the Rams earlier in the season did not throw against Shiprock.

“They have some depth pitching wise, we just told our guys we need to be ready and win the pitch, no matter who they throw out there. It’s going to be a battle, we knew our district it was going to be tough going in and I told our guys we might have five teams from our district make it, so here we are.”

Portales 14, Ruidoso 3 — The No. 3 Portales softball team advanced to the third round of the Class-4A state tournament Wednesday after handily dealing with No. 7 Ruidoso, 14-3.

Things started off a little shaky for the Lady Rams (19-7) when they gave up three runs to the Lady Warriors (11-17) in the opening inning. Portales’ Wendy Baeza then settled down from the circle, shutting out Ruidoso over the next four innings while she and her team put up some big numbers from the plate.

“Once we got through that first inning, Wendy threw really well and the girls played really well behind her and from the plate,” said Portales coach Robbie Crowley. “It was a combination of both.”

The Lady Rams finished with 13 hits, led by A Tapia who went 3-for-4 with six RBIs. Baeza helped herself with a perfect 3-for-3 day and two RBIs to go along with her 10 strikeouts.

“We hit the ball well today, we scored four runs behind their three and held them scoreless after the first,” said Crowley.

She continued, “You know I think that’s one of the things we’ve struggled with in the past, is hitting, but the girls did really well today and I’m really proud of them. This is one of the best hitting outings that we’ve had since I’ve been coaching, as far as state goes.”

The two teams were familiar with one another, matching up four times prior in district play. Having seen their opponents recently, the Lady Rams took full advantage of the knowledge.

“I think the familiarity was helpful, it was definitely helpful,” said Crowley. “We hit the ball, we’ve seen the pitcher a lot, so adjusting to her, it was immediate.

Moving forward, Portales will play No. 2 Robertson today at 8:30 a.m. The Lady Cardinals (21-6) played Portales in the Lady Rams’ first season opener, where they split on the day winning 14-3 before a 7-6 extra inning loss.

Robertson was 2-3 heading into the first meeting and while it was Portales’ first set of games, Crowley thinks both teams are entirely different heading into today’s game.

“I think that we probably both have improved in all areas. I think they had a game or two before we first played, but even with that your hope is you get better throughout the season.

I really think it is going to be a battle tomorrow, I really do — two solid teams and we will just have to see how it turns out.”