Softball pulls split early in junior tournament

ALBUQUERQUE —The Clovis American junior softball team is 1-1 so far this weekend, and now has to win a pair of games on Sunday to stay alive in state Little League competition hosted by Atrisco Valley.

American defeated Deming 14-12 Friday, and fell 10-7 Saturday against Thunderbird.

Thunderbird moves on to a 10 a.m. winner’s bracket game against either Petroglyph or Las Vegas, while American and Deming face off again in the consolation bracket — also at 10 a.m.

Today’s American-Deming winner plays again at 1 p.m., and that winner will reach the 5:30 p.m. Monday title game.

American coach Kelly Tindle said the loss came down to three things — Thunderbird being fresh with the first-round bye, the team swinging for the fences after Skyler Schuette homered in a three-run first and trouble on defense.

“We turned two beautiful double plays, but as far as making the simple plays …” Tindle said. “I don’t know if we were worn out from yesterday and the heat. Playing today, with the heat at noon, we kind of wore down.”

Alyssa Cruz went 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles on the day.

Little League baseball — Three teams representing Clovis Zia are in action this weekend in sectional play, and two remained alive as of Saturday night, hoping to advance to next weekend’s state tourneys.

In the 9-11 division, Zia opened with a 19-10 victory over Albuquerque Roadrunner on Friday night, then lost to Albuquerque Zia 10-7 and Albuquerque Paradise Hill 23-1 on Saturday.

Clovis Zia built an early lead and held off a late comeback bid by Roadrunner in Friday’s win. Frederico Smith belted a home run in the win, and four pitchers combined to keep Roadrunner at bay.

“We hit the ball very good,” coach Quinn Culiver said. “The kids showed up to play ball.”

On Saturday, Clovis Zia fell behind 10-1 early and saw a strong comeback bid keyed by pinch-hitter Kico Baca’s two-run double fall short against Albuquerque Zia. Then things went from bad to worse, Culiver said.

“The second game (on Saturday), the kids played hard but we just had some mental mistakes,” he said. “(Paradise Hill) started the game with a leadoff home run, and it went down from there.”

At Carlsbad, the Zia 10-12 squad opened on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Belen, while the Zia 8-10 contingent dropped a 15-5 decision to Roadrunner on Friday and then beat Taos 13-1 on Saturday, advancing to a late Saturday elimination game against either Belen or Shorthorn.

The 10-12 team was slated to face host Shorthorn while the 8-10 squad were to take on the loser between Belen and Shorthorn on Saturday night.

The 10-12s rode a 1-hit pitching effort from Daniel Salazar, who needed just 62 pitches through six innings. Meantime, they got both runs in the fourth on a single by Diego Montoya, a triple by Bernie Lopez and a single by Charlie Dodge Jr.

“Our defense did really good, and Daniel shut them down,” coach Charlie Dodge Sr. said. “Those two runs we got in the fourth were all we needed.”

The 8-10 team saw a 2-0 lead go away when Roadrunner scored eight times in the bottom of the second.

“I just think we had first-game jitters,” coach Johnny Rivera said. “It was the first night game we’ve played.”

Zia turned the tables on Taos, scoring six times in the top of the first and never looking back. Trey McClendon and Joseph Cavazos combined on the pitching effort, and Cavazos also had a two-run, inside-the-park homer in the fourth inning.