Lady Cats coach stepping down

CARLSBAD — With nothing on the line, Tuesday’s trip to Carlsbad for a make-up District 4-5A game was a tough one for Clovis High’s softball team to play.

For third-year coach Larry Trower, who came to Clovis from Carlsbad, it was a tough way to go out.

The Cavegirls sent 12 batters to the plate in an eight-run second and made short work of the Lady Wildcats, winning 12-0 to wrap up the district title.

Meantime, Trower plans to leave CHS at the end of the school year to move to Lubbock due to a family matter. He said he hopes to be able to find a teaching/coaching job in that area.

“I hate that I’ve got to leave,” Trower said. “It’s just a family situation."

Carlsbad (18-8, 10-2 district) strung together three consecutive two-out singles for a run in the first inning, then broke the game open in the second. All 12 of the Cavegirls’ hits in the game were singles.

“They just had an inning where they got runners on, and then they got base hit after base hit after base hit after base hit,” Trower said. “We just couldn’t stop it.”

The game was the final one for five Clovis seniors, but Trower said the Lady Cats (13-13, 4-8) are headed in the right direction.

“I think overall the girls have improved,” Trower said. “They’ve learned to play more consistently. I was real proud of them this year; I thought they did a good job.”

Braves rout Texico

ESPANOLA — Santa Fe Indian School put together three innings of at least six runs, including a 14-run fifth, and buried the Texico Wolverines 31-1 Tuesday in a Class 1A/2A Region A semifinal baseball game.

The Braves pounded 27 hits, including four doubles, and took advantage of 11 Texico errors in the first postseason game in the three-year history of Wolverines baseball.

SFIS pitcher Allen Gachupin allowed three hits in the five-inning, run-rule-shortened contest, walking none and striking out six. Senior Justin Loven, the first of three Texico pitchers, took the loss.

Down 9-0, the District 7-2/1A champion Wolverines (13-2) scored in the bottom of the second on Bryce Bailey’s leadoff double and an RBI single by Loven. Texico’s only other baserunner was catcher Logan Brown, who singled in the third.

The win assured SFIS a berth in next week’s 1A/2A state tournament in Albuquerque. The Braves will face McCurdy at 4 p.m. today in the regional championship game.

McCurdy beat 7-2/1A runnerup Dora 7-5.