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Ram baseball, softball teams clinch district titles

MANAGING EDITOR[email protected]

On a day where the Portales Rams notched 20 runs, it was the defense that clinched the district.

Emilio Lovato singled in what proved to be the winning run in a five-run seventh, then got Kyler Woodul to hit into a bases-loaded double play in his lone inning of relief to secure a 13-10 victory Saturday at Ruidoso.

With a 7-2 win in opener, Portales (13-6, 8-0) clinched District 4-4A no matter what it does in doubleheaders Tuesday at New Mexico Military Institute or Saturday at home against East Mountain.

Ruidoso (15-10, 8-4) is idle next week, and would lose the district tiebreaker with Portales’ 4-0 season sweep even if the Rams have an 0-4 week.

Had Ruidoso won the nightcap, the Rams would have still taken the season series. But they would have needed two more district wins to force the tiebreaker.

“We talked about it between games, making sure we were ready from the start,” Portales coach Dusty Nusser said. “Ruidoso, you’ve got to give them credit because they came back and battled us.

“One thing that helped us was their catcher (Woodul) hitting into three double plays. We played pretty well.”

The Rams never trailed in the opener after a four-run first behind Grant Wagner, who struck out 10 Warriors against six walks while giving up five singles, and also finished a homer away from the cycle with a 4-for-4 game at the plate.

“He’s been our guy on the mound, so we expect that every time he starts,” Nusser said. “He came around at the plate, drove the ball really well.”

The Rams will play five times in the final week of the regular season, including a single game Friday at Eunice. Nusser said he might have considered dropping the game if Portales needed Saturday’s series to clinch the district, but he’s glad to still have the contest.

“That’s a time where we can get some guys work that don’t necessarily get a lot of mound time,” Nusser said. “You get to state, you never know who’s going to have to throw.”

Softball: Portales 16-20, East Mountain 4-10 — The Portales softball team left much less doubt in clinching their district title, taking a pair of run-ruled wins at East Mountain, 16-4 and 20-10 to stay perfect in 4-4A play.

Portales (18-5, 6-0) all but clinched the district with the first-game win because it was well ahead on the run differential tiebreakers, but took the district outright with the second game.

East Mountain (13-10, 1-5) will battle for second place with Ruidoso, which hosts Portales Thursday.

Wendy Baeza allowed four runs on five hits in the opener, while Aymri Chavez allowed two runs in three innings of relief after Portales broke an 8-8 tie with a nine-run third in the nightcap.

“Aymri has done really well,” Portales coach Robbie Crowley said. “She pitched in city league, but she’s only started pitching last month because we needed her and she’s done a great job.”

Kiersten Ramirez went 8-for-10 on the day, including a 5-for-5 in the first game where she didn’t get an RBI and a 3-for-5 in the nightcap where she drove in five, hit her second homer of the year and came a double away from hitting for the cycle. She had a doubleheader cycle, though; one of her first-game hits was a double.

Ramirez, who was Portales’ main pitcher for her first three seasons, has been battling shoulder trouble and avoided the mound. The Rams have rebounded well with other pitchers, and Crowley isn’t likely to push Ramirez back into the rotation.

“Really, what I’d hate to do is have Kiersten even start practicing because it hurts her shoulder,” Crowley said. “Right now, I’m satisfied not allowing her to pitch so we don’t hurt her shoulder and not have her at all (between) her leadership, her bat, her defense.”