Cats post second win in Hobbs event

HOBBS — Clovis High junior Connor Langrell took matters into his own hands in Friday’s baseball game against Piedra Vista.

He pitched into the seventh inning and also helped break the game open with five RBIs in his final two at-bats as the Wildcats pulled away from Piedra Vista 8-3 in a six-team, three-day event hosted by Hobbs.

Langrell, who had struggled in his first start of the season against Hobbs, bounced back with a solid mound outing against the Panthers (3-1), allowing six hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Junior Tomas Gallegos relieved him with no one out, a run in and runners at the corners in the bottom of the seventh and retired all three hitters he faced, allowing one run to score on a sacrifice fly.

“Connor threw strikes from the get-go and kept them off-balance,” CHS coach Richard Cruce said. “You can’t ask for anything better against a team like Piedra Vista.”

The Cats (3-1) led 2-1 after the first inning and that held up until Langrell’s bases-clearing double in the sixth. He then capped a three-run seventh with a two-out, two-run single.

Cruce said Piedra Vista, a longtime Class 5A power which has now moved into 6A, might be the best team in the tournament, although today’s final-round opponent, Rio Rancho Cleveland in a 10 a.m. start, is also solid.

“We’ll just go out there and play another good 6A ballclub, and see what we can do,” he said.