Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sorted by date Results 326 - 350 of 700
CARLSBAD — Tuesday’s District 4-5A opener for Carlsbad and Clovis seemed like three baseball games rolled into one. Carlsbad won the seven-inning game 15-5 at Clovis’ Bell Park, notching its first district win in the process. But, within that victory seemed to be a trio of mini-games playing out separately. The first stage saw Carlsbad go up 8-0, seemingly on its way to a lopsided win. Clovis won the second stage 5-0, marching steadily along the middle-inning comeback trail and shaving Carlsbad’s lead to just three. Then ca...
Bob Gilbreath was sure he could do better. He had just watched Clovis High’s football team end in a scoreless tie with Amarillo’s Palo Duro and thought he could’ve brought victory for the Wildcats had he been their kicker that night in 1984. He was certain he could’ve ended the stalemate by kicking a game-winning field goal. So the Clovis High senior went to Eric Roanhaus, then beginning his seventh season as Wildcats head football coach, and asked for a tryout. “I knew I could do it,” Gilbreath said. It was the Monday after...
They had become commonplace, those red-shirted Sunday charges by Tiger Woods at PGA majors. Used to be, however far back Tiger was coming into Sunday, there was a good chance he’d be at the top by day’s end. Some of the final rounds stand out. There was the 2005 Masters where his ball hung on the lip, seeming to almost mock Tiger, the spectators at Augusta and the television audience, before dropping into the cup. On Sunday of the 2008 U.S. Open, Tiger hobbled around Torrey Pines on a bum knee, somehow finding it in him...
CLOVIS - It's good to be home. Competition is competition, but the Clovis track and field team has been facing it in far-flung places like Amarillo, Hobbs and elsewhere before finally at least getting closer to home when they took part in and swept Portales' George Love Relays last weekend. Thursday, though, Clovis gets to compete at its own home - Leon Williams Stadium, literally its own backyard - when hosting the Wildcat Relays. Start time is scheduled for 2 p.m. Both the...
With all the Tiger-mania going on this past weekend, it seems fitting to use a golf term with regard to the Clovis and Portales baseball seasons. Right now, they’re at the turn, ready for the back nine. This week is the first for each in district play. Clovis opened District 4-5A competition Tuesday night by hosting Carlsbad, so by the time you read this, the Wildcats will have already tapped in the metaphoric putt on Hole 10. Portales begins its District 4-4A slate with a road game at Artesia on Friday (5 p.m.), the start of...
PORTALES - For the Clovis and Portales baseball teams, this season has been "A Tale of Two Cities." The story for Clovis is one of players that went from looking bewildered to looking like they belong, like a team that steps up and makes plays, comes up with key hits. The Portales narrative has been a little different. Throughout this spring, the Rams have always been a team that looks pretty good, seems close to being very good. But it's also a team that's had its lapses...
PORTALES - After playing on the road for so long, most recently losing four straight games to end last weekend's Kristen Griego Tournament, Thursday night brought two bits of good news for Portales' softball team. 1) The Lady Rams finally played their first home game by hosting Clovis. 2) Portales beat the Lady Wildcats, 6-2, to end that four-game losing streak. "We played well," Portales head coach Nathan Dodge said. "Changed some things up and it seemed to work in our favor....
CLOVIS - By the time Clovis' baseball team plays at Bell Park again, your tax returns will either be filed or late. When hosting Lovington this past Tuesday, the Wildcats played their last home game until Apr. 16. And they left on a good note, routing the visitors 9-2. That made it four victories in a row for the 'Cats, another good night for a team that hadn't had many early on. There had been plenty of games falling into the if-it-was-an-injured-horse-the...
By this time of year, Texas sports fans are usually squarely focused on the Astros and Rangers, on the Rockets and Spurs, even the Mavericks when they're playoff worthy, on the Stars, on the NFL Draft and speculation about who Jerry Jones plucks from the college ranks to help his team chase another Super Bowl title. College basketball? That's something other states worry about in early spring. The only 'Madness' Texas college hoop fans usually experience right about now is...
PORTALES — Football season flies by like the wind. And the offseason goes pretty fast, too. So football coaches need to make good use of that fast-flying offseason, take advantage of as much evaluation time as possible. For Eastern New Mexico’s football team, a big part of that is the Silver vs. Green spring football game, this year’s installment of which kicks off 6 p.m. Friday at Greyhound Stadium. Teammates go at each other, in a friendly but competitive sort of way. They...
CLOVIS - Don't count the Clovis baseball team out. Despite their gruesome start, the Wildcats seem like they've gotten it together. Tuesday, the 'Cats won their third straight by zipping Portales 3-0 at Bell Park. The shutout pitching of junior Matthew Rubio helped, but Clovis is playing with a different attitude than the team that opened against Lubbock-Coronado three weeks earlier. The Wildcats are making plays in the field, they're showing patience at the plate. And...
CLOVIS - It's so early, but Portales' softball team has been like a steamroller already. With Thursday night's 11-2 win over Clovis, the Lady Rams improved to 3-0 - overall and on the road - and had beaten their three opponents by a combined score of 27-4. Though most of their season is still ahead of them, the Rams have been flattening the competition so far. "I think that they're coming in with confidence, ready to play," Portales head coach Nathan Dodge said Thursday at...
CLOVIS — Don’t count the Clovis baseball team out. Despite their gruesome start, the Wildcats seem like they’ve gotten it together. Tuesday, the ’Cats won their third straight by zipping Portales 3-0 at Bell Park. The shutout pitching of junior Matthew Rubio helped, but Clovis is playing with a different attitude than the team that opened against Lubbock-Coronado three weeks earlier. The Wildcats are making plays in the field, they’re showing patience at the plate. And overall, they’re playing with confidence. “You said t...
PORTALES — What better way to follow up a successful indoor track season than with an outdoor one. Eastern New Mexico’s track and field team is hoping to carry some of its indoor momentum outdoors and make this a memorable spring. It will already be memorable enough by the Greyhounds hosting the Lone Star Conference championship meet in early May. A title in friendly surroundings would be nice. Making noise at the national meet later in the month, even better. “We’re really excited coming off the indoor conference meet; t...
PORTALES — The Portales baseball season will be like a two-month-long tryout. As sixth-year head coach Dusty Nusser moves players around, sees how they fit, where they can maximize their abilities, he will guarantee few a continuous starting role. “A lot of guys are going to get an opportunity,” Nusser said. “If they can make the best of it, that’s good for our team. It’s going to be about making the best of your opportunities and going from there. Just because you started in the first game doesn’t mean you’ll be starting gam...
CLOVIS - After consecutive 2-24 seasons, the Clovis softball team has nowhere to look but up. And they are doing that as Tuesday's season opener at Muleshoe approaches. They're looking toward this season not just with new optimism but new confidence, a new attitude. "We have so much more focus and wanting to get better, wanting to win," Clovis junior catcher Daisy Dodge said while taking a break from Friday's late-afternoon practice at the Clovis Softball Complex. "We have such a bad history. We want to change that. ......
On Monday night, having had 48 hours to absorb his team's 78-67 season-ending loss at Hobbs, one thing hadn't changed in two days for Clovis boys basketball head coach Jaden Isler. He was proud of how a mostly-young team dealing with a new system and new coaches had competed, had battled to win a District 4-5A championship and made its return to the state tournament. Isler played for Clovis when state-tournament appearances and deep runs in them were routine. He had also previ...
TEXICO - Saturday was a night of firsts and lasts for Texico's boys basketball team. The fourth-seeded Wolverines took their first step up the state-tournament ladder by defeating 13th-seeded Menaul 63-50, but did so in their last home game of the season. From here on out, any time Texico still has a game to play it will be in the Albuquerque area. "It'll be nice to get up there and play in a different environment," Wolverines head coach Ty Thatcher said. "It's an exciting...
ELROSE - Every team wants to win its last home game. For the Melrose girls basketball team, though, Friday's victory was also a launching pad. By routing 16th-seeded To'hajiilee 69-31 at Melrose High, the top-seeded Lady Buffaloes took the first of four steps necessary to capture a state Class A championship, and did so in decisive fashion. When they next tip off, the Lady Buffs (22-6) will be at Bernalillo High School on Wednesday facing eighth-seeded Cimarron (19-9) in a...
It's bracketology time. The NCAA's Division I brackets won't be filled until St. Patrick's Day, but the Lone Star Conference has its own basketball tournament bracket ready. For the Eastern New Mexico men's and women's teams - who have known for weeks they were LSC bracket-bound and are each now fourth seeds - the fun begins later this week in Frisco, Texas, with the men tipping off opening-round play on Thursday, the women on Friday. At least, they hope it's fun. There are...
TEXICO — District titles have proven elusive for Texico’s girls basketball team in recent years. No such luck for the Lady Wolverines’ opponents this year. Friday night at Texico Sports Arena, the Lady Wolverines used an opportunistic third quarter to pull away from Clayton for a 61-42 victory that gave them the District 7-2A championship. Sweeter still, it was against the same program that had beaten Texico for last year’s District 5-3A title. “We’re real excited,” Texico head coach Richard Luscombe said. “Actually, we...
For months they hung out on the open market, two prime free agents waiting to be plucked. Third baseman/shortstop Manny Machado and outfielder Bryce Harper were the two brightest stars of the much-anticipated 2018-19 Major League Baseball offseason. It seemed their criteria for signing included bags full of money, at least a decade’s worth of security, a dotted line and a pen. By well into last month, though, neither had apparently received a satisfactory amount of the first two to put the last two into use. But on Feb. 19, M...
It was a good and bad week for Clovis' girls basketball team. The Lady Wildcats won their District 4-5A quarterfinal over Roswell 57-24 on Tuesday at Rock Staubus Gymnasium, but lost their semifinal at Carlsbad, 47-30, on Thursday. As a result of the latter, Clovis' season might be over. As of Saturday night, they sat with their 10-18 record, waiting to find out if a state-tournament invite would be offered on Sunday. Either way, the Lady 'Cats had a strong effort in Tuesday...
CLOVIS - Clovis' boys basketball team is still hoping for a home game in the upcoming state tournament. But if the Wildcats' 60-36 victory over Carlsbad in Thursday's District 4-5A semifinal turns out to be their last game at Rock Staubus Gymnasium this season, they went out in style. By transforming a close game into a blowout during the second and third quarters Thursday, the 'Cats earned their spot in Saturday's district championship game at Hobbs, playing vice-grip...
ALBUQUERQUE — The trek to Albuquerque can seem long no matter what your reason for going. Local athletes head up there — and back — regularly. When they get what they came for, the trip may seem ... well, it’s still long, but worth it. So consider this past weekend’s trip to Albuquerque long but worth it for Clovis’ swim team. Prior to the state swim championships that began Friday and concluded Saturday at Albuquerque Academy High School, Wildcats head coach Gordy Westerburg...
