Lady Rams split Saturday games

The Portales Lady Rams concluded their preparation for District 4-3A play at the 2007 Artesia Lady Dog Invitational Saturday, losing 10-0 against Aztec and beating Lovington 4-3.

“The competition here is definitely good,” Portales coach Robbie Crowley said. “We haven’t played anybody badly, even Aztec, we shouldn’t have lost by as much as we did. But hopefully we can play to our level every game and we’re not doing that right now.”

Senior Shareesa Nusser pitched for the Lady Rams against Aztec and although Portales allowed 10 total runs, only five of those were earned, on 12 base hits.

The Lady Tigers first five runs, two in the second inning and three in the third inning, were due to Portales fielding errors.

“You can’t have that many errors and give them that many runs and expect to win the ball game,” Crowley said.

The Aztec girls poured on the offense in the fifth and final inning, belting out seven singles and one double, to score five runs and end the contest.

Portales’ final game of the tournament offered a taste of what might be forthcoming in district play, as the Lady Rams (4-6) defeated district foe Lovington 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning.

With the score tied at 3-3, international tie-breaker rules were used, and in the bottom of the eighth, with senior Sabrina Villanueva at second, freshman LeAnne Blaeser bunted Villaneva to third, before senior Amanda Terry hit a sacrifice pop fly to right field to win the game 4-3.

“There’s nothing better than going into (district) with a win like we got today,” Crowley said Saturday.

The Lady Rams host Ruidoso in their District 4-3A opener April 10.

“Our seniors are going to have to step up and be leaders,” Crowley said. “I expect a lot from my seniors to step up and play the way that they’re capable of playing, and I don’t know that we’ve done that yet this year.”