Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
DEMING — Roosevelt County’s All-Stars dropped to the B-Bracket Sunday with a stinging 6-3 loss to Carlsbad in the 10-11 Little League state tournament.
“It was a tough loss for us, we had that game in the bag,” Roosevelt Coach Sammy Villanueva said.
Roosevelt posted the first lead of the game in the third inning after Luis Valladres and Jay Stiles got onboard with base hits. A walk loaded the bases for Roosevelt.
A deep line drive to the outfield by Matt Martinez looked like easy money to Roosevelt but a great play by a Carlsbad outfielder kept the bases loaded, according to Sammy Villanueva.
Josh Jimenez then stepped to the plate to make it 3-0 with a triple.
After starting pitcher Jimenez ran out of pitches after four innings, Carlsbad jumped on his relief Payton Casey. A big fifth inning for Carlsbad left the score tied.
With the score tied in the sixth inning, Carlsbad went ahead 6-3 with a three-run home run.
Roosevelt loaded the bases in their half of the sixth with no outs but the Carlsbad pitching staff stiffened to preserve the lead.
“Carlsbad is probably one of best teams at the tournament,” Sammy Villanueva said. “Their pitching was definitely the best we’ve seen with their kids throwing harder than anyone else.”
Roosevelt faces off with Raton at 2 p.m. today in the losers bracket. Roosevelt defeated Raton 18-2 in the first round but Raton has battled back in the B-Bracket.
