Hobbs posts 10-8 win over Ram softball team

PORTALES — Defensive woes in Tuesday's cold and blustery conditions sunk Portales softball in a 10-8 loss to Hobbs. The Class 6A Eagles capitalized on three-consecutive fourth inning errors by the Rams to take the lead for good.

"Errors early, like in the third or fourth inning killed us later on in the game," Rams coach Nathan Dodge explained. "You gotta score 10 runs to compete, and that's hard to do. I always tell the girls you can score seven or eight, you can be in just about any game. You should be close to winning if you play solid defense, but those errors early hurt us."

Tied at 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning, Hobbs' (9-5) Madison Ganaway reached on an error at shortstop. Mackenzie Savell's groundout soon resulted in a bad throw to third base, bringing home Theresa Day. Another error at shortstop then brought in Ganaway to put the Eagles ahead, 5-3.

An error and wild pitch would score two of Hobbs' four sixth inning runs to extend the lead to 9-3. Portales (3-5) would respond with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, thanks to a two-run double from Abi Cameron.

Trailing 10-6 in the bottom of seventh, the Rams had one last chance to get back in it, as Kim Hay's sacrifice fly and Cameron's RBI single cut the lead to 10-8. However, despite an up-and-down day, Ganaway got out of the jam by forcing a pair of strikeouts to help the Eagles escape with the win.

"It was gonna be whoever could make the fewest errors. There was a lot of errors made today, tough conditions to play in," Hobbs coach Dean Crossland said. "(Ganaway) did a real good job staying in it — she pitched 12 innings Friday. We got some big hits when we needed to, and we got a strikeout or two when we needed to."

In the early going, Hobbs jumped on top first with a first inning run off of a throwing error, before Genesis Armendariz blasted a home run well-over the right center field fence - ricocheting off of a pickup truck, in the process.

Hay, however, led off the bottom of the first inning with an in-the-park homer, cutting the Eagle lead in-half. Janell Saenz responded with a homer of her own in the second, before the Rams tied it at 3-3 with a Cameron two-run single.

Cameron finished the day 4-for-5 with a triple and five RBIs, while Hay went 2-for-5 with the homer and two RBIs of her own. Ganaway went 3-for-4, while Armendariz and Saenz collectively went 3-for-8.

The Rams will now wait until next Thursday to take on Clovis, with hopes of better defensive execution. Portales actually out-hit Hobbs, 16-10, but nine errors sealed the Rams' fate on Tuesday.

"Errors beat us today," Dodge said. "I think we hit the ball well — we scored eight runs."