Hard gets harder

PORTALES - The Portales softball team has had more time to practice than in most seasons, with Nathan Dodge's crew waiting on very few athletes to finish the basketball season.

It's a good thing for Portales, as they need the practice. The Rams lost plenty from last year's team, and the competition got a lot harder with state realignment.

The Rams remain in District 4-4A, but welcome reigning Class 5A champion Artesia to the fold in what Dodge expects will be a tough season.

"We've got teams like Artesia and Lovington in our district now," Dodge said. "You've also got Valley and Los Lunas, who've always been good, in our class as well. It's really upped the level of competition."

The Rams were scheduled to head to Robertson Tuesday for a doubleheader, and will visit a resurgent Clovis High team Thursday. The Wildcats, at 3-0, have already surpassed their 2017 and 2018 win totals.

Portales, which went 22-11 last year and fell in the third round of the 4A consolation bracket, and returns just two starters and a few players who got occasional starts in 2018.

Junior pitcher Wendy Baeza and senior shortstop Micaela Garcia are the lone returning starters.

For Baeza, who plays softball year-round between travel teams and the Rams, this may be the most comfortable she's ever felt to start with any team. There's little familiarity with the travel teams, since you see them on the field and you don't go to class or social activities with them most of the time.

Baeza, who started pitching for Portales as an eighth-grader, said her teammates in previous years always did their best to make her feel welcome, but at the end of the day she was still around teammates she didn't see during her day at Portales Junior High.

And on the mound? "I feel like I have more pitches to work with - my screwball, my curve, my rise. I can throw them much better."

Garcia, meanwhile, feels the team will provide good defense behind Baeza and the rest of the pitching staff.

"I feel like defensively, we've got it down," Garcia said. "As long as we get our sticks going, we're going to be all right."

Dodge echoed those sentiments.

"We've got to hit," he said. "We probably have to score at least six, seven runs to win games."

Dodge enters his second season in charge of the softball program, but it was up in the air if he'd return this season due to his new position as vice principal at Portales High. He expects to be able to make every game, but feels confident in either assistant Amanda Bonner or Robbie Crowley to run a practice or coach a game if something unexpected happens.

Schedule

March

17 - at Robertson (2), 3 p.m.; 21 - at Clovis, 6:30 p.m.; 26 - at Hobbs, 6 p.m. 28-30 - at Kristen Griego Tournament, Rio Rancho

April

4 - Clovis, 6:30 p.m.; 5 - Ruidoso (2), 4:30 p.m.; 13 - at Dexter (2), 1 p.m.; 16 - at Artesia (2)*, 4:30 p.m.; 19 - at Lovington (2)*, 4:30 p.m.; 23 - at Goddard (2)*, 4:30 p.m.; 26 - Artesia (2)*, 4:30 p.m.; 30 - Lovington (2)*, 4:30 p.m.

May

3 - Goddard (2)*, 4:30 p.m.

All times MDT. * - indicates District 4-4A contest