CHS squads open against Lovington

CLOVIS — Clovis High baseball coach Richard Cruce is glad to have a predistrict schedule. He figures the Wildcats will need it.

CHS opens its 20-game 2021 baseball slate on Tuesday with a 5 p.m. contest at Lovington.

“We’re going to be young this year,” said Cruce, a CHS alum who is entering his seventh campaign as the head coach. “We’re going to use those first eight games to gain some experience before (District 4-5A play begins) in June.”

Meantime, the CHS softball squad, under first-year coach Braelyn Kruelskie, is also set to open its campaign at Lovington with a 5 p.m. single tilt on Thursday. Home openers for both teams will be the following week against Portales — May 11 for baseball and May 14 for softball.

Cruce said the Cats will build around two third-year starting pitchers in right-hander Norbert Archibeque and left-hander Josh Martin, both seniors. Archibeque is also ticketed for third base duty, while Martin will play in the outfield.

“We’re going to have to rely on some young ones,” Cruce said. “After those guys, we’re going to be young on the mound.”

Other returnees include first baseman Johnny Jiminez, middle infielders Quincy Molina and Anthony Garcia and catcher/outfielder Donovan Usery. All are seniors except Garcia, a junior.

It’s been nearly 14 months since the Cats last played a game, Cruce noted. They went 2-4 in a couple of tournaments last spring before the COVID shutdown.

“Pitching (depth) is definitely a question mark,” he said. “We need some young ones to step up and produce early.”

Cruce said junior right-hander Will Jordan and sophomore righty Josias Jiminez (Johnny’s brother) could provide some depth on the mound. District doubleheaders are on tap every Tuesday and Friday from June 1-18, with the Class 5A state tournament the following week.

As far as the district, Cruce said Hobbs is probably the team to beat.

“Roswell (High) will be OK, but the big one will be Hobbs again; they’re fairly loaded,” Cruce said. “Carlsbad is always good, but from what I’ve heard they’ll be younger than normal.”

Softball — The Lady Cats won three of four games last spring prior to the shutdown. Kruelskie joined the team last year as an assistant before replacing coach Emery Sierra this season.

Traditionally, the squad has struggled, but Krueiskle is looking to get things moving in a more positive direction.

“We’ve built up a good conditioning program,” she said. “We’ve been working on strategy, what we’d do with hitting and defense.”

This is her first high school head coaching position, although she has coached summer traveling teams in her native Oklahoma.

“We’re going to go 110 percent,” Kruelskie said. “It’s about what we do on the field, not about what the other team does.”

Her husband, Sean, is stationed at Cannon AFB. Kruelskie, who played softball at the junior college level at Connors State in Warner, Okla., said she’s trying to use this opportunity to embellish interest in the sport in this part of the world.

“I wanted to try to bring the love of fast-pitch to this area,” she said.

Returnees with experience include senior pitcher/shortstop Jordan Angeles, junior third baseman Demi Garcia, junior second baseman Esperanza Tafoya and senior pitcher/first baseman Briana Gallagher. Other seniors are first baseman Ashley Williams, right fielder Alyssa Cruz and catcher/pitcher Jenice Hudson.

Angeles and Gallagher are the projected starters in the circle, Kruelskie said.

“It all comes down to teamwork and the hard work we’ve been putting in,” she said in assessing her team’s outlook. “If they respect each other in the field, things will fall into place.”