CHS baseball, softball teams drop openers at Lovington

LOVINGTON — Clovis High baseball coach Richard Cruce said in preseason the Wildcats’ eight pre-district games would be a chance to see what kind of team they have before District 4-5A play begins in early June.

In Tuesday’s season opener, they found they have some work to do.

Lovington broke a 2-2 tie with a three-run fourth, then added two more in the fifth and handed the Cats a 7-3 setback.

“It’s a tough way to start, but we’re trying to work to get to district play and into the playoffs,” Cruce said.

Freshman Will Jordan pitched into the fourth for the Cats and took the loss, with senior Josh Martin finishing up on the hill.

While Lovington (1-1), which lost to Hobbs in its season opener, committed three errors, Clovis couldn’t take full advantage. Pitchers Diego Brito and Jonathan Aceves limited the Cats to just three hits — including two by Martin, who had a double, a walk, two runs scored and a seventh-inning RBI.

Other CHS runs were knocked in by seniors Donovan Usery with a second-inning fielder’s choice and Quincy Molina with a fourth-inning groundout.

“Playing and getting to see what we have (is a positive),” Cruce said. “We’ve got to grow and not make the mistakes we made. And we’ve got to get better on the mound.”

The Cats were scheduled to face Portales on Tuesday in their home opener at Bell Park, but that game has been postponed. Clovis now returns to action on Friday at Artesia.

Lovington 9, Clovis 0 (softball, Thursday) — The Lady Wildcats also had a rough time in their season opener at Lovington.

Kaeleigh Vegas hit a solo home run and tossed a four-hit shutout for Lovington (2-1), striking out 13 and walking one. Eighth-grader Honey Morales led a six-hit attack, going 2-for-3 with a double.

“We made some mistakes that we need to clean up,” first-year CHS coach Braelyn Kruelskie said. “We just have to move on to the next game.”

For the Lady Wildcats, junior Esperanza Tafoya went 2-for-3 while senior Jordan Angeles was 1-for-2 with a walk and junior Demi Garcia went 1-for-3.

The Lady Cats opened their home season with a doubleheader against Roswell Goddard on Saturday at Lady Wildcat Field.