Artesia too much for Lady Rams

PORTALES — There’s a reason why Artesia is seeking third consecutive Class 4A state softball championship.

This season, after missing out on the 2020 campaign due to COVID, the Lady Bulldogs are looking accomplish the feat with an extremely young roster — nine of the 14 players on it are freshmen.

Portales, itself a young team, went down quickly on Saturday night in a five-inning perfect game by junior right-hander RyLee Crandall in the opener, a 10-0 verdict. The Lady Rams, though, stayed tight in the nightcap until late before Artesia pulled away to a 6-2 victory.

The contests were the first in District 4-4A for both squads.

“We really played much better in the second game,” Lady Rams coach Amanda Bonner said. “In the first game, we just couldn’t get a bat on the ball.”

Crandall simply overpowered PHS, striking out 13 of the 15 batters. The only near-hit for the Lady Rams (1-6 overall) came in the third inning, when junior pitcher Adrianna Garcia hit a sinking line drive to right that the Lady Bulldogs’ Kenna Morrison speared about knee-high.

Meantime, Artesia (9-1) collected 14 hits against Garcia, with senior center fielder Presley Skinner going 3-for-4 and knocking in three runs. Three other Artesia players finished with two hits.

“We can’t always rely on the same one or two people to win the game for us,” Lady Bulldogs coach Sandra Pulido said. “We have good leadership from our upperclassmen.”

In Game 2, the Lady Rams took a 1-0 lead in the second when Garcia hit a ringing double to left leading off, took third on a sacrifice and scored when the throw to first on the play by freshman pitcher Madison Martinez was off-line and went for an error.

In the fourth, through, the Lady Bulldogs erupted for four runs against sophomore Alivia Gonzales, the big blow a three-run, opposite-field home run to right by freshman third baseman Perseis Aguilar.

Gonzales, working at a crisp pace, nearly got through the rest of it unscathed, but Artesia strung together three two-out hits in the top of the seventh to add some insurance.

“We fell behind early, but we found a way to fight back and put some runs on the board,” Pulido said. “The younger ones stepped up for us in the second game.”

Gonzales allowed a total of nine hits, with two walks, two hit batsmen and four strikeouts. Bonner was impressed with her performance.

“She went in and got strikes,” Bonner said. “All you can ask her to do is do her job.”

Aguilar went 3-for-3, adding a double and scoring twice. First baseman Brooke Kinnibrugh and shortstop Kenzi Carlo each finished 2-for-4.

Meantime, the Lady Rams finished with six hits against Martinez, who worked five innings, and reliever Makaylee Morillon. Garcia had a perfect game, going 3-for-3 and driving in Portales’ second run with a sixth-inning single, while catcher Bailey Hinderliter finished 2-for-3.

The Lady Rams were slated to return to action with a home district twin bill against Lovington on Tuesday night. Their next outing is on Thursday, also at home, in a district doubleheader against Roswell Goddard.