Cats fall short in bid for tournament title

ROSWELL – Coming into Roswell Goddard’s eight-team Southwest Classic baseball tournament with only one win for the season, Clovis High nearly left with the tournament championship.

The Wildcats took the lead on a sacrifice fly by senior Jasias Jimenez in the top of the seventh, but the host Rockets scored twice in the bottom half to claim a 3-2 victory in Saturday night’s finals.

CHS coach Richard Cruce said he’s seeing progress in his relatively inexperienced squad.

“It was a lot of fun,” he said of the tournament. “We honestly just didn’t get a timely hit when we needed it.”

Senior Jasiah Mendoza pitched five innings, allowing one run on four hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Sophomore Koby Rivera got through the sixth before the Rockets put together their late rally.

“Jasiah went out there and battled his tail off,” Cruce said. “He kept us in the ballgame.”

Both teams finished with seven hits, with junior Eli Rodriguez and eighth-grader Javy Jimenez both going 2-for-3 for the Cats (3-7). An RBI double by Rodriguez gave CHS a 1-0 lead in the second.

Senior Ryan Alsup went 3-for-4 for Goddard (4-1), tying the game with an RBI single in the third and driving in the tying run in the seventh before scoring the game-winner.

Senior Colby Eldridge pitched the first five innings for Goddard, striking out 10, while junior Tyler Conrad picked up the win with two innings in relief.

Next up for the Cats is a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Bell Park on Saturday against Mayfield.