Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Portales High senior Edel Legarda slides safely into third base during the first game of Friday's District 4-4A baseball doubleheader against Lovington at Ram Field. The Rams completed the regular season with a 14-1, 6-5 sweep of the Wildcats.
Portales High's baseball team seemingly was cruising to a District 4-4A doubleheader sweep of Lovington on Friday at Ram Field when suddenly the wind started blowing.
It nearly caused the roof to fall in on the Rams.
Senior left-hander Edel Legarda pitched 3 2/3 innings of perfect ball before the Wildcats began to put some things together. With the wind picking up, they scored four times in the sixth, then threated to overtake the Rams in the seventh before an unusual double play saved the day and PHS came away with a 6-5 victory.
Portales (12-11, 3-6 district) won Friday's opener 10-0 in five innings, and on Sunday netted the 15th seed in the 16-team Class 4A state tournament. The Rams travel to Grants (20-6) to face the second-seeded Pirates in a best-of-3 series beginning at 4 p.m. on Friday and continuing with the first of potentially two contests on Saturday, starting at 11 a.m.
Rams coach Arturo Ontiveros said that while it was possible the Rams might have gotten a bit higher seed after their three-game series sweep of Lovington (4-20, 0-9), he was OK with it.
"I'm good with whatever we got," he said Monday. "I don't know much about Grants yet, but I think if we play the way we can we have a shot."
In Friday's nightcap, senior Zane Mayberry took over after Legarda threw 107 pitches in six innings. The first three batters singled, making it 6-5, and an outfield error put runners at second and third.
After a groundout, the Rams elected to walk Lovington's Ethan Gonzales to load the bases. First baseman Cole McKillip then tapped a grounder to Legarda, now playing first, and he threw home to get a forceout.
Baserunner Mika Pando overran third on the play, and Rams catcher Noah Swift threw behind him. Pando broke for home and slipped, and Rams senior third baseman Alex Luscombe threw back to Swift for the putout, completing a 3-2-5-2 twin killing.
"I think we relaxed a little bit," Ontiveros said of nearly blowing the commanding lead. "We started off pretty good, and we had some fun but, like I told the kids after the game, teams aren't going to lay down for you."
Portales jumped on Wildcats starter Cam Ochoa for three runs on four hits in the first, including an RBI double by Swift and run-scoring singles by Legarda and senior left fielder Peyton Wiliams. An RBI triple by Williams in the fourth made it 4-0, and the Rams added two in the fifth on an RBI triple by senior shortstop Kaiden Gutierrez and a sacrifice fly by junior second baseman Elijah Tellez.
It turned out, all those runs were needed.
"Lovington can be scrappy," Ontiveros said. "They've been in some of these games. We're just happy to be playing pretty decent here at the end."
Portales outhit the Wildcats 11-8, with Gutierrez, Swift, Legarda and Williams all going 2-for-3.
There were no such dramatics in the opener. The Rams opened a 12-0 lead with a six-run third and ended it in 4 ½ frames on the 10-run rule.
Sophomore left-hander Carson Pfaffenberger tossed a five-inning one-hitter, walking three and striking out four. Ochoa's third-inning single was the Wildcats' lone hit, and he eventually came around to score.
Tellez led the Rams' 10-hit attack with 3-for-3 and three RBIs, including a two-run double in the fourth. Legarda finished 2-for-4 with a pair of run-scoring singles while Mayberry was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI, Andru Ontiveros finished 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and three runs and Gutierrez delivered a two-run single in the second.
