GRANTS, N.M. - The Pirate baseball team is cooking with grease – they are the top team in district 5A with a 5-0 record in district play. The Pirates also are 9th in the state rankings and jumped to 8th place in the nmovertimesporots.com coaches poll.
Most recently they played Valencia and defeated them 8-2 on April 17.
“I thought we played well and did what we needed to get the win,” said GHS head coach Mike Furbee. “Alaways tough when the weather is bad and the stands aren’t as full—the boys were able to keep their energy level up despite the conditions.”
In that game Evan Taylor pitched 6 innings allowing for 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs and two walks with 9 strikeouts. Daniel Garcia pitched part of an inning allowing for 3 hits, 2 rus, 2 earned runs and 0 walks and 0 strikeouts. Estevan Barela finished the game pitching 1 inning allowing for 1 hit, 2 runs, 2 earned runs 2 walks and 11 strikeouts.
Estevan Barela had 2 RBI’s followed by Joziah Ortega, Daniel Garcia and Colin Lundstrom with 1 RBI apiece.
Garcia led the Pirates with 3 hits followed by Barela with 2 hits while Ortega, Zeth Villasana and Nathan Nieto had 1 hit apiece.
Nieto also scored 2 runs for the Pirates.
The Pirates scored 1 run in every inning except the 3rd where they scored 3 runs and no runs in the 7th.
Next up for the Pirates is a tough road game, Tuesday, April 21st, against the number 2 team in the district, the St. Pius Sartans (17-5, 5-0).
“Pius on the road will be tough–but we are ready for them,” said Furbee of that game.
The lady Pirate softball team lost a close 8-6 district game to Valencia on April 16th.
“Despite the loss I felt it was one of our more complete games we’ve played both defensively and offensively,” said GHS head softball coach Victor Aldaz. “We had quality at-bats and got runners on base–we just couldn’t close it out.”
In that game Eva Ibarra pitched that game allowing 5 hits, 8 runs, 2 earned runs and 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.
Melia Chavez led the lady Pirates with 3 RBI’s followed by Natalia Chavez, Olivia Toivanen and Breana Largo with 1 RBI apiece.
Melia Chavez had 3 hits followed by Natalia Chavez, Delilah Martinez, Olivia Toivanen and Breanna Largo had 2 hits apiece.
Next up for the Pirates will be St. Pius (11-11,32) on April 21st at home.
“We’re excited to be back home—-they’r a solid team and we know we’ll need to stay disciplined,” said Aldaz. “If we do that we’ll put ourselves in a good position to compete.”