The “Boys of Summer” finally has some good weather to play in. As we know, Spring in New Mexico can be more like Winter. The Grants High School Baseball team played last week in the northwest at the Farmington Invite and defeated two teams and lost to one team.
“Overall, we played well… we still have some small issues to clean up like being a little better on bases and trying to limit our errors on defense,” said GHS head baseball coach Mike Furbee.
The Pirates drew Pueblo West (2-4) for their first game and defeated them by a score of 4-0 on Thursday, March 20. On Friday, March 21, they lost to 5A powerhouse Piedra Vista (10-2) by a score of 7-1. On Saturday the 22nd they defeated Aztec (3-9) by a score of 14-4.
In the Aztec game, which went five innings, the Pirates set the tone early, scoring two runs in the 1st inning, five runs in the 2nd inning, three runs in the 3rd inning and four runs in the 4th inning. Aztec scored one run in the 4th inning and three runs at the top of the 5th inning.
Dominick Gonzales had eight RBI’s and three hits with one run.
Ethan Taylor pitched four innings allowing four hits, one run, one earned run and two strikeouts.
Josiah Marquez pitched part of the 5th inning allowing, one hit, three runs, while senior Dominick Gonzales closed out the inning with one strikeout.
Furbee acknowledged that after this weekend, the team’s “pitching” and “hitting” are close to where they need to be as they start district play next week.
The Pirates open up district play on April 4 against the Valencia Jaguars (7-4).
The Pirates have three non-district games left before district play. They will play Miyamura(4-5) on the road on Wednesday, March 26. Then on Friday, March 29 they will host Kirtland Central (6-6) for a double header starting at 11 am.
“We will use those three games as our final preparation trying to get pitchers their work and our lineup as well as our rotation in order,” said Furbee.
Currently the Pirates record is 5-4 and they are ranked 11th in 4A standings and third in the New Mexico Overtime Sports coaches facebook poll.
CIBOLA COUNTY SPORTS ROUND-UP Pirates Softball
The GHS softball team is currently 1-4 after a recent 12-2 loss to Capital High School (8-4) on March 20.
They opened up the season with a 13-0 loss to Miyamura on February 25 and regrouped to give the Gallup Bengals, last year’s 4A state champion, a competitive game on March 1, though they did lose 11-4.
“It was a hard-fought battle (Gallup)---we were trailing 3-5 at the bottom of the 6th inning and Gallup showed us why they were the champs–by scoring six runs–we couldn’t respond on the top of the 7th,” said Aldaz.
“We can see the growth and determination in our players Second year head coach, Victor Aldaz, is content with where his team is at this point. “I”m proud of my coaching staff—we just need to stay focused and keep putting in the effort.”
Aldaz added, “You can see the growth and determination in our playes and our defense has gotten significantly stronger–of course we have things to work on– but we’re getting there.”
The Lady Pirates JVsoftball team hosted a JV hosted a tournament recently and won it all. “These girls are on fire,” said Aldaz of the JV team. “They have an impressive 8-0 record.”
“We’re all about building on hard work and competitive spirit moving forward,” said Aldaz.
LAHS Baseball and Softball
The Laguna-Acoma Hawks baseball team is currently 4-1 and will play Miyamura (4-5) on March 25th on the road. They won their last 3 games soundly defeating 4A Espanola Valley 11-7 and defeated Thoreau in a double-header 11-0, 18-0. The Lady Hawks softball team is 3-1 and narrowly defeated 4A Espanola Valley by a score of 6-5 on March 22. Their next game will be Newcomb (0-1) on March 27 at home.
GHS Tennis
The GHS boys’ tennis team is currently and the GHS girls’ tennis team is 0-3 after a 6-3 loss to Espanola Valley on March 15th. They will compete next against Hope Christian (5-4) on March 25. The lady Pirates tennis team is currently 1-1 after a 9-0 loss to Farmington on March 14. Next up will be Hope Christian (5-2) on March 25 on the road.
GHS Track
On March 15 the GHS track team participated in the Mark Pecos Invitational at Bernalillo High School.
“We saw personal records at this meet– which is a step in the right direction,” said GHS head track coach Jessie Gamboa.
“This was the first meet for a number of our athletes coming in from winter sports—know they have seen the competition.”
Top 10 Notables for the Lady Pirates were: Laila Martinez placed 1st in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:19.38. Sianalee Chavez placed 10 with a time of 2:41.26.
Jenna Gurule placed 7th in the 100-meter run with a time of 13.59, Jenna Gurule placed 4th in the 200-meter run with a time of 28:35, Allison Hobbs placed 9th with a time of 31.00; In the 400-meter run Allison Hobbs placed 1st with a time of 1:12.22, Anyssia Perez placed 6th with a time of 1:09.49.
Laila Martinez placed 1st in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:19.38. Sianalee Chavez placed 10 with a time of 2:41.26.
Laila Martinez placed 1st in the 1600 meters with a time of 5:12.64.
Laila Martinez placed 3rd in the 3200 meters with a time of 12:49.36.
Leah Pedro place 10th in the 3200 meters with a time of 16:33.19 Jenna Gurule placed 2nd in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 51.41. Jenna Gurule was 6th in the long jump with a jump of 15–08.75. Anyssia Perez placed 8th with a jump of 13–11.50. Allison Hobbs placed 3rd in the triple jump with a jump of 30–5.50. Tori Felipe placed 2nd in the shot put with a throw of 32–7.00. Savannah Ortiz placed 9th with a throw of 20–06.00 Tori Felipe placed 5th in the javelin throw with a throw of 98–06.
For the GHS boys track team, John Paul Miller placed 7th in the1600 meter run with a time of 5:04.15. John Paul Miller placed 12th in the 400 meter run with a time of 1:01.56 Ray, Radon-James placed 12th in the 200 meter dash with a time of 25.98.
The Pirates next meet will be on April 5th at the Farmington Invite.