Bats are Flying as Baseball and Softball Kick Off

  • Senior Coudy Melonas,2, of the GHS boys basketball team took one of his last shots as a high school senior last Saturday at Highland High School in the first round of the Nusenda 4A boys state basketball tournament. The Pirates lost that game to the number 1 ranked Hornets by a score of 76-31 ending this years season for them. The lady Pirates also lost their first round game by a score of 47-25 to the Hope Huskies. Franklin Romero - CC
    Senior Coudy Melonas,2, of the GHS boys basketball team took one of his last shots as a high school senior last Saturday at Highland High School in the first round of the Nusenda 4A boys state basketball tournament. The Pirates lost that game to the number 1 ranked Hornets by a score of 76-31 ending this years season for them. The lady Pirates also lost their first round game by a score of 47-25 to the Hope Huskies. Franklin Romero - CC

    GRANTS, N.M. Boom, just like that we are several games deep into the Spring team sports baseball and softball seasons.

    “After four games – and to be 2-2 is not a bad start considering we are down three key players who are out for basketball,” said Grants High School Head Baseball Coach Mike Furbee. “We knew it was important to get wins against Gallup and Moriarty because it was going to be tough sledding against Artesia minus our three starters.”

    The Pirates defeated Gallup 13-0 on March 3. Notables were Derek Rhoades with four RBI’s and pitcher Evan Taylor who struck out nine batters.

    The Pirates went on to defeat Moriarty 7-2 on March 5.

    Derek Rhoads, Evan Taylor, Zeth Villasana, Nathan Nieto and Miguel Montoya had two RBI a piece in that game.

    The doubleheader against Artesia on March 7 resulted in a 10-5 and 18-0 loss.

    The Pirates will play 5A Santa Fe on March 11 at home.

    “Expectations moving forward is to get the guys to ready for district play which is a little less than a month away,” said Furbee.

    Pirate Softball

    GHS softball is off to a 3-1 start and GHS Lady Pirate softball coach Victor Aldaz is bullish on his season. “We’re excited about the direction this team is heading,” said Aldaz. “We have a lot of young talent stepping up.”

    Aldaz added that is group is working “extremely hard” and the “chemistry and effort” they bring is exciting for him to see.

    The Pirates defeated Miyarmura 7-6 on February 24 they fell to Gallup 18-1 on February 26. In March they defeated Shiprock 7-6 on March 5 and on March 7 they defeated Taos 21-3. Notables thus far for the Lady Pirates are Annora Graham who hit a walk-off home run to win the season opener against Miyamura. Alynn Othole had a “geat outing in the circle” as she struck out 11 against Shiprock. In that same game Raeyna Valdez had two hits, an inside- the-park home run and four RBI’s.

    In the most recent game against Taos the Lady Pirates had 25 hits and scored 21 runs while they held the Tigers to 3 runs.

    “We are looking forward to the rest of the season and see how far this team can go,” said Aldaz.