The boys of summer are sizzling with 8 wins in a row and defeating two competitive district teams in the past 2 weeks. Last Friday, April 10th they defeated Belen (11-8, 2-1) by a close 3-2 score to move them to 1st place in district 5 4A.
“We didn’t do anything different – just play good defense and keep our errors to a minimum and continue to be patient at the plate,” said GHS head baseball coach Mike Furbee. “We had two early errors, but they really didn’t hurt us.”
The Pirates and Belen’s defense kept the score low as the defenses of both teams held each other in check. The Pirates scored a run in the 1st inning and Belen rallied in the 3rd inning with 2 runs to lead 2-1.
The Pirates grinded it out and scored a run in the 5th off a Zeth Villasana fly ball to right field –tie ball game---get the popcorn and move to the edge of your seat.
In the 7th inning when Villasana, a seasoned senior, hit a single to right field allowing Derek Rhoades to score the winning run.
A calm and collected Furbee said of that finale, “We were able to keep it close and give ourselves a change in the 7th.” Pirates win 3-2!
Villasana had 2 RBI’s followed by Daniel Garcia with 1 RBI in that game. Eric Barela, Joziah Ortega, Evan Taylor, Rhoades, Floyd Lee and Zeth Villasana had 1 hit apiece.
Senior Eric Barela put his experience and talent in that game as he pitched the entire 7 innings allowing for 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 earned runs, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. Prior to the Belen game the Pirates defeated Highland (3-12,0-2) 13-3 on April 7th. Prior to the Belen game the Pirates handily defeated Highland 13-3 on April 7th.
Next up for the Pirates is Valencia (8-11-02) at home on April 17th.
“Valencia will again be another tough matchup we will spend the week preparing for them—as we start the 2nd round of district play,” said Furbee.
The Pirates are at the top of their district with Belen, St. Pius, Valenica and Highland rounding out the district standings.
“4-0 after this first round puts us in a good spot—but we understand that anyone can beat anyone in district play---so we will continue to work and try to improve daily,” said Furbee Currently the Pirates are ranked 9th in 4A the maxpreps.com state rankings and they are also 9th in the nmpreps.com’s most recent coach’s poll.
Softball
GHS softball had a challenging game last week against Belen this past week losing 13-0 to the district rival on . “Belen is always a tough opponent and they played a solid game,” said GHS head softball coach Victor Aldaz. “On our end we didn’t field the ball as cleanly as we needed to while our bats were alive and we were putting the ball in play.”
“On the district standings I’m not satisfied with our current standing in the district ---but my belief is these girls hasn’t changed,” said Aldaz. “We have the talent and heart to compete with anyone.”
The Pirates play Academy next on April 14th. Aldaz said of that upcoming game, “We handles academy well early in the season, but we can’t rely on the past results”. Aldaz added, “We need to show up ready to play from the first pitch.”
Currently the Pirates are 11-8, 1-3 and ranked 4th in their district.
Tennis
In tennis news the Lady Pirates defeated Valenica (2-11, 2-2) by a score of 8-1 and their current record is 7-8, 2-1 and will play Gallup (0-2, 0-2) on April 21st at Gallup. Currently they are 2nd in their district just behind the powerful 10-1, 6-0 Lady Sartans of St. Pius.
The GHS boy’s tennis team is currently 6-9,1-2 after losing a close match to Valencia, 5-4, on April 2nd. Next up is Belen (9-2, 1-0) at home on April 22nd. They are 6th in their district.