As college basketball slips away, local high school sports programs gear up for district play even though the weather has not slipped away from winter’s grip.
The GHS boys’ baseball team, at 11-5, will play the 6-10 Valencia Jaguars at home on Tuesday, March 28 in the first round of district play. The Lady Pirates softball team, currently 1-9, will travel to play the 2-9 lady Jaguars of Valencia High School on Tuesday in their first game of district play. Currently the lady Pirates are fourth out of five teams in 4A district 5.
The Pirates baseball team went 2-1 in its last three games with a close 65 defeat by I-40 Rival, the Miyamura Patriots, in a game that went to the wire on February 22. “We came out flat against Miyamura— getting down early and we were unable to really get it right,” said GHS head baseball coach Mike Furbee about the close game with Miyamura. “It was a game we should have won and sometimes those are the reality check games you need.”
In that eight-inning game, Izeyah Manzanares pitched 7.1 innings and allowed nine hits with eight strikeouts and two walks. Dominick Gonzales went three for five RBIs and had two singles. Cameron McDougle went two for four RBIs.
The Pirates played a double header on the road with Kirtland Central High School and handily defeated the Broncos 180 and 11-0. “We seem to have gotten it right Saturday taking care of business in both games against Kirtland Central,” said Furbee.
In that first game, Estevan Barela pitched four innings and allowed one hit and three walks. Dominick Gonzales pitched one inning and had two strikeouts and no walks.
In the second game, Niko Young pitched four innings and allowed three hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Boudy Melonas pitched one inning allowed one hit with two strikeouts and one walk.
Niko Young went two for three RBIs while Boudy Melonas went two for three RBI’s. Andres Lopez went two for two RBIs while Niko Young went two for three RBI’s and Boudy Melonas also went two for three RBIs.
The Pirates (11-5) are currently third in their district (5-4A) behind St. Pius is in first with a record of 11-2 and Belen in second place with a record of 12-3.
Cibola County Sports Wrap-Up
The GHS girls’ tennis team (2-1) and boys’ tennis (0-3) team will play a non-district meet on March 28 at Los Lunas High School.
The GHS boys’ and girls’ track team participated at the Farmington Invite on Saturday, March 25. No results have been posted as of Tuesday, March 28.
The Laguna-Acoma boys baseball team are still 15 games away from starting districts and are currently 1-1 with in nondistrict games with their next game on Tuesday, March 28 at home against the 1-12 Gallup Bengals. The lady Hawks softball team played Wingate High School on Monday, March 27. No score was posted as of Tuesday. They will play the Kirtland Broncos (1-6) in their next game at home on Thursday, March 30.