Take me out the ballgame. The place to be last Tuesday, April 9, was the Grants High School baseball field, as the Pirates played one of their more impressive games of the year. The Pirate baseball team was in a battle with formidable district rival, the St. Pius Sartans (15-5, 5-1), in a nail biter that ended with the Pirates coming up short 9-6 at the end of 7 innings. “We made a couple of mistakes—that was the difference,” said Grants High School Head Coach, Walter Sarracino. “We can’t make mistakes against teams like that.”
After 2 innings both teams were tied 2-2, and the Sartans added a run in the third inning to take the lead, 3-2. The Sartans rallied in the fourth quarter and added two more runs making the score 5-2.
Just as the game may have started to favor the Sartans, freshman slugger Dominick Gonzales slammed a home run – that is probably still rolling somewhere in the county – to score three runs to tie it all up 5-5 at the end of 5th inning. “That was huge,” said Sarracino of the home run. The Sartans answered back, scoring one run in the 6th inning. With new momentum from Gonzales’ home run, the energized Pirates scored a run at the bottom of the 6th inning to tie it up 6-6.
St. Pius rebounded in the 7th and final inning for three runs to make the final score 9-6 as they boarded the bus back to Albuquerque with a “W”.
Nick Bustos pitched most of the game and was subbed out by Estevan Barela and Dominick Gonzales in the final inning. “We had to make a change with Nick [Bustos] – we wanted to throw them off balance with slower speed,” said Sarracino.
Dominick Gonzales had three RBIs in that game, followed by senior William Archuleta with two and Gabriel Marquez with one. Izeyah Manzanares and Archuleta had two hits apiece followed by Gonzales and Tyler Everhart with one hit apiece.
On Saturday, April 23, the Pirates hosted district rival the Valencia Jaguars (9-12,2-4) and sent them packing back to the bus with a 11-8 win. “We hit the ball well and minimized mistakes,” said Sarracino of that game.
Next up for the Pirates is Valencia High School on an away game on Tuesday, April 26, in another district show down. “We have to go there mistake-free and keep hitting the ball, they are good team,” said Sarracino of the upcoming matchup. The Pirates are 16-8,4-2 headed into the Valencia game.
GHS Sports Wrap Up
The Grants High School boys and girls track team won their home invite. The Grants Invite, this past Saturday, April 23, after the meet was postponed from Friday, April 22, to Saturday due to high winds.
The boys won their meet with 133 points. Placing second was Zuni High School with 121 points followed by Thoreau High School with 80 points and finally, Ramah High School with 47 points.
Andrez Lazos placed first in the long jump, 19’02, and first in the 100m dash with a time of 11.76. Bobby Perez placed first in the 400m dash with a time of 57.55. The GHS 4x200 relay team placed first with a time of 1:41.73 and first in the 4x1200 relay with a time of 46.70.
The GHS girls track team narrowly placed first after defeating Zuni High School 128 to 127. Third place went to Ramah High School with 56 points and fourth place went to Thoreau High School with 47 points. Marina Lucero placed first in the long jump with a distance of 14’05 and placed 2nd in the triple jump with a jump of 30’00. Shelby Martinez placed first in the 300m low hurdles with a time of 1:00. Also taking a first place win was Iyessa Arriaga with a time of 2:47 in the 800m run. The lady Pirates placed first in the 4x100 relay race with a time of 55.89 and also placed first in the 4x200 relay race with a time of 2:05
The GHS tennis teams bring to close their district play. The lady Pirates tennis team is currently 6-8, 4-2 after splitting two recent matches. They lost 8-1 to Belen High School (16-3, 6-0) on April 19. Chalee Merayo, current number 5 for the Lady Pirates, defeated Angelina Fragua 7-5, 6-3.
On April 21, the Lady Pirates played of four of the nine matches scheduled against Valencia High School (2-15, 0-6) and won, 9-0, on forfeit. In that match, number two singles, Karsyn Cash, defeated Karleih Gibson 6-3, 6-4. Alexia Munson defeated Lily Genson 6-1, 6-0. Doubles number one Chloe Rychener and Kynlie Cash defeated Preslee Eylicio and Karliegh Gibson 6-2, 6-3.
The GHS boys’ tennis team (4-10, 2-4) lost their last two most recent matches. On April 19, the Pirates were defeated by Belen 7-2. Currently Belen is 7-1, 5-1. In that match, number four in singles, Isaiah Tena, a sophomore, defeated Luke Austin 3-6, 6-0. Number 2 in doubles Tena and Nathan Hobbs defeated Vicente Silva, Janek Stockhous by a score of 6-4, 6-2. On Tuesday, April 19, they played and lost by a score of 9-0 to Valencia High School (14-5, 5-1).