State’s top four baseball teams headline tourney
Rahmer shines at prestigious Chandler Rotary Invitational
Coming off their triumph at last week’s metro tournament, the La Cueva Bears turn to their third tournament in three weeks.
And this one, like last week’s event, features the top four ranked prep baseball teams in Class 5A. In fact, every one of the eight teams in the field is ranked.
The Bears, Sandia, Cleveland and host Rio Rancho headline the elite Sal Puentes Tournament.
The tournament begins Thursday morning with No. 2-ranked Sandia facing No. 3 Cleveland at 10 a.m.
Carlsbad and new coach Mike McGaha, La Cueva’s former pitching coach, are in the 12:30 p.m. game against Albuquerque Academy, which is ranked No. 5 in Class 4A.
La Cueva faces Artesia at 3 p.m. The Rams are in the final game at 5:30, playing 4A’s third-ranked Goddard.
The semifinals are 3 and 5:30 p.m. Friday, and the final is set for 3 p.m. Saturday.
Down the road, Rio Rancho is also hosting the annual Kristin Griego Tournament for softball teams at Eagle Ridge Middle School.
Alamogordo and Hobbs, ranked No. 3 and 4 in Class 5A, are the top-ranked teams in the 20-team field from Class 5A. Metro semifinalists Cibola and Volcano Vista also are entered. Gallup and Bernalillo are the highest ranked 4A teams invited to the tournament.
The championship game is set for 4 p.m. Saturday.
Alamogordo also will be taking care of other business Thursday; the Tigers are slated to finish a doubleheader with La Cueva at 5 p.m. Thursday. Game 2 of their Monday doubleheader was stopped because of darkness with the Bears leading 6-3 in the bottom of the third. The game will resume from that point.
RAHMER BACK IN ACTION: Gianna Rahmer, representing Eldorado, and Organ Mountain’s Corbin Coombs had victories in the Elite division of last weekend’s prestigious Chandler (Arizona) Rotary Invitational.
Rahmer, the eighth-grader from Hoover Middle School, was the winner in the 3,200-meter final, in a time of 10 minutes, 45.69 seconds, and she won by two seconds. Rahmer placed third in the 1,600. Her time of 4:59.95 was less than a second off the winner’s mark.
Albuquerque Academy’s Anna Hastings was fifth in the 3,200, and her time (10:55.05) was the second fastest in the school’s history, behind Julia Foster in 2011, Chargers coach Adam Kedge said.
On the boys side, Coombs was a double champion in Chandler, sweeping both distance races, with Rio Rancho’s Charlie Vause placing second in both events. Coombs captured the 1,600 in 4:09.13, with Vause next in 4:10.99.
That duo had a terrific dual over the second and final mile of the 3,200-meter final.
Coombs ended up winning in a swift 9:01.65. Vause was right behind in a tight finish, crossing in 9:02.67.
MARK HANDY UPDATE: La Cueva’s giant junior offensive tackle continues to stack Division 1 offers.
Just in the last several weeks, Handy has gained offers from TCU, Georgia Tech and Oregon State. The University of New Mexico offered Handy at the end of February, and he is up to a dozen D-I offers. The list also includes New Mexico State, Utah State, UTEP, Princeton, Texas Tech, Baylor, Arizona State, and Utah.
La Cueva has the three highest profile football recruits in the state in the upcoming class, including quarterback Cam Dyer and linebacker Mason Posa. They’ll be seniors in the fall for the Class 6A defending state champion Bears.