Lady Jaguars come up short
Albuquerque Academy beats Capital in extra innings, sewing up 2nd place in District 2-5A
The Capital Lady Jaguars were 90 feet from keeping their Cinderella story alive. The Albuquerque Academy Lady Chargers, though, were after the same glass slipper.
Two softball programs that have struggled for the past two years since they became District 2-5A rivals found themselves in a different place Wednesday at Jaguar Field. They battled each other to keep their slim postseason hopes alive, and the Lady Jaguars entertained hopes of winning the program’s first district title.
With so much on the line, it seemed appropriate that it took extra innings before one dream was deferred and the other given a chance to live a little while longer.
The Lady Chargers overcame a seventh-inning Capital rally and fought off the Lady Jaguars’ game-winning opportunity in the eighth, thanks to a trick play that hadn’t worked this season, before scoring four runs in the ninth
inning to win 8-4.
Academy (16-9 overall, 8-4 in 2-5A) sewed up second place in the district, and also helped Los Alamos (16-8, 9-1) secure its second straight 2-5A title in the process. Capital, meanwhile, can tie the Lady Chargers for second if it sweeps the Lady Hilltoppers on Saturday, but Academy will hold
the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Not bad for two programs that combined for almost as many wins this year (30) as they had the previous three seasons (33).
“Both of us have been in the doldrums for years,” Academy head coach Mike Pettenuzzo said. “And both programs have come up together. We split a doubleheader at our place [on April 7], so we knew this was going to be a battle. And it was.”
The hard-fought battle that saw Academy take a 3-0 lead after the top of the first and the Lady Jaguars (14-7, 6-4) battle back to force the game into extra innings didn’t relieve the pressure building on both sides until Capital freshman catcher Emma George grounded out to shortstop Hannah Heronimus. As the Lady Chargers celebrated by the first-base dugout, the Lady Jaguars walked dejectedly to left field for a difficult post-game chat about missed opportunities.
“I’ve played softball for a long time,” Academy starting pitcher Alix Hamon said. “This is a game I’ll never forget.”
It’s hard to forget that Academy was three outs away from beating the Lady Jaguars in seven innings, but Capital fought back with a lead-off single by Ariana Almeida and a double from Deanza Booker to put the tying runs at second and third base with the Lady Chargers leading 4-2.
That set the stage for Capital junior JoJo Bowannie, who battled through an injured right hand for the last half of the season to deliver a two-run single up the middle to tie the score.
“She’s a helluva hitter, and she knows what her limits are,” Lady Jaguars head coach Sig Rivera. “She knows her hand is kinda tweaked, so she’s learning how to hit the opposite way, which is good for her.”
It’s hard to forget that Capital pitcher Marley Cardenas kept the Lady Chargers off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth — quite the feat considering teams play by “international rules” in extra innings in which the batting team starts with a runner at second base. Cardenas recorded a groundout to shortstop, a strikeout and a groundout to first base to pull it off.
“For a while, I was pitching like I had to strike everybody out,” Cardenas said. “Then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I know my defense.’ So, I pitched it and if they hit it, I had eight gloves behind me plus Emma behind the plate.”
In the bottom of the eighth, Alex Mares moved to third base on Sylvia Pinchiera’s groundout and Academy intentionally walked Alex Hernandez, who was 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the fourth inning that cut the Lady Chargers’ lead to 3-1 and loosened up a nervous group of Lady Jaguars hitters. Then came “The Pick-Off.” As Hernandez broke for second to steal the base, Mares inched toward home plate waiting for Lady Chargers catcher Angela Grine’s throw to second. Only, Hamon cut it off and flipped to third to catch Mares napping for a crucial second out.
“That was huge,” Pettenuzzo said. “That’s the first time that’s worked all year. They bit on it, and our catcher did a great job of acting throwing the ball to the pitcher. That was the turning point there.”
“It was just hard once we got that second out,” Hernandez said. “I think we could have kept it going if we had gotten a hit [after the play] and I would have scored.”
Academy opened the ninth by loading the bases, then Kushi Bahkta’s fielder’s choice to Booker at second base retired a runner but scored Jade Korber to break the tie. Hamon followed with a grounder to third base, and Mares’ throw to George beat Academy runner Shelly Upham. George, though, couldn’t hold on to the ball after the tag and the home-plate umpire called Upham safe for 6-4.
The Lady Chargers secured second place, but they merely put themselves in the conversation for a spot in the Class 5A State Tournament. Los Alamos won the automatic berth with the district title. Academy is ranked 16th in the most recent Freeman rankings on MaxPreps. com, which the New Mexico Activities Association uses to help select and seed the 12 teams for the postseason. Pettenuzzo knows his team faces an uphill challenge to earn an at-large bid.
“It’s a difficult jump, I know,” Pettenuzzo said. “We’ll see, but you look at a 16-and-nine team versus a nine-and-14 second place finisher [in another district]. I don’t know how that will work. But at least we’re in a position to be chosen.”
The Lady Jaguars, meanwhile, can only imagine what could have been against the Lady Hilltoppers.
They were only 90 feet away from realizing that dream.