Santa Fe still alive in consolation bracket
All-Star team will need to win three more elimination games to reach state finals
ALBUQUERQUE — Santa Fe has lived to see another day.
Taking the field for the third time in less than 24 hours at the Little League Majors Baseball State Tournament, the Santa Fe All-Star team survived an elimination game Saturday morning by hammering Deming, 17-2.
The contest was halted due to the mercy rule in the third inning, sending Santa Fe into Sunday morning’s third round of the consolation bracket. They’ll face Albuquerque’s South Valley All-Stars at 10 a.m., with the winner moving into Monday’s consolation semifinals.
South Valley was beaten 18-6 by Albuquerque Eastdale in other action Saturday, handing South Valley its first loss of the tournament.
There’s no margin for error at this point for Santa Fe. The club has won two of its first three games in the double-elimination tournament, opening play Friday with a win over Clovis Western and dropping a 5-4 heartbreaker to the tournament host Albuquerque Roadrunner late Friday night.
Needing a win against Deming to stay alive, Santa Fe didn’t waste any time. They batted around in each of the first two innings, sending 25 hitters to the plate after spotting Deming a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
SFLL scored 10 runs in the bottom of the inning and added seven more in the second. It actually could have been worse for Deming, considering three of the first four outs came on plays at the plate when Santa Fe was exerting its aggressiveness on the basepaths.
A number of deep drives highlighted Santa Fe’s offense. That included a Jesus Mejia blast that landed at the base of the centerfield fence in the second inning. Two runs scored on the play and Mejia wound up at third before scoring another run moments later.
It was the closest anyone on Santa Fe’s roster has come to a home run in the tournament, although hitting one out of straightaway center at Hahn Park would require a Little League moonshot because the fences in left and center field stand about 15 feet tall and 200 feet from home plate.
“The boys came out ready,” said SFLL head coach Luke Chavez. “The main
thing is we wanted to save some of our pitchers for [Sunday], so it was good to get the lead and get the game over with quick.”
With pitchers limited to 35 pitches per day and none allowed go more than two days in a row if they reach the limit, keeping the arms fresh was paramount. Bode Mack started Saturday’s game and neither of Santa Fe’s pitchers reached the maximum number of throws.
After playing twice in Friday’s opening rounds, Santa Fe would play no more than one game per day as long as it remains alive. To reach the finals against the undefeated team in the winner’s bracket, they’d have to win elimination games on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before playing in the finals on Wednesday.
Only six of the tournament’s nine teams are still alive after Saturday’s play. Las Vegas, Clovis Western and Deming were all sent home. Two more teams will be eliminated Sunday, leaving just four teams alive heading into next week.