AHS, La Cueva clinch district softball titles
State brackets in 3 sports out on Sunday
Roughly 8½ months after the first regular-season games on the 2022-23 prep sports calendar, Saturday marked the final day of regular season activity around New Mexico for everyone except some small-school softball teams.
State tournament brackets in baseball, softball (Classes 5A and 4A; the Class 3A and 2A/1A brackets in softball will be announced next Sunday) and tennis will all be revealed on Sunday. Postseasons in all five spring sports will unfold over the next 14 days.
There were some pieces of business that needed to be finished on Saturday in the metro area.
Albuquerque High scored 28 runs, 14 in each game, in a doubleheader sweep of visiting Los Lunas. The scores were 14-9 and 14-7 as AHS clinched the District 5-5A softball championship.
AHS clubbed nine home runs in the two victories.
Bulldogs senior Jazmyn Griego slugged her 19th of the season in the opener for AHS (21-5, 10-0). That’s the number she finished at for the day, one behind her friend and club teammate Jalyn Montes of Cibola, who for now holds the state’s single-season home run mark. Each has at least one postseason game next week.
Albuquerque High and the Tigers were tied 7-7 in the bottom of the fourth inning in Game 1 when Angela Russell hit a tworun homer for the Bulldogs. Liana Salinas hit two homers in Game 1. AHS put the game away with four runs in the sixth.
The Bulldogs went deep four more times in Game 2, two by freshman Raquel Waldrop. AHS finished with 56 in the regular season.
In District 2-5A, La Cueva won the regular season title — by a single run in a tiebreaker with Piedra Vista. Both finished with 9-1 league records after sweeping season-ending doubleheaders. La Cueva won two against Eldorado on Saturday, while Piedra Vista took a pair from Farmington on Friday.
When La Cueva and Piedra Vista met in the regular season, the Panthers beat the Bears 3-2 but lost the second game to La Cueva 9-7 in extra innings.
Volcano Vista clinched the District 1-5A title earlier in the week; the Hawks get the nod over Cibola (both were 6-2 in league) due to a pair of head-to-head victories, 20-17 and 17-15. The Hawks forfeited their game Friday to Rio Rancho, having already played the maximum 26 games permitted.
Albuquerque Academy (6-4A) and St. Pius (5-4A) were district champs in Class 4A.
In baseball on Saturday, La Cueva closed out 10-0 in 2-5A, sweeping Eldorado 9-1 and 4-2. The Bears last week clinched the 2-5A title. Rio Grande (5-5A) and Rio Rancho (1-5A) also had clinched their leagues within the last week.
Rio Rancho’s 20-game baseball winning streak was snapped Friday by Volcano Vista, 3-2, although the Rams (22-2-2) are still certain to be the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A tournament. The Hawks and Cleveland could also earn top-five seeds for the playoffs, which in 5A begin on Friday.
Valley (6-4A) and Grants (5-4A) went 8-0 in their districts.
Sandia Prep locked up the District 4/5-3A crown on Saturday against Dexter, taking a pair from the Demons. The Sundevils edged New Mexico Military for the title because Sandia Prep won a pair of one-run games from NMMI in mid-April.