Seedings set for softball, baseball, tennis
Let the games begin. Sunday afternoon brought the release of postseason pairings in high school tennis, baseball and softball as the respective state tournaments are set to get underway this week.
The annual state tennis tournament starts with the individual draws for singles and doubles on Wednesday in Albuquerque. The team duals tournament begins at two separate sites on Friday.
The softball state tournament launches into its single-elimination round Friday and Saturday with games all around the state as the top eight seeds in the bigschool classifications will host the bottom eight. The winners move the following week’s double-elimination event in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque.
Baseball’s big schools begin their respective tournaments with the best-of-three opening round series starting Friday, with the top eight seeds hosting the lower eight. The Class 3A draw will be single elimination starting Friday.
The small-school levels for softball and baseball are still in the regular season and will have their tournament pairings revealed next weekend.
Softball
Before heading home following a pair of losses to district rival Albuquerque Hope Christian last weekend, St. Michael’s head coach Deborah Garcia had a feeling her team was going to take a tumble when Sunday’s pairings were released in 4A.
“I’m thinking they’ll put us around [No. 7], maybe 6,” she said.
Her words proved prophetic as the Lady Horsemen, despite a 21-win regular season that took them to the brink of a district title, were tabbed as the No. 7 seed in this week’s opening round. They will stay at home to face Pojoaque Valley (14-12).
Three of the four teams in 5-4A made the postseason; the lone exception being Santa Fe Indian
School. The Lady Braves did not receive an invitation despite winning more games (11) than four other teams in the field — Ruidoso, Socorro, Taos and West Las Vegas.
Las Vegas Robertson (23-3) is the top seed and will get district rival Taos (8-18). West Las Vegas (10-13) will travel to No. 8 Kirtland Central. Hope is seeded third and Portales is second.
In 5A, Los Alamos and Española Valley each made the field although both will hit the road for the first round. Los Alamos is the No. 11 seed and heads to No. 6 Miyamura in Gallup. Española is No. 14 and travels to No. 3 Roswell.
Santa Fe High did not receive an invitation to the 6A field. Hobbs is the No. 1 overall seed.
Baseball
St. Michael’s struggled down the stretch, losing five its last six games while scoring just seven runs in those losses. The Horsemen (11-15) were subsequently handed the No. 12 seed in Class 4A and will travel to No. 5 Las Vegas Robertson (15-7) starting Friday. The two teams did not meet during the regular season.
Sandia Prep (22-4) earned the top seed in 4A, a classification that has seen four different state champions in the last four years. Portales is the No. 2 seed and will host No. 15 West Las Vegas (14-12) while Taos (17-8) is No. 4 and will get a visit from No. 13 Hatch Valley.
Pojoaque Valley (11-15) made the field as an at-large team and will face No. 3 Hope Christian starting Friday in Albuquerque.
In Class 5A, Los Alamos returns to the postseason as the No. 7 seed one year after reaching the state semifinals. The Hilltoppers (18-8) host No. 10 Moriarty (16-10), a team they lost to 3-0 five weeks ago.
Roswell Goddard is the top overall seed while Las Cruces Centennial is No. 2. Capital had a winless season and did not make the postseason.
Santa Fe High did not qualify for the 6A field, which has Rio Rancho as the No. 1 overall seed.
In 3A, Pecos (14-10) dropped to the No. 6 seed after losing its regular season finale to district rival Estancia. The Panthers will get a visit from No. 11 Raton (7-15), a team they lost to, 13-11, on April 11.
Texico is the top seed while Estancia is No. 4. The winners move into next week’s state quarterfinals, which begin May 11 at Rio Rancho Cleveland.
The quarterfinals for 4A-6A start May 12 in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque. Championship games for every class will be split between Isotopes Park and Santa Ana Star Field on May 13 and 14.
Tennis
The big news for this week’s individual tournament is defending 1A-4A singles champion Brandi Fulgenzi electing to play in the doubles bracket with her sister rather than return for another shot at singles.
She’ll pair with Lauren Fulgenzi as the No. 1 doubles tandem. The No. 2 seed is also a pair of Fulgenzis out of Rob- ertson, Jenese and Jaci. The two teams are expected to reach Thursday afternoon’s finals against one another.
The 1A-4A singles tournament does feature Tianna Baca of St. Michael’s. She is the No. 3 overall seed and has a bye into Thursday’s quarterfinals.
The entire tournament will be at the Jerry Cline Complex in Albuquerque.
The boys’ 1A-4A field has Warren Fulgenzi of Robertson back to defend his title as the No. 1 overall seed. At No. 2 is Will McDermott of St. Michael’s. Both players have a bye into Thursday’s quarterfinals.
The 6A girls bracket includes Santa Fe High’s district champion doubles team of senior Dakota Haraden and sophomore Lily Farr. The pair is seeded sixth and will face a team from Hobbs on Wednesday afternoon at Jerry Cline.
The team duals start Friday. Albuquerque Academy is the site for 1A-4A while the 5A tournament will be held entirely at Jerry Cline.