Robertson routs SFIS to advance
Robertson 11 SFIS 2
RIO RANCHO — In order to be the best …
The Las Vegas Robertson Lady Cardinals know that any Class 4A state softball championship journey involves going through the juggernaut that is the Silver Lady Colts. For the past seven Mays, Silver has hoisted the blue trophy signifying a 3A or 4A title, losing just one game in that span.
On Thursday, the Lady Cardinals will get their chance to sidetrack a dynasty when they take on the top-seeded Lady Colts after dispatching Santa Fe Indian School 11-2 in the Class 4A quarterfinals on Wednesday at Rio Rancho Cleveland. Robertson, the fourth seed in the tournament, plays Silver at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in a 4A semifinal of the double-elimination bracket.
Even though Silver is the standard by which all over 4A programs measure themselves, Lady Cardinals head coach
Mike Quintana feels the game is a chance at redemption for his program because of the Lady Colt’s win in the finals of the winner’s bracket in 2016 when Robertson was the top seed and Silver was No. 6.
“I’m kinda looking forward to it,” Quintana said. “I want to see what we can do against them. It’s been a while since we faced them. Hopefully, my girls got the jitters out of them.”
The Lady Cardinals (21-6) showed they have the requisite skills to beat the Lady Colts, what with an offense that averages more than 10 runs per game and a pitching ace in senior Kendra Duran, who has an ERA under 2.00. Duran overcame a shaky second inning to shut down the Lady Braves, allowing just four hits and now walks while striking out eight. Duran also possessed a good fastball and riseball, but she showed the ability to change speed, which flummoxed SFIS to strike out looking four times.
“That’s what I worked on — to make them guess,” Duran said. “It’s come along a lot this year. It’s not just all about the fastball. You need your ball to move and I’ve learned that.”
Meanwhile, Robertson did all the damage it needed to in the opening frame, thanks to a stretch in which it turned six hits and a walk into seven runs right off the bat. After Duran loaded the bases with a walk, the Lady Cardinals collected five straight singles to make it 5-0. Then came Makalya Quintana, who had the lone out of the inning at the time. She roped a double over the head of Lady Braves center fielder Leanna Lewis that scored a pair of runs for a 7-0 advantage.
It was one of those rare times when the Lady Cardinals were clicking early against a pitcher in Alexis Garcia who threw harder then what they saw through District 2-4A play.
“We usually start off slow, and we couldn’t let that affect us,” Duran said. “So we had to keep encouraging girls to do what we gotta do.”
Still, Robertson struggled for the next five frames outside of a run in the second inning. Lady Braves pitcher Alexis Garcia relied on her defense and retired 13 straight Lady Cardinals until Leticia Vigil’s bunt single with one out in the sixth. Robertson finally broke through with three runs in the seventh, thanks to a pair of hits, two wild pitches by Garcia and a fielding error.
“We started doing good things and made them pop up a lot,” SFIS head coach Oliver Torres said. “Alexis was hitting her spots. They did a good job defensively, the outfielders had an amazing game. Our hitters, we just couldn’t do anything.”
The Lady Braves, who beat Hatch Valley 16-2 in five innings in the single-elimination opening round, still had a chance at extending their season, but the porous offensive output was just the beginning of a disappointing ending.
NO. 8 SHIPROCK 15, NO. 5 SFIS 1
SFIS’ season was over pretty much when the game started, when Lady Chieftains’ lead-off hitter Sanaa Keeswood roped a triple to the left-field corner. Shiprock (18-11) followed with four hits and the Lady Braves (22-6) had a throwing error to fuel a five-run outburst and a 5-0 lead.
The Lady Braves’ only run came in the bottom of the third inning, when Franki Chavez led off with a single, and raced around the bases on a throwing error on a pick-off attempt by Shiprock catcher Alisha Wilson to make it 10-1. Wilson already made her mark on the game when she smashed a basesloaded grounder down third-base line for an inside the park home run that padded the lead to 10-0 in the top of the third.
Torres, though, wasn’t at a loss for why his team could suddenly turn so cold, even as the temperature rose into the low 90s by the afternoon.
“When they’re hitting, they’re great,” Torres said. “But they’re streaky hitters, and we can’t be like that. We need to be consistent.”
Still, it was the best season for the program since the 2008 squad went 21-7.
NO. 3 COBRE 13, NO. 7 WEST LAS VEGAS 0
The Lady Dons (16-10) had plenty to cheer about in the morning, when they scored 10 unanswered runs against No. 10 Albuquerque Hope Christian to secure a 12-2, five-inning win in the opening round. However, they were routed by No. 2 Bernalillo 10-0 in the quarterfinals, and had the unfortunate occasion to draw the No. 3 Lady Indians after they lost 2-1 to No. 6 Portales.
Cobre was up 9-0 after two innings, then scored four times in the fifth to advance to the next consolation round against the Bernalillo-Portales loser at 10:30 a.m.