By Eric Butler
MaxPreps.com
Softball: Champions Crowned in Farmington
Word began to circulate prior to the 2006 season that Cibola had a group of very, very good young players coming up through the program. Perhaps longtime Cougars' coach Gene Victor might have thought that, eventually, this would be the core of a state title contending squad somewhere down the line.
Well, the promise of tomorrow became a reality Saturday as Cibola won the school's first state championship in softball. At the state tournament in Farmington, the Cougars beat Sandia, 2-1, in an extra innings showdown to claim the blue trophy.
When junior third baseman Tara Bunch clamped on to a pop-up for the third out in the eighth inning, Victor got to be part of his first championship celebration in his 22 years of being the Cibola head coach.
"I'd like to say I had something to do with it, but I didn't - it's all the kids," Victor said. "Actually, they're not kids. They're young women and they did a heck of a job. They've just been winners."
Cibola (24-4) entered the Class 5A tournament as the top seed in the 12-team field.
In Sandia (21-6-1), the Cougars were facing a squad that had also made it to the title game last year. In Matador pitcher Maddie Machac, Cibola was facing a hurler that had thrown a perfect game only a day before in the same tourney. Against the Cougars, Machac was quite effective in allowing only a single hit and no runners beyond second base over the first five innings as Sandia maintained a 1-0 lead.
But this has been a year of comebacks for Cibola and Saturday's game was no exception. In the sixth inning, senior Ashleigh-Rae Soto reached base on an error and was driven in by sophomore Latainna Eltsosie's single into centerfield to tie the game.
"We told them, going into the fifth inning, that this was our time," Victor said. "We didn't get it done in the fifth, so we said, 'Okay, we're overdue.'"
"Maddie's an awesome pitcher and we just had to keep our composure," said Cibola sophomore pitcher Missy Martinez, who was nothing less than outstanding in striking out 18 Matadors over her eight innings of work. "We had to not give up, because we had done it so many times before. We knew what we were up against - and we did it."
The winning run came in the top of the eighth when Soto slapped a single into center and freshman Valerie Swedberg, the Cougars' catcher, raced home for a 2-1 Cibola lead.
"It feels good to be first," Swedberg said amidst the postgame celebration.
Class 4A
In the title game, St. Pius was trying to snatch victory away from yet another Four Corners team as the Sartans faced Piedra Vista in the Panthers' hometown Saturday. Friday, St. Pius (25-3-1) had managed to eliminate both Aztec and Farmington High in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.
But Piedra Vista (28-2) prevailed with a 3-0 victory over the Sartans and took its second-straight 4A championship.
Sartan Rachel Hackeem, a senior second-baseman, had two hits including a double in her three appearances at the plate while St. Pius teammate Sarah Ubietta, a senior as well, also reached base with a bloop double in the seventh.
However, that's all that St. Pius got off Piedra Vista pitcher Jayme Fuller - who managed to hurl a shutout despite having Sartans' runners get to third base in four of the seven innings.
"We were ranked number one through the whole entire season. That's probably the hardest thing to do, be one at the beginning and be one at the end," Fuller said.
Sartans' pitcher Karisa Medrano, who will play at Ohio State, was almost as good. But the Panthers got a run in the fourth when a pair of walks eventually came back to haunt Medrano when a passed ball - on a swinging strike - allowed Piedra Vista to take a l-0 lead. In the sixth, however, Panthers' shortstop Alyssa Henderson hit a no-doubter as her homer over the centerfield fence gave Piedra Vista some cushion.
It was the first time St. Pius had made it into the state title game under coach Mark Rhoten.
"For us, we just wanted an opportunity to win it in the end," Rhoten said. "The home run kind of took it away from us a little bit further."
Class 3A
Bloomfield won its first Class 3A title since 2000, with a 6-0 win over Portales (20-9), and look poised to get a few more. Freshman pitcher Kellie Mason struck out the first nine Rams' batters she faced, part of her total of 15 over six innings of work, and the Bobcats (24-6) burst to a 4-0 lead with a rally in the second.
The 'Cats, throughout the tournament, also got big contributions from freshman catcher Tiara Archibeque and eighth-grader Mercedes Martinez.
"I'm feeling pretty happy although I don't look like it," said Mason, after several Bobcats shared postgame tears of joy. "We've been working for this all year long. It's finally happened and I think it just hit us."
This year's tournament marked the first time that Portales, which had eight seniors, had even won a game at state. The Rams beat Wingate, Robertson and Santa Fe Indian to get to the finals.
"I'm proud of the kids and I'm proud of the red trophy," Portales coach Robbie Crowley said. "We don't have one of those in softball. In fact, we didn't have a trophy in softball. That's something to build on - it gets better every year."
Class 1A-2A
Loving won its second Class 1A-2A title under third-year coach Rachel Lara, and 11th in school history, by plating a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and holding on for a 4-2 win.
Lorraine Chavez drove in one run in the fourth for the Falcons (19-7) with a long triple to left while freshman Brittney Cathey sent home another in the fifth with a double.
McCurdy (14-6) had got into the championship game by beating Loving's traditional softball nemesis, Jal, in the semifinal round.
"Last night, I didn't get much sleep because I was just thinking of strategies on what to do today," said Loving pitcher Shaniece Fuentes, who struck out seven and got the win. "Jal has always been our compeitition. So we knew that if they were beating Jal, then we had to step it up."