By Eric Butler
MaxPreps.com
Golf: Extra Holes Determine 5A, 1A-3A Boys Champs
In one week, champions in five sports were crowned and it all began with a stirring mano-a-mano golf duel in Socorro.
Alamogordo's Jeffery O'Dell won the 5A individual boys championship while Gadsden's Marisa Bautista took the girls crown.
For O'Dell, the Tigers senior may have let one opportunity to win slip away but he didn't allow La Cueva's H.J. Roberts off the hook a second time as the two dueled in a six-hole playoff at the New Mexico Tech course.
O'Dell, who was six strokes off the pace and in fourth place when the final round began on Tuesday (May 13), sunk a two-foot putt in the sixth hole of playoff golf – the third sudden-death hole – to win.
Each finished with a two-day total of 149 in Socorro with O'Dell twice watching Roberts come back from the brink of elimination.
At the end of the final round, two La Cueva players needed a birdie to tie O'Dell and force extra holes. Bears' sophomore Sam Saunders, the leader after the first day, was unsuccessful while Roberts did shoot his way into the scheduled three-hole playoff.
When Roberts bogeyed and then double-bogeyed the first two playoff holes, O'Dell had a three-stroke lead. But the Alamo player missed wide on his tee shot for the third hole, played on New Mexico Tech's 18th, and found himself in the rough. Trying to get out, he shot into the water and eventually was drawn back into another tie as the event now went into sudden death on each subsequent hole.
Then it was the La Cueva senior's chance.
On the fifth playoff hole, after each parred the fourth, Roberts only needed a five-foot putt to win. But Robert's shot went in and out of the cup.
"It just wasn't meant to be. I mean, I hit a good putt – I don't regret anything," Roberts said.
The next hole found Roberts twice sending shots on and skipping off the green, leaving O'Dell an easy chance for the championship. O'Dell's winning shot was actually a birdie as Roberts had already bogeyed the hole.
O'Dell thought the missed chance the hole before bothered Roberts.
"He looked like he was pretty steady and in his own zone. After that, I could tell he was, like, 'Aw, gosh,'" O'Dell said. "Chunking it into the water is heartbreaking, but missing those kinds of putts are the toughest."
La Cueva's boys did easily win the team championship with a score of 609 – 51 strokes better than second-place Eldorado.
Bautista, meanwhile, had a much easier time in claiming the girls individual championship.
Even with a final round score of 88, 10 strokes worse than her opening day score, Bautista won by four strokes over Cibola freshman Kelcey Tate.
Although she wasn't happy with her play in the windy conditions, Bautista recognized the importance of her victory.
"Back at home, it's been awhile since a state championship has gone back to Gadsden," Bautista said. "The last golf championship was Mike Olson and that was back in the '70s (1974)."
Rio Rancho's Shannon Ostrowsky was third individually and 11 shots off the pace.
Sandia was first in the team competition, with a cumulative score of 733, as Matadors' Katie DeLaurentis (4th), Alex Salazar (tie-8th), Vanessa Spradlin (tie-8th) and Melinna Boyd (10th) all finished within the top 10.
In Class 4A, Academy's boys won the team title while led by individual victor Chandler Smith-Stetson – whose two-round total of 146 was five shots better than runner-up Brian Price from Artesia.
The girls 4A championship came down to a battle between golfers from the northwest part of the state as Kirtland Central's Faylyn Beyale beat Piedra Vista's Jessica Berve by four strokes. Berve did come away with a title, however, as she and her fellow Panthers wrapped up the team crown.
As in 5A, the boys 1A-3A individual championship was won by a playoff when Desert Academy's Colin Pratt knocked off Lovington's Mark Woods. The girls 1A-3A title came down to a pair of Socorro golfers as Kayla Cline beat teammate Hayley Rammond by 14 strokes.
Baseball: Gateway Christian, Loving Grab Titles
It was hardly any trouble at all for the Gateway Christian Warriors, who won their third straight Class 1A title.
In fact, the Warriors outscored their three state opponents 58-1 and wrapped up the first-place blue trophy with a 9-0 shutout of Mesilla Valley at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque.
Also on Wednesday (May 14), Loving won its first title since taking back-to-back 2A championships four years before as the Falcons beat southeast New Mexico rival Eunice 3-1.
Loving hurler Xavier Chacon set the tone by setting down the first nine Eunice batters in order – the last six by Ks as he struck out the side in both the second and third innings.
In the meantime, Loving (17-8) took a 1-0 lead in the second off Eunice pitcher Moises Ornelas. After a leadoff walk by Sam Ponce, first baseman Rusty Foster slapped a double to right for an RBI.
Eunice (17-8) gradually began to time Chacon the second time through the lineup, but had fallen further behind as the Falcons scored a run in both the fifth and sixth innings.
Loving's Leo Gonzalez drove in one run with a single in the fifth and freshman Giovani Rodriguez did the same the next frame by poking a single into shallow left-centerfield.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinals got one back as consecutive singles by Tyler Almager and Benjie Monsalve eventually turned into a run on a grounder by Gage Guffey.
The Cards last chance came against Gonzalez, who came in to get the final two outs of the game. After one strike out, and with runners on second and third in the seventh, Eunice's Casey Rodriguez lined a hard shot the opposite way that was snagged by Loving first baseman Foster.
"My heart was pumping. I was hoping someone would get it," said Chacon, who was watching from the shortstop position, of the final out.
