Five local teams have a shot to make waves during the spring baseball and softball season.
The Española Valley Sundevils baseball team is seeking its first District 2AAAA title in school history and has been pummelling their district competition so far. The Sundevils have won three District 2AAAA games by a combined total of 40-3 and are 8-5-1 overall.
One of the things helping the Sundevils this season is that they didn’t have to wait until basketball season was over to fill out their roster. None of their starting players played on the basketball team, so they have been together since the beginning of the season.
Española has a big doubleheader coming up Saturday at Los Alamos.
The Hilltoppers are 1-0 in District 2AAAA after beating Taos 13-6 March 31 in their district opener. Española crushed the Tigers 19-3 and 11-0 April 3 in a doubleheader at home. Los Alamos is just 2-10 overall this season.
Confidence is what the Sundevils could pick up this weekend at Los Alamos, and a sweep of the Hilltoppers could propel them to a district title.
Right now, Española’s biggest competition for the district title is Bernalillo, who demolished Capital April 3 by a combined score of 37-1 in a doubleheader. The Spartans have won five consecutive games and are 8-5 overall. Española and Bernalillo will meet for this time this season April 14 at Española.
A District 2AAAA title would be great for Española and is definitely an achievable goal. Success at the Class AAAA state tournament will be harder to come by. There were no teams from District 2AAAA ranked in the top 10 in the latest state coaches poll.
The McCurdy Bobcats baseball team has just a 4-4 record overall, but it could be a legitimate threat to win the first state baseball championship in school history. That’s because the Bobcats have been battling teams they won’t have to face in state tournament competition. McCurdy is a Class A school playing Class AA competition, where they’ve been holding their own. Come state tournament time, they’ll only have to face Class A schools.
It’s hard to predict how McCurdy will fare against strictly Class A competition because the only Class A team McCurdy will face during the regular season is Questa. The Wildcats and the Bobcats meet April 15 at McCurdy and April 29 at Questa.
Softball
Unlike the baseball team, the Lady Sundevils softball team has grown accustomed to success, having won three consecutive District 2AAAA championships. But the Lady Sundevils are battling a slew of injuries this season. That hasn’t stopped them from blowing out their district competition so far, winning by a combined score of 53-5 in their first three district games. Just like the baseball team, the softball team’s competition will likely come from Los Alamos and Bernalillo.
Bernalillo and Los Alamos have records of 3-5 and 5-7, respectively. Española is 10-3 overall, but that record still hasn’t been good enough to get them ranked among the top 10 teams in the Class AAAA coaches poll.
The Sundevils have a big doubleheader Saturday at Los Alamos. Sweeping the Lady Hilltoppers will go a long way toward earning the Sundevils some respect and confidence.
Bernalillo has won three consecutive games after starting 0-5 against Class AAAAA competition. The Lady Spartans are 2-0 in District 2AAAA following a 15-0 and 21-0 sweep of Capital.
One of Española losses this season was to the Pojoaque Elkettes. Pojoaque is flying under the radar. Although the Elkettes have an 8-2 record, the Elkettes are ranked just ninth in the Class AAA coaches poll. This despite knocking off third-ranked Raton 2-1 March 30 in Raton to start 1-0 in District 2AAA.
The Elkettes’ only losses have been to Class AAAAA Santa Fe High School by a score of 7-5 and to Class AAAA Moriarty by a score of 2-1. Pojoaque has a difficult road ahead. District 2AAA has four teams ranked in the top 10 statewide.
Oddly, the local team that is ranked highest in the statewide coaches poll has the worst record of any local team. The McCurdy Lady Bobcats are 2-5 this season but ranked third in the Class A-AA coaches poll and even received a first-place vote.
This ranking appears to be based on reputation. The Bobcats have had a fine softball program for years, but this season they are rebuilding, They lost nine players to graduation and two to transfers last season.
The Bobcats will have to battle Jemez Valley for the District 2A-AA title. The Lady Warriors are the only experienced team in the district. Pecos and Mora just established programs two years ago and are still struggling to be competitive.
McCurdy could advance to state, but it will likely make an early exit. New coach Franci Ortega has done a good job with an inexperienced team, but the poll is deceiving.