Española Valley softball coach Robbie Garcia had important things on his mind March 27 after the Lady Sundevils’ 7-4 loss to Moriarty in the championship game of the St. Michael’s Invitational in Santa Fe.
The loss wasn’t the thing that worried Garcia the most. More troubling was that the Sundevils had lost their two top pitchers to injury during the game.
“I told the team we were still climbing the hill,” Garcia said. “We fell a little bit today.”
Starting pitcher Renee Roybal had to be taken out of the game with a pulled hamstring in the third inning. Roybal had been the Most Valuable Player March 20 at the Grants/Laguna tournament and was the winning pitcher in Española’s 4-1 win over St. Michael’s in the semifinals of the latter’s tournament. She was replaced by Liza Archuleta with the Pintos holding a 6-3 lead.
“It’s been bothering me since Grants, but I didn’t say anything,” Roybal said. “I couldn’t jump off the mound.” Archuleta pitched well, holding the Lady Pintos to one run over three innings before senior Rikki Ortiz stepped in to handle the top of the seventh inning with the Sundevils down by three runs.
“(Archuleta) did her job and kept us in it,” Garcia said.
Ortiz, a McCurdy School transfer, was making her debut for Española. She had been out for most of the first month of the season with a sore left knee.
Her first pitch was a strike. On her second pitch, her left knee buckled and she hobbled off the field. It may have been her last pitch.
“I’m not coming back,” Ortiz said with tears in her eyes from the pain. “I don’t want it to pop out again.”
Garcia said he is not sure whether Ortiz will return. He said Roybal will sit this week for rehabilitation and try to be ready to play the following week.
Archuleta re-entered the game and held the Pintos scoreless. Moriarty pitcher Morgan McWilliams, who was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, shut down the Sundevils in the seventh inning for the victory.
Moriarty had taken a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Española tied the score in the bottom of the inning when first baseman Evelyn Caballero blasted a two-run homer over the center field fence.
The Pintos scored four runs in the top of the third inning and added another run in the top of the fifth inning.
Caballero and Roybal were named to the all-tournament team.
The Sundevils open play in District 2AAAA Wednesday (3/31) at Capital. The Sundevils are the three-time defending district champions. They beat the Jaguars 24-0 March 25 in the opening round of the St. Michael’s tournament.
Pojoaque/McCurdy
The Pojoaque Elkettes had the misfortune to meet Moriarty March 24 in the opening round of the St. Michael’s tournament. The Elkettes lost 2-1 March 25 in a hard-fought game.
The Elkettes bounced back to bury their next two opponents — McCurdy 15-0 and Taos 18-0 — to finish fifth at the tournament. Pojoaque is 7-2 on the season.
McCurdy was 0-3 at the tournament. The Lady Bobcats also lost 28-3 to West Las Vegas and 7-0 by Capital March 27 to finish eighth.