Pojoaque softball is hoping that the district schedule will turn around their season.
“We’re struggling a little bit,” said team coach Chris Ortiz. “Bat-wise, error-wise, we’re having issues right now. We need to sum it up by then.”
The Elkettes (2-12) are looking forward to the district schedule after wrapping up their non-district play with a doubleheader loss to Hope Christian (5-5) on March 30, losing 15-11 and 21-7.
“It’s definitely been a rebuilding season for our entire team,” Cienna Muller said. “We lost quite a bit of seniors last year. We’re still trying to find our groove. We’re hoping that these regular-season games have strengthened our skills, and our bats and our fielding, for districts.”
Early in the season, Pojoaque swept a doubleheader against Sandia Prep. Since then, though, they have lost 11 straight.
Ortiz said they need to be more united as a team and play for each other, while improving on their hitting.
“Just situations where people think they deserve a position,” Ortiz said. “We’re trying different girls out just to fill the team and get it going. Other than that, we’ll be alright.”
Pojoaque lost eight seniors from last year’s team, and is returning with another senior-heavy roster.
They enter district play on Wednesday with a home game against Moriarty (9-4), who enters the season as the district favorites.
They nearly got momentum for their season going against Hope Christian, but faltered late.
Ortiz took the blame for Pojoaque’s first loss on a beautiful Saturday morning. Pojoaque held the lead in the sixth inning. But Ortiz did not intentionally walk Huskies star Zoë Mangrum, and she launched a three-run homerun to take the lead and the Elkettes could not come back.
“That one was on me,” Ortiz said. “We would have been alright, we would have gotten the first game. We still need to keep on hitting that ball.”
Before that, Hope Christian went up 5-0 and then 7-3 after three innings.
Pojoaque’s bats came alive in the fourth; four runs scored on wild pitches. Stephanie Romero knocked in an RBI double. And Muller hit a ball that skipped away from the right fielder for an inside-the-park home run. In total, eight runs scored in the inning and Pojoaque took a lead 11-7.
“We were able to catch up, it felt good to start to catch back up,” Muller said.
But the Huskies ultimately scored five runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh, and Pojoaque was unable to answer.
In the second game, it was all Hope Christian from the start.
The Huskies scored two runs in the first inning. Then, in the second, they scored 12 more, with a series of hits as well as some Pojoaque fielding miscues. Mangrum added a three-run home run in the inning.
“We try to just keep the girls in the game,” Ortiz said. “It’s hard to keep a team, that’s getting pretty punched in the face like that.”
Pojoaque scored five runs in the bottom of the third inning to keep the game alive, including a two-run double by Allayah Rios. But after four, with Pojoaque down by 14 runs, the game ended.
Marisa Martinez had a good day at the plate, with five hits between the two games and three runs scored.
Pojoaque heads into district play starting this week, facing Moriarty on Wednesday, and then faces last year’s district champion Los Alamos (4-9) at home on Saturday.
“Districts is zero-zero right now,” Ortiz said. “I tell the girls, it’s a brand new day. These games are over with. We’ve got to focus. Get together. Get it done.”