The McCurdy baseball team lost to Mora earlier in the season.
In March, at the Santa Rosa Tournament, McCurdy gave up nine runs in the second inning. They took a brief lead but lost it in the final inning for a 12-11 loss.
Come district play, however, they had no trouble winning four games against the Rangers.
“We figured it was going to be easy, and they came back and they beat us,” senior Markus Martinez said. “We had to show ‘em who’s who.”
But the sixth meeting between the two will be the most important.
McCurdy (17-4, 12-0 in district) secured another undefeatd district championship with a doubleheader sweep of Mora (9-12, 6-6) at home on April 27, celebrating senior day with 11-1 and 13-5 wins.
“They set the tone, and make sure that these kids are playing baseball,” McCurdy coach Roberto DeVargas said of the seniors. “They understand the game, and they bring mature-ness to the kids. There’s time for fun and games, and there’s time to buckle down and play hard.”
The Bobcats also defeated Peñasco (7-14, 6-6) 15-4 in five innings in a makeup game Monday behind two home runs from Damian Quezada. That knocked Peñasco out of the state tournament, and set up a matchup with Mora.
McCurdy earned the No. 5 seed in the state tournament field announced on Sunday. It was also announced that the Panthers could have won their way into the field by beating McCurdy in the makeup game, but instead Mora gets the final spot.
So, after McCurdy’s win, the Bobcats host the Rangers on Wednesday in the tournament’s first round.
Should the Bobcats win on Wednesday, they will play on May 11 against No. 4 Rehoboth Christian for the third year in a row. Both of the last two seasons, McCurdy lost to the Lynx in the quarterfinals.
Heading into state, McCurdy seems to be peaking at the right time. They have won eight straight games, many by a big margin, and 16 of their last 17.
“They’re settled down, they’re more confident,” DeVargas said. “They’re hitting the ball great, they’re feeling great. The errors have been down to a minimum.”
In the first game against Mora, Martinez pitched wonderfully on the mound, allowing just one unearned run (with two outs in the fifth) in five innings on two hits and three walks. McCurdy scored first on an RBI-double by Quezada.
The Bobcats added a pair of runs in the second, and another in the third. Then in the fourth inning, they batted around and scored six runs, including a two-run triple by Carlos Garcia.
Mora’s run in the fifth inning kept the game alive, but McCurdy “walked off” on a squeeze bunt by Quezada to finish a run-rule victory.
For Martinez, it was the fourth time winning the district, after playing in eighth grade but with the 2020 season canceled.
For game two, McCurdy took a big lead with a four-run third inning and five more in the fourth. Quezada came on in relief of Adrian Maestas and pitched five innings with three earned runs and nine strikeouts.
Cruz Martinez had three RBIs, two coming in a fourth-inning triple. Martinez also threw out a pair of runners from behind the plate in the first game, and Markus Martinez had a third caught stealing from the mound.
Between the two games, McCurdy honored the team’s five seniors. Three of them — Markus Martinez, Maestas and Quezada — have been team mainstays. The other two, Casey Nevarez and Alejandro Martinez, are in their first year on the team.
“Senior year, just wanted to spend time with my buddies, and one more last ride,” Alejandro Martinez said.
But they are bringing the leadership skills they brought as captains to the football team in the fall. And, in two at bats, Nevarez has a batting average of 1.000.