The McCurdy Bobcats took fifth-place April 3 in the Santa Rosa Invitational Tournament.
After the Bobcats dropped their opening game 2-1 to Estancia April 1, they rebounded to beat Pecos 14-3 in the consolation semifinals and manhandled Mora 19-1 in the consolation-round championship.
“It was a good tournament,” McCurdy coach Roberto DeVargas said. “The team played well and got better each game.”
In the game against Estancia, McCurdy’s Josh Lovato and the Bears’ Jonathan Lujan engaged in a pitchers’ duel in a game played in 60-miles-per-hour winds. Lujan limited the Bobcats to just three hits, while Lovato held Estancia to only four.
“It was hard to play in that wind,” DeVargas said. “There was a fly ball hit to center field that ended up falling between the pitcher and the catcher.”
McCurdy took a 1-0 lead with a run in the second inning. Estancia scored in the fourth and took the lead with a run in the sixth inning.
The left-handed Lovato struck out six and walked two batters. Only one of the runs he gave up was earned.
Estancia would go on to win the tournament, defeating host Santa Rosa 9-8 April 3 in the title game. The Bears are 7-2 on the season.
In the consolation round, Pecos led McCurdy 3-2 going into the third inning when the Bobcats exploded for nine runs. McCurdy added three more runs, and the game ended after five innings under the 10-run rule.
Fernando Avila led off the third inning with a solo home run, McCurdy’s first of the season. Bryan VanderVossen added a three-run blast later in the inning for McCurdy.
“That leadoff home run just started everything,” DeVargas said. “Once you start getting some guys hitting, it’s contagious.”
Justin Chavez picked up the win for McCurdy, striking out six batters. McCurdy had defeated Pecos 11-4 March 26 to win the Northern Rio Grande Tournament on the Bobcats’ home field.
Against Mora, the Bobcats had another big inning when the hitting became contagious. Leading 5-1, McCurdy scored 14 runs in the sixth inning and the game ended with the Bobcats still batting due to the game’s two-hour time limit.
“It took a while for us to get going,” DeVargas said. “All of a sudden we started hitting.”
VanderVossen was on the mound and struck out 12 Mora batters while allowing just one hit.
McCurdy faced Pecos for the third time this season Tuesday. The Bobcats traveled to Sandia Park Thursday (4/8) to play the East Mountain Timberwolves.
“There’s a tendency to become complacent in baseball, but I haven’t seen it with this bunch,” DeVargas said. “They know what they have here. I just make sure they remember what the goal is (a Class A state championship).”