A towering home run by senior Miquella Lovato in the bottom of the sixth inning was not enough to lift Pojoaque to victory May 14 in the opening round of the Class AAA state softball tournament in Las Cruces.
Lovato’s shot cut the Elkettes’ deficit in half but they still lost 2-1 against Dexter.
“We made (Dexter pitcher Jenna Garcia) look special,” Pojoaque coach Ricky DeHerrera said. “We just didn’t show up to hit.”
It was the second consecutive year Dexter ended Pojoaque’s season at the state tournament. The Demonettes defeated the Elkettes 6-5 in the third game of last year’s double-elimination tournament. This year the tournament was changed to single elimination. Dexter went on to lose to Cobre 10-2 in the quarterfinals. Bloomfield defeated Raton 7-3 in nine innings in the Class AAA championship game.
“If we had hit, we would have won,” DeHerrera said.
Garcia struck out 10 Elkettes and yielded just two hits. Pojoaque’s only other hit beside Lovato’s blast was a single by Kiana Vigil in the fourth inning. But Vigil was tagged out at second base on a controversial play. Lovato had apparently drawn a walk, but after a conference the umpires called her back to the plate and said the count was 3-2. Vigil was tagged out at second during what Pojoaque felt should have been an official’s time out.
“That took away our momentum,” Garcia said.
Dexter scored in the first on a sacrifice fly and again in the sixth inning. Senior pitcher Mariah Urbina took the loss, going the distance for Pojoaque.
“Our seniors (Lovato, Urbina, Kim Baros, Brianna Archuleta) really took it hard,” Garcia said. “They wanted to keep going.”
Lovato finished the season with seven home runs.
“A number of college coaches asked me about her,” Garcia said. “I told them she has a scholarship to play volleyball at (the University of) New Mexico.”
Pojoaque finished 17-8 overall and second in District 2AAA with a 10-4 record. District 2AAA champion Raton advanced to the championship game, while another District 2AAA team, West Las Vegas, lost in the semifinals.
“That shows you how tough our district was,” Garcia said. “I told the girls to be proud of the season they had.”