The Pojoaque Valley High School softball team battled the elements as they closed the regular season, but still finished strong in claiming a district title as they prepared for the state tournament.
Their June 19 doubleheader was marked by an 84-minute weather delay that interrupted the later game in the second inning, and took the Elkettes out of their normal rhythm, potentially hurting them in their 11-1 afternoon loss. But they looked just as strong in the morning when they took the first game in a 7-5 win.
“We took our district, so now we’ve got to get ready for states,” said Pojoaque coach Chris Ortiz. “We’ve had a good season, our record was really great. But other than that, we’re just going to get ready for the next round.”
The Hilltoppers struck first against senior two-way star Ayana Aguirre, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first and second innings.
The Elkettes scored in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by senior third-baseman Madison Gonzales, whose three-RBI day was the difference maker, and two more in the third on a base hit by Aguirre.
Aguirre found a rhythm in the circle, striking out the side in the third, retiring the side in order in the fourth, and getting through the fifth and sixth innings scoreless with assists from catcher Jessica Roybal for multiple runners caught stealing.
The Elkettes had four hits in the fifth inning, and a two-run single from Gonzales scored Roybal and Aguirre to give them a 5-4 lead. And they extended the lead in the top of the seventh on an RBI double by senior center-fielder Elysia Gonzales, and Madison Gonzales tripled and scored on a wild pitch.
The Hilltoppers took a run back in the bottom of the seventh, but it was not enough as Aguirre shut down the lineup for the win.
In game two, though, the Elkette lineup struggled. They left two runners on in scoring position in the first inning, but went down in order in the second and third.
The pitching also struggled, allowing a total of 13 walks and four hit-by-pitches. Five of those walks came in the first inning, scoring two runs.
The game stopped in the first batter of the second inning with a 1-2 count for lightning in the area. When play resumed, Kasha Pasulka struck out in a roughly 90-minute-long at bat, though Los Alamos added another run in the second.
Ortiz said the extended wait was hard on the team,
Pojoaque began to answer back in the fourth offensively, with Roybal reaching on a bunt single, stealing second, and eventually scoring on a groundout.
But the wheels came off in the fourth inning for Aguirre after a long day, and a home run would have been a grand slam if not for a passed ball and throwing error just before that scored a run, and when a new pitcher came in two more runs scored in the inning. And in the fifth inning, after Pojoaque failed to score, five free passes ultimately ended the game as the score crossed the run-rule threshold for an 11-1 loss.
Ortiz said he hopes to win their first-round tournament game, and go from there. He said the Elkettes will need to hit better than they did against Los Alamos in order to advance.
Before the game, the Hilltoppers had a ceremony to name the field at Overlook Park in White Rock as Hope Field after Hope Jaramillo, who passed away in January 2020 and was instrumental in the local softball program.
Pojoaque finished their regular season with a 14-4 overall record, and a 10-2 district mark, with the only other loss coming in the first game of a May 15 doubleheader at Española before the team had fully found their rhythm. Their strong regular season earned them a No. 7 seed in the state tournament.