The Española Valley Sundevils cheered, doused their coach with water and dusted up home plate May 2 after sweeping a doubleheader 6-3, 11-3 from Bernalillo to win their third consecutive District 2AAAA title.
They were releasing not only the competitive tension of a tight district race, but also the fear that had enveloped the field less than an hour before.
For several anxious minutes during the second game, the spirited action came to a halt as all eyes turned to the mound, where Española pitcher Renee Roybal lay on the ground writhing in pain.
Roybal had been struck square in the chest by a sizzling line drive off the bat of Bernalillo’s Dee Montaño in the top of the fifth inning. Roybal collapsed immediately to the ground.
As her coaches and teammates gathered around her, Roybal got up and sat on the ground, still grimacing with her hand to her chest. She got to her feet and began to stretch her arm and jog about. Finally, she nodded her head and said she could stay on the mound.
“I didn’t see it coming, I just felt it hit me,” Roybal said. “I was thinking, I gotta do this for my team. They’re the reason I got up.”
As players and fans from both teams applauded her courage, Roybal resumed pitching. When the final out of the game was recorded she joyously leapt off the mound and celebrated with her teammates.
“Renee is like a nail — hard,” Española coach Robbie Garcia said. “No matter how much she hurts, she’s still going to drive it into you.”
Española had gone into the doubleheader knowing they had to win both games to seal the district title. Had the Sundevils sacrificed two games to Bernalillo, they would have finished third in district. Had they split the doubleheader with the Spartans, there would have been a three-way tie for first place between Española, Bernalillo and Los Alamos, each with a 9-3 district record.
“We talked about what we had to do,” Roybal said. “We had to have a lot of heart.”
Pitching Showdown
The first game of the doubleheader started as a pitcher’s duel between Española’s Lisa Archuleta and Bernalillo’s Emily Rodriguez. Neither pitcher allowed any hits in the first three innings. Bernalillo broke the ice with a run in the top of the fourth.
Española came to bat to answer the challenge. Española’s Maria Serna led off with a double, and Roybal followed with a single to send her home. Roybal scored on a single by Megan Martinez, who later scored on a ground-out. It was 3-1 in Española’s favor.
The Sundevils added three more runs in the fifth inning to take a 6-1 lead. Despite back-to-back home runs by Bernalillo in the seventh, Roybal settled down and struck out the next three batters to earn the victory.
The second game had a similar start, with both teams going scoreless through the first three innings. Once again, it was Bernalillo who scored first in the top of the fourth inning, taking a 1-0 lead.
It looked like the Sundevils would go down without answering the challenge, but they rallied in the bottom of the fourth with two outs. A walk to Megan Martinez, singles by Janelle Martinez and Monica Herrera and an error and a hit by Julie Trujillo produced four runs.
After Roybal was struck by the line drive, Bernalillo scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning on a double by Claudia Delara. The Sundevils answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on Janelle Martinez’s two-run double. The Sundevils held a 6-3 lead.
Española pushed five runs over the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning to take an 11-3 lead. Roybal struck out Bernalillo’s final batter in the top of the seventh inning to earn the victory.
Española will travel to Las Cruces May 14 to participate in the Class AAAA state softball tournament. The Sundevils will be informed May 10 where they will be seeded in the 16-team field.