Sports fans had to keep their legs moving to keep up with all the action on the final day of Chama Days Aug. 10 in Chama.
Starting early in the morning, the softball was flying around Royston Field where the softball tournament was being played, and that was just the girls game.
The Trappers and Orion kicked off the action at 7 a.m., and Orion couldn’t shake off the early morning haze and lost 17-6 to the Trappers, who were undefeated.
Not long thereafter, the men took the field and the Grizzlies out of Española, defending Chama Days champions, started their battle through the losers bracket hoping to get back to the championship. The Grizzlies had lost to Outta Here in their first game, but battled back to knock off Arrozola Law Firm and Top Dawgs.
They faced “Lucky” hoping for another shot at “Outta Here.”
While the softball was getting cranked up, the three-on-three basketball tournament was getting started. The team of Moses Castleberry, Angelo Rovas, Narthan Rivas and Preston Duncan, all former players for either Escalante or Dulce high schools, beat a team from Capital High School, to force a game against the undefeated team from Mesa Vista High School.
The Trojans featured two seniors who will play for Mesa Vista this season in Jaime Cruz and Frankie Giron. Freshman Chris Cruz rounded out the team. The games were played outdoors and that would prove to be a factor as the day wore on and the afternoon clouds that often bring rain to Northern New Mexico began to build.
While the softball and basketball were going on, the Chama Days Rodeo was about to get going, but some of the results had been settled the previous day, the first day of competition.
Todd Burns posted the best score in the bareback bronc riding on the first day with a ride scoring 65 points, beating out John Luse, who scored a 54 to take second.
The bareback bronc riders fared better than the saddle bronc riders, none of whom stayed on their mounts during the two days of rodeo competition.
The bullriders saw their only successful ride turned in Aug. 9 as well. John Salazar was the only bull rider to stay on his bull the required eight seconds and he scored a 65 to take all the money.
As the rodeo was about to get started, an unusual competition was being set up next to the softball field. Firefighters from six local departments faced off in the unique sport. A barrel is placed on an overhanging cable on which it freely slides. A team of three firefighters mans a hose on either side of the barrel. The water is turned on with 100 pounds of pressure and the team tries to direct the stream of water onto the barrel and push it over to their opponents side.
The Canjilon Fire Department and the Brazos Canyon Fire Department faced off in the opening match and each team won a round in the best-of-three competition. Canjilon pulled out the victory by winning the third round.
Canjilon proved to be the best of the bunch, going on to defeat Tierra Amarilla, who finished second, and Laguna Vista, who finished third. Canjilon received $200 for their victory
“Everybody had a good time,” Richard Gallegos of the Chama Fire Department said. ”They put on a good show.”
The Velarde Fire Department also participated in the competition.
While the fire departments soaked the spectators with their spray, Kooper Saiz, of Aztec, was wrapping up his calf in the tie down roping competition in the winning time of 9.6 seconds.
“I drew a good calf,” Saiz said. “My horse worked real well.”
Saiz competed for Eastern New Mexico University’s rodeo team. His horses’s name is Roach and he won $350 for the victory.
Chiquita was the name of the horse of the winning barrel racer, Caren Lamb, of Santa Rosa. She beat the time of 9:31 posted the day before by Emily Carillo.
“You have to be blessed with a good horse,” Lamb said. “We named him Chiquita because he’s yellow like a banana.”
Back at the softball field, the Grizzlies had beaten “Lucky” and then knocked off “Outta Here” to avenge their earlier loss and advance to the championship game against Jamm’s Sports Store (Gonzales Trucking), who were undefeated.
The Grizzlies couldn’t keep up the momentum that had carried them through the loser’s bracket. Jamm’s won 25-15 to win the championship on a walk off home run by Joshua Garcia in the bottom of the sixth inning to win the men’s lower division softball title.
The rodeo wrapped up with a steady stream of team ropers. Having by far the largest number of entries, with 32 on each day of the rodeo, the competition finished with the team of Grant Koenig and Albert Claunch, of Alamosa. Colo., posting the winning time of 7.91 seconds in the open team roping.
Dick and Kyle Bramwell, of Chromo, Colo., took the Incentive team roping with a best time of 7.31, which was posted on the first day of the rodeo.
Mother Nature then provided the fireworks during the championship basketball game between Mesa Vista and the team of Castleberry, Rivas and Duncan.
Storm clouds rolled in and dropped some rain on the court, while thunder rumbled in the distance.
The players shirts were soaked and puddles showed up on the court, but the game continued. The game was close throughout, but Cruz got hot from the outside and buried long jumpers for the Trojans. In three-on-three competition, a conventional basket counts as one and a three-pointer as two. A team has to win by two points. The game was tied at 24-24 when Cruz connected on a long jumper that gave the Trojans a 26-24 win.
“I was scared when I took it because I was slipping on the court,” Cruz said.
The rain was brief and the skies cleared for the finish of the softball tournament.
Orion completed their comeback from their early morning loss to the Trappers, beating the Trappers from Española twice in the double elimination tournament. The final victory a 21-9 slugfest that featured two home runs by the Brenda Serrano of Orion, who finished the tournament with 10 blasts over the fence.
“What isn’t there to like about softball,” she said.
Orion has won the title at Chama Days the last four years.
The parking lot was all but empty and the food vendors had gone home. The only people left were fans and players of the two teams that would play for the men’s upper division title.
The undefeated Los Norteños, who during the regular season are known as the Española Scorpions, defeated “Insanity” as the sun set on another Chama Days celebration until next year.