The McCurdy Charter School Bobcats had no problems in their away game against the Tierra Encantada Charter School Alacranes, April 12, at the City of Santa Fe Municipal Recreation Sports Complex.
The only thing that might have bugged them was the intense wind conditions, which reached up to 30 miles per hour.
The umpires had to temporarily delay the game several times to let the wind pass, but nothing was going to slow down the Bobcats on this day, as they rolled to a 15-1 victory. It was their first official victory away from home, this season.
They were able to blow the game open without their usual starting rotation. McCurdy head coach Roberto Devargas explained that he wanted to give some other players an opportunity to start.
“These guys needed to know what it is like to start,” he said.” They work in practice every day, so I wanted to give them that opportunity to see what it is like to start, and what it takes to start. It’s always the old adage where they say ‘Coach doesn’t start me,’ but I tell them, ‘It’s up to you to work harder to get there.’”
His new look unit was ready to play as they racked up seven runs in the first inning to start the game.
Alacranes’ pitcher A.J. Montaño gave up three walks, four hits, threw three wild pitches and hit another batter with a pitch in the disastrous start.
The bases were loaded twice in the inning and Paul Maestas and A.J. Vallo hit RBIs to score two runners, each.
Santiago Samora also had a single, but two of the seven runs were direct results from Montaño’s pitching errors. He was pulled after the first and replaced by Eric Clokey.
Tierra Encantada scored their only run of the game in the bottom half of the first, which came off two McCurdy mistakes. Diego Borrego threw a pitch that got past his catcher Maestas, who then overthrew the ball to third base, which allowed Bryan Chavez to easily score.
Borrego rebounded strong, as he only gave up one hit in the following two innings. He finished his day pitching three total innings, allowing two hits and striking out eight batters.
Isaiah Archuleta replaced him on the mound for the final two innings, as the game ended early, due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Things got relatively quiet after the first inning , as the second and third were scoreless on both sides.
The Bobcats added two more runs in the fourth, then ended the game like they started, with six in the fifth and final inning.
The first five batters got on base before a strikeout and pop fly forced two outs, but the damage was already done.
Vallo recorded another RBI and Brandon Lovato scored two runners with an RBI of his own.
As scoring 15 runs would suggest, McCurdy’s stat sheet was filled.
The Bobcats finished with 12 hits, 10 RBIs and eight stolen bases, all in just five innings. Maestas was three-for-three on his at-bats and led the team with three hits, while Vallo had the most RBIs (3).
McCurdy won its fifth game in six outings and is starting to build a rhythm, after having multiple games canceled early in the season.
“It’s tough when there was so much practice and no games,” DeVargas said. “It’s all about getting into a rhythm. We’ve been able to do that and it’s all starting to come together.”
Now with a 5-3-1 overall record, the Bobcats are currently in second place in the 3A District 2 standings.
Raton High School currently leads the district and beat McCurdy, 13-3, on April 10.
However, the Tigers will travel to Española to play a doubleheader at McCurdy on April 21.
Pecos High School is also 5-2 in the district, which should set up an exciting three-team race to end the season.
Even if the Bobcats do not win the district, they should still have an excellent chance at receiving an at-large bid to the 3A Playoffs.
They’re currently ranked number six in 3A, according to Max Preps.