News
Luna teams endure tough weekend
By Dave Kavanaugh
Luna softball dropped four games at Western Texas over the weekend in Snyder, Texas.
It was the Rough Riders’ first full weekend of Western Junior College Athletic Conference play this season.
Luna (6-15 overall, 0-4 WJCAC) will host Clarendon College in a pair of doubleheaders this weekend as conference play continues. First pitch is set for noon Friday at West Las Vegas softball field off Cinder Road. On Saturday, action gets under way at 11 a.m.
In game one with Western Texas on Friday, Luna fell behind 4-0 before scoring in the top of the third. Emilia Hawbaker doubled and then showed smart baserunning and made it home via error to cut it to 4-1. But the hosts scored the next eight runs to clinch the 12-1 win in five innings.
Luna got on the board early in Friday’s second game, with Aiyana Gonzales driving in two runs with a hard shot to right, then making it home herself on Dyani Cummings-Lani’s RBI single. Western Texas matched that at-bat with three runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. Jackie Delgado’s RBI single in the top of the second put the Rough Riders back on top, 4-3, but Western Texas pitcher Nathalie Blattman did not allow any more Luna scoring. The hosts, taking advantage of four walks with bases loaded, went on to win 12-4.
Delgado went 2 for 3, Gonzales had two RBI, and Ashlea Ortega had a double for LCC.
Saturday’s opener also saw Luna grab an early lead. Ortega made it home on Gonzales’ line drive to left, and then Cummings-Lani plated Delgado with a single to make it 2-0 Luna in the first. But after a solid start by pitcher Sabrynn Chacon that kept that score intact through two and a half frames, the Westerners rallied with back-to-back six-run innings.
Gonzales hit an RBI single in the fifth, but the LCC rally produced no more scoring, and Western Texas took the 12-3 verdict. Gonzales led the Riders at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a double and two RBI.
The Westerners got a shutout from Blattman in the series finale, aided by a three-RBI effort from Madison Hadlock. Ortega doubled twice and finished 2 for 3 to lead Luna; Brittany White added a double. Western Texas won 8-0 to improve to 12-10, 4-0 WJCAC.
El Paso Community College swept a four-game Western Junior College Athletic Conference series with visiting Luna over the weekend in El Paso, Texas.
Game scores were 7-2, 15-12, 6-5 and 10-0 in favor of the Tejanos (12-18, 6-6).
The Rough Riders (4-27, 0-12) again hit the road for a weekend series at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs. Doubleheaders are set to start at noon both Friday and Saturday.
El Paso pitchers Oswaldo Godina and Jonathan Martinez combined to hold Luna to two hits and five walks in game one Friday, a 7-2 decision. The Tejanos erased Luna’s 2-0 edge by pulling even in the bottom of the first and then scoring five more unanswered runs.
In game two, the visiting Rough Riders again got their bats going early, scoring three times in the top of the first. They led 8-1 midway through the second before the Tejanos surged ahead with an eight-run at-bat to lead 9-8. LCC tied it in the sixth, scoring twice to make it 11-11. But the Tejanos plated four runs in the bottom of the seventh and snuffed out Luna’s ninth-inning rally after allowing one run to cross. El Paso’s Alejandro Moreno, Oswaldo Godina and Joel Barraza each homered in the home team’s 15-12 victory. For the Riders, Sam Creed doubled twice in going 3 for 5 with three RBI. Spencer Heyden also had a 3-of-5 game with two doubles. Justin Miller and Dustin Sipe chipped in with two hits apiece; Nick Rodriguez tripled and had two RBI, and Ben Smith doubled with two RBI.
Saturday’s opener was another close contest. Luna led 2-0 through one frame, 4-1 after four, and 5-1 midway through the sixth. El Paso retaliated with five runs in its half of the sixth, and then Tejano closer Yoryi Aquino, who’d won the previous game in relief, held the Riders scoreless in the top of the seventh for his second W in as many appearances. Miller and Sipe connected for two hits each, and Miller had two RBI for LCC.
Mario Macias was the story in the series finale. Macias struck out eight and allowed just one Luna hit – by leadoff batter Nick Rodriguez – and two walks in a 10-0 shutout that lasted five frames. The Tejanos did most of the damage in a six-run fourth. Arturo Archuleta, who helped Pecos High School earn a state championship a couple of years back, had a relief appearance for Luna and allowed one hit with no runs.