Sandia Prep’s offense came to life in the bottom of the seventh after flat-lining the first six innings.
The top-seeded Sundevils scored five runs in their last at-bat of regulation to tie Ruidoso, and plated the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to capture the 3A baseball state title, 6-5, Saturday afternoon at the Jennifer Rioirdan Spark Kindness Sports Complex.
“We’re extremely young, but we were led by three quality seniors,” said Sandia Prep coach Scott Brandt, pointing out Lucas Lemons, Sam Treme, and Chris Andrick.
“Our seniors put us on their backs.”
Andrick led off the ninth with a double to left, and two batters later, eighth-grader Logan Lemons singled to left, scoring Andrick with the winner.
Logan Lemons also played a key role during the earlier Sundevils’ rally.
Through six innings, Sandia Prep (20-6) mustered three hits and didn’t have a runner reach second base after that opening frame.
In the seventh, early miscues by the Warriors (15-12) were followed by timely Sandia Prep hits.
The Sundevils loaded the bases with just one hit, and Landon Hardcastle’s fielder’s choice scored the first run.
Andrick reached on an infield single that scored another run, and Treme’s two-run double to left pared the deficit to 5-4.
Logan Lemons then came through with the first of his two clutch late-game hits, doubling to left to knot the game up.
“I just wanted to get something deep; a sacrifice fly or something like that,” Lemons said of his walk-off winner. “We were able to get the job done.”
The Warriors were making their first state finals appearance since 2015, and were poised to complete their first state title run.
Joel Ortega, Josiah Saiz, Gabriel Johnson, Jaydin Ramirez and Andres Marmolejo all drove in runs contributing to the five-run lead.
“We had a great run, and it’s one of those things we’ve been building and trying to establish a tradition here,” said Ruidoso coach Chris Galbraith. “… At the end we just came up a tad bit short.”
NO. 1 SANDIA PREP 6, NO. 10 RUIDOSO 5
(9 innings)
Ruidoso 100 120 000 — 5 11 2
Sandia Prep 000 000 501 —6 8 2
Batteries: SP, Chris Gist, Ethan Dudley (4), Lucas Lemons (8, WP) and Chris Andrick; R, Cooper Pritchett, Hayden Casson (8, LP) and Casson, Gabriel Johnson (8). Leading hitters: R, Logan Lemons 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Sam Treme 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI. R, Hayden Casson 2-5, 2B, 2 runs; Josiah Saiz 2-5, RBI, run.
— Patrick Newell
CLASS 2A: When all was said and done, Tularosa peaked at the right time.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats completed their run through the Class 2A bracket with a 6-3 victory over No. 4 Rehoboth Christian in Saturday’s championship game at the Jennifer Riordan Sports Complex. Just before he made his postgame interview rounds, Tularosa coach Patrick Garcia received a celebratory water cooler dousing from his players.
The surprise was just as well executed as the seven innings prior, when the Wildcats (19-7) jumped out to a 4-0 lead and received six solid innings from starter Jacoby Apachito to hold off the Lynx (19-7) and earn their 15th consecutive victory to close out the season. It’s Tularosa’s first blue trophy in baseball since 2000.
“I didn’t expect that,” Garcia said of the shower. “It’s been a long time in between (championships). I knew we had the nucleus when we started, and we just came together halfway through the season.”
Braden Tortalita, Anthony Paz and Ricky Bryant all had multi-hit games for the Wildcats, who jumped on Rehoboth starter Raeden West early by scoring one run in the first and second innings and two in the third. From there, it was an uphill climb that the Lynx couldn’t complete.
“(Our goal was to) just come out strong, really,” said Tortalita, whose day included a double and two RBIs. “Come out swinging the bat and doing what we do — come out here and score.”
Tularosa’s lead had swelled to 6-1 before Antonio Rivas and Morgan Arsenault drove in runs for Rehoboth to cut the deficit to 6-3 after five innings. That was the extent of the rally, however, as the Lynx would have just one base runner apiece in each of the final two frames.
“We knew they were a very good team,” Garcia said. “We came out committed to getting on base. … We put points on the board and that puts pressure on the other side.”
The future appears to be bright indeed for the Wildcats, who graduate just one senior — Jayden Phillips — from this year’s championship squad. At this point, the early season growing pains seem like little more than a distant memory.
“Pre-district, we weren’t together,” Phillips said. “We were all arguing with each other and being down on each other — it just wasn’t good. After a while, got into district, got our heads on and just came together.”
— Tristen Critchfield
NO. 7 TULAROSA 6,
NO. 4 REHOBOTH CHRISTIAN 3
Tularosa 112 020 0—6 11 2
Rehoboth 001 020 0—3 6 3
Leading Hitters: T, Anthony Paz 3-4, R; Braden Tortalita 3-4, 2B, 2RBI; Ricky Bryant 2-2, R, RBI. RC, Raeden West 2-4, 2R; Antonio Rivas 2-3, 3B, RBI. Pitching: T, Jacoby Apachito, Bryant (7) and Danner Daugherty. RC, West and Reese Blackmoon.
CLASS 1A: At the Jennifer Riordan Complex, No. 3 Melrose (12-5) defeated top-seeded, two-time reigning champion and, according to MaxPreps, previously unbeaten Logan 13-7 in Saturday’s championship game.
On April 28, the two teams met for a doubleheader and Logan romped over the Buffaloes 16-4 and 23-3.
Melrose last won titles in 2015 and 2016 in the A-2A division.
