1A-4A baseball roundup: Bloomfield upsets St. Pius in semifinal; Magdalena wins crown

Bloomfield will play on the final day of the baseball season for the first time in 15 years.

The Bobcats knocked off St. Pius in a Class 4A semifinal matchup at the Jennifer Riordan Sports Complex on Friday night. Bloomfield last appeared in a title game in 2010, when it defeated St. Michael’s to capture the Class 3A crown.

On the other side of the bracket, Artesia advanced to the championship game for the second year in a row. Last season, the Bulldogs fell to Grants in the Class 4A final.

Bloomfield vs. Artesia will take place at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Riordan complex.

No. 6 BLOOMFIELD 6, No. 2 ST. PIUS 2: Despite an ailing shoulder, Trae Woods put the Bobcats (24-6) on his back.

The Bloomfield senior pitched a complete game, allowing six hits and two runs while striking out six. Woods also contributed on offense, with a team-high three hits and a run scored. But it was really his work on the mound that made the difference. After Ashton Warren and Darryk Olivares drove in a pair of runs for St. Pius (18-12) in the second inning, Woods shut the Sartans out the rest of the way.

“One more time on the mound for my boys, and I want to push through it and get the ‘W,’” Woods said. “Just ball out with my boys every pitch. You live for every pitch.”

An outside observer wouldn’t have known that anything was hurting based on Woods’ effort down the stretch.

“I threw him maybe too many pitches against Deming (in the first round),” said Bloomfield coach Anthony Valencia. “But he was fine for the first three or four innings. And then, I think he just got tired maybe. I said, ‘You got one more in you?’ I said, ‘I’m going to pull you.’ He said, ‘Coach, I got one more. It’s my senior year, coach. Let me finish.’”

Warren, who started for St. Pius, didn’t enjoy the same success. After walking in a pair of runs in the second inning, he was pulled for Jacob Madrid after loading the bases in the third. However, Woods was able to eventually score to put the Bobcats up 3-2 — a lead they would never relinquish. Bloomfield tacked on two more runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to give their pitcher a more comfortable lead.

“We have a very stacked lineup and even our subs, they hit the ball too,” Woods said. “… We just shorten it up, drive it and be relaxed, because the best baseball players are the relaxed people.”

No. 1 ARTESIA 2, No. 12 GODDARD 0: Junior catcher Brant Usherwood broke open a scoreless tie with a two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth inning to propel the Bulldogs (24-6) past the Rockets (14-15) in a matchup of 4-4A district rivals.

Artesia managed to win all five meetings between the two teams, but outside of a 10-0 victory on March 22, all of the games were competitive. That was especially true on Friday, as Goddard’s Lucien Betancur limited the Bulldogs to just three hits over six solid innings.

“We knew that was gonna be a dogfight from the beginning,” said Artesia coach Jackson Bickel. “Watching the last three matchups with them, it just gets closer and closer every time we play. That’s just learning each other.”

Artesia’s sixth-inning rally began when Frankie Galindo drew a leadoff walk and stole second and third. Betancur struck out the next two batters before walking Daelon Pacheco. That set the stage for Usherwood, who hit a shot over the right fielder’s head to drive in Galindo and Pacheco.

“He was throwing a lot off-speed,” Usherwood said. “The ball that I hit was a curveball. I just sat back on it and drove it to the opposite field.”

As good as Betancur was for Goddard, Artesia ace Jack Byers was just a little bit better. He punched out the side in the top of the seventh to cap off a complete game effort where he allowed just three hits while striking out 12.

“Our motto this year is don’t flinch, next pitch,” Bickel said. “We’re gonna control what we can. And so we talk about those moments. We put them in those moments in practice. We get in there, all we have to do is slow down our heartbeat, and we’re there.”

Class 3A

No. 3 ROBERTSON 3, No. 2 EAST MOUNTAIN 1: The Cardinals used a three-run fifth inning to rally past the Timberwolves.

East Mountain (20-8) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth when a Quinlan Gwyther sacrifice fly drove home Rylen Radosevich. Robertson (17-6) answered an inning later behind an RBI single from Brian Lucero and a two-run double by Diego Maez.

Maez, a freshman, took it from there on the mound, allowing just a single over the final three innings. He allowed just five hits in a complete game effort while striking out five.

No. 1 N.M. MILITARY INSTITUTE 12, No. 5 WEST LAS VEGAS 6: The Colts (21-6) and Dons (19-8) were locked in a close game, 4-3 for NMMI in the fourth, when the Colts erupted for eight runs and put the game away.

Konstatino Scopelitis had three hits and four RBIs to lead NMMI.

The Cardinals and Colts will play for the title at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Riordan complex.

Class 2A

No. 2 Santa Rosa and No. 5 Loving moved into Saturday morning’s 9:30 championship game at the Riordan complex.

The Lions (21-3) broke open a close game against No 3 Hozho Academy with five runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, and went on to a 15-5 victory in six innings.The Falcons (10-7) scored three in the fifth to break a 2-2 tie, and they upset No. 1 Eunice 5-2.

Class 1A

Magdalena’s top-seeded Steers (20-3) captured the Class 1A title on Friday afternoon, defeating No. 2 Gateway Christian 7-3. It is Magdalena’s first state baseball championship since 1990.

James Yodice contributed to this report.