St. Michael’s comes from behind

Host St. Michael’s comes from behind to nip Cobre, 7- 5, and gain the championship of the Jim Pierce Memorial baseball tournament against Santa Fe High, which turned back Bernalillo, 7-1 The title game of the Roseanne Noedel Memorial softball tournament pairs Bernalillo with Raton, with both finals set for 4 p.m.

By Arnie Leshin 

It was a familiar scene for visiting Cobre and a positive one for host St. Michael’s as it came from behind to grab a 7-5 win in the Jim Pierce Memorial baseball tournament semifinal at the Christian Brothers Athletic Complex Friday.

The victory brought neighboring rivals St. Michael’s and Santa Fe High to today’s championship game after the Demons received a stellar pitching performance from right-hander Manny Martinez in cooling off Bernalillo, 7-1.

The Indians (3-4) got a taste of the same rally in last season’s 4A opening round of the state tournament at the Horsemen’s field. They won the first game, but then dropped the next two to send St. Michael’s into the quarterfinals where it turned back Bernalillo before losing to Portales in the semis.

As for Martinez, his complete game was a five-hitter as he struck out seven in shutting down a Spartan team that fell to 8-2 while the Demons advanced to 5-4 and a 4 p.m. date with the Horsemen (4-3) today. Martinez threw only 82 pitches in going seven innings.

The big bat for Santa Fe High came from Iziaha Apodaca as he clouted a pair of home runs, one in the second inning and the other in the fifth. With this, he has now hit five in nine outings.

The Spartans started Isaiah Chavez and he was reached for six runs, two coming in the fourth inning after Bernalillo scored its only run in the second frame. It didn’t take long before Apodaca blasted a towering home run to left field to knot the score at 1-1.

From there, the Demons picked up an infield single from Zach Russell. It was followed by an error and an RBI single from Dominic Arellano and an infield single by Lawrence Mirabal that drove in another run.

St. Michael’s was down to its final six outs and trailing 5-3 heading into the last of the sixth, the bottom of the lineup did what was needed as the 5-through-9 hitters produced four runs to take the lead at 7-5. It was Marcus Leyba who came through with the go-ahead run when he lined a one-out double to the fence in left-center.

The other culprits for the Horsemen came from the bats of Jude Mondragon, Eric Romero and Andrew Salazar.

In consolation contests, Raton turned back Espanola Valley, 13-7, and Taos triumphed over Pojoaque Valley, 12-2. The game for third place will be played by Cobre and Bernalillo, Raton and Taos will play for fifth, and Pojoaque and Espanola are in the game for seventh place.

But for the local fans, Santa Fe High and St. Michael’s will take the field for the title that the Demons won last year against Taos.

. . . In the Roseanne Noedel Memorial softball tournament across the way at the St. Michael’s circle, it will be Bernalillo (6-1) meeting up with Raton (2-0) after the Tigers downed Albuquerque Academy in a five-inning, mercy-rule 11-1 win, and the Spartans rolled over Espanola, 11-0, behind its big bats and the hurling of ace Shauncey Masawiestewa.

Masawiestewa did not allow a hit until the fourth inning. She singled in the opening inning as her side took a 1-0 lead. In the second, it upped the score to 4-0 and the Sundevils were on the way to their fourth loss in six starts.

Raton scored eight times in the final two innings to go up 11-0 and bring the mercy rule. The Tigers took advantage of four errors and a pair of walks to drop the Chargers to 6-4. Both Bernalillo and Raton were in last season’s state tournament, the Spartans in 4A and the Tigers in 3A.

In the consolation games, host St. Michael’s evened its mark at 1-1 by topping Moriarty (1-5), 11-7, in six innings brought on by the 2-hour limit. Same with Capital (4-1) in its 12-5 victory over Pojoaque in six.

Today, the city rivals will meet for fifth place. In the third place contest, Espanola goes against Academy, and for the seventh place it will be Moriarty facing Pojoaque.