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Visiting Capital High played it close on Tuesday

After winning by large margins and losing the same way, visiting Capital High played it close on Tuesday in handing Santa Fe Indian School an 8-6 non district loss, the first in six outings for Braves Third straight win for Jaguars as senior JoJo Bowannie upped her batting average to .667 with three hits

By Arnie Leshin 
Arnie Leshin

Finally, the rejuvenated Capital High softball team got to play a close game in downing Santa Fe Indian School, 8-6, in non district play at the Braves’ field Tuesday afternoon.

Now 6-2 under head coach Sig Rivera, prior to this victory the Jaguars dominated their first three starts with 16-0, 17-2, 18-0 results, then they added 17-5 and 11-1 wins for a total of 79 runs scored to only 8 against.
The two losses were at 10-0 and 13-0 to state powers Bernalillo and Los Lunas.

This time, it was a back-and-forth test before handing Indian School its first defeat in six games, and bringing the visitors their third-straight victory.

It began as one of those games last season when the Jags would fall behind and fail to keep up. But there’s been a change in this team’s confidence as they would rally from a 3-0 deficit, tie the game, fall behind again, and then put the finishing touches versus a team that had handed them a 12-0 defeat last year.

But times change for a program in quest of making the state tournament for the first time in 13 years.

Said Rivera, now in his third season after previously coaching Santa Fe High, “I told the girls afterward that this is the first game where we were down twice, and came back not once, but twice, and took the lead. Last year we would have lost the game in five innings probably.”

The Braves helped by committing six errors, three coming in the third inning when Capital trimmed the deficit to 3-2 and then tied the score at 3-3. Errant throws provided the most trouble for Indian School. Two came on one play. With senior Jo Jo Bowannie on first, senior Arianna Almedia drove the ball past junior shortstop Caitlin Cruz and into right field, where senior Alexis
Garcia threw the ball past third to allow Bowannie to score.

Almedia was right behind. At third with two out, starting pitcher Ariana Marcotte, a senior, bobbled junior Adaline Carrasco’s chopper to the left of the pitching circle, and in came Almedia, the Jaguars’ hurler, to knot the score.

But the Braves answered back in their next at-bat. After back-to-back miscues were followed by senior Raven Alcott’s ground ball, across the plate came senior Lauren Bekise to put the home team back in the lead at 4-3.

Again, Capital responded in the fourth frame. With runners on first and second with no outs, Indian School got a force-out at third, but sophomore Emma George and junior Sylvia Pincheria followed with steals of second and third bases. Pincheria then scored on junior Yamile Coca’s groundout to second.

But the Jags weren’t though yet. A run-scoring single by Bowannie and an RBI double from Almedia, brought a 6-4 lead. In the fifth, Capital benefited from two more errors and added two twice for an 8-4 advantage. Indian School trimmed the gap by scoring twice in the sixth, but it was a close game that finally went to Capital after numerous mercy-run wins and losses.

On Thursday afternoon, Pojoaque Valley (4-4) will visit the Jaguars in a non district contest. From there, Capital gets its first District 2-5A test with a doubleheader against Albuquerque Del Norte (3-6). The rest of the district presently has Albuquerque Academy at 7-4, Los Alamos at 4-3, and Espanola at 2-5.

Meanwhile, red-hot Bowannie had a 3-for-3 day to up her average to .667, and a pair of RBI gave her 19.

The Braves, who won their first three starts by shutouts, are home Monday for a non district doubleheader against West Las Vegas. Their first 5-4A game comes next versus Albuquerque Sandia Prep.

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