Freedom Newspapers
ALBUQUERQUE — The Clovis Zia League All-Stars got off to a slow start Saturday and couldn’t recover in a 13-3 loss to Los Alamos in the first-round of the double-elimination state Little League 11-12 tournament.
Zia returns to action in an 11:30 a.m. elimination game today.
Joe Shelley accounted for all the scoring for Zia with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, making it a 9-3 game. But Los Alamos put the contest out of reach with four in the top of the sixth.
“They have a good team,” Zia manager Charles Lott said of Los Alamos. “They hit the ball today, and we didn’t.
“There are some very seasoned, experienced teams up here.”
Michael Cordova had a pair of hits for Zia in a losing cause.
Lott said if his team wins today, it would play again at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
The Clovis American 13-14 squad dropped its opener to Carlsbad 15-0 on Saturday at Los Lunas, and returns to action on Monday. The American 9-10 All-Stars lost on Friday at Roswell, and were playing an elimination game on Saturday night.
Roosevelt County falls at Taos — Roosevelt County manager Sammy Villanueva was worried about his players freezing up at the plate in Saturday’s state Little League 10-11 opener. As it turned out, they hit the ball just fine, but still came up short.
Albuquerque Mile High broke a tie with a four-run fifth and went on to beat Roosevelt County 13-11, and Villanueva said pitching problems were the main reason.
“We just didn’t throw strikes,” he said. “We beat ourselves.”
Daniel Hernandez hit a two-run single and Jarrett Faust singled home another run for Roosevelt County in the top of the first. Alex Villanueva then capped a two-run second for the Portales squad with an RBI double.
Roosevelt County faces Carlsbad American in a 2 p.m. losers bracket game on Monday.
