Baseball season is here: Warriors improve, Steers go the distance

For the Socorro baseball team, improvements are measured somewhat incrementally.

That’s why nobody is too concerned by the Warriors six-inning, 10-0 loss to Belen on March 25.

“It wasn’t that rough,” coach Lawrence Montaño said. “In previous years it would have been a lot worse.”

Indeed, Socorro lost 20-0 last season to the Eagles -- a perennial Class 4A title contender -- and gave up 15 runs in the first inning.

So by that measuring stick, it wasn’t too bad.

“We started off a little rough,” Montaño said, noting the Warriors fell behind 3-0 after the first. “And we couldn’t hit the ball. That’s what killed us. We gave up some runs and we just weren’t able to hit the ball to stay in the game.”

Although the game was called early on the mercy rule, it was a positive that Socorro was able to extend the game almost to its regulation seven innings.

“Compared to how we did against them last year, well that was really bad,” Montaño said. “We were actually able to play six innings with them. With the development of the players, I feel like we did pretty well.”

David Gutierrez, who saw some time on the hill in the game, said the Warriors were anxious to put up a better showing than last season.

“We weren’t intimidated,” he said. “We were just going out there and playing ball. It doesn’t matter what school you go to, at the end of the day, it’s who wants to play.”

What Montaño found particular heartening is that the Warriors were able to bounce back and recover after some ragged plays, which wasn’t always the case in previous years.

“I’d say probably the fact that we were able to stay level headed was the most encouraging,” he said. “We were able to rebound from situations and mistakes that they did make and got it together and continued playing ball. They didn’t get down on themselves and they kept balling.”

Sebastian Mercado put up two hits for the Warriors, who otherwise struggled to get on base.

“Without hitting the ball, we can’t really compete,” Montaño said. “When you’re not putting up runs, it’s hard to stay in the game. And we’ve been plagued with having one really bad inning. It’s something we’ve been trying to work on.”

MAGDALENA

The Steers nearly walked off with the first place trophy in the first Tularosa Rose City Classic, despite meeting teams ranging from Class 4A to 1A.

“We’re competing with 4A schools that are beating 4A and 5A schools,” coach Kyl Candelaria said. “That means we’re going to be a tough match up for anybody in 1A.”

Indeed, Magdalena gave Chaparral, who was a 4A state tournament participant last season, all it could handle in the championship game March 29, losing 2-0.

Matthew Lopez went the distance in the game, allowing just four hits and two walks in the strong performance. Both the runs scored after the walks.

“We were very competitive,” Candelaria said. “Defensively, we were very solid. Pitching-wise, we’re right there,”

It’s just a matter of getting the bats going for the players who are still adjusting to baseball after a full school year of playing other sports.

“We’re slumping as a team due to lack of practice time,” the coach said.

Josiah Candelaria, who got the win in opening game, a 3-2 victory over Grady, struck out 11 and only allowed two hits and a walk in the complete game. His effort led to him being the only Magdalena player to land on the All-Tournament team.

Zeb Apachito had two hits and scored a run and Candelaria and Lopez each had an RBI.

The Steers knocked out host Tularosa in the second game with a 10-4 offensive explosion that also included six steals. Josiah Zamora had two doubles among his three hits and scored three runs and Candelaria had three RBI. They each nabbed two steals.

Shane Montoya pitched a complete game, allowing just one earned run, allowing three hits and a walk with five strikeouts.