Magdalena Steers will face Grady today

By the time Magdalena plays a real game today (MAY 15) in the semifinals of the Class 1A New Mexico state baseball tournament at the Jennifer Riordan Complex in Albuquerque, the top-seeded Steers will have had a two-week layoff.

And that, perhaps, is the biggest hurdle Magdalena (18-3) faces when meeting District 2 rival Grady (10-8) after getting an opening-round bye.

“It is a concern to me,” said Steers coach Kyl Candelaria. “Building up rust is real. With two weeks off with no games in between, it worries me a little bit. We’ve played intrasquad games and have the pitchers pitching, but you can’t imitate a real game. It might take us a minute to get warmed up. We’ll need to see some pitches and shake off some nerves so it might take us two or three innings to get a feel for the game, but we’ll start clicking again.”

The players are certainly ready to get after it.

“Honestly, I think from past seasons, we thought we were going to be up there at the top, but we haven’t been,” said pitcher Shane Montoya. “Last year was a pretty rough season. But we really focused up this season and we’re ready to take care of business.”

Baseball is a game of rhythm and Magdalena has been dancing the cha-cha for most of the season, particularly during district play.

Not only did the Steers waltz through their nine-game district schedule undefeated, they outscored their opponents by a remarkable 123-13 margin.

The Bronchos fell by a total of 37-2 and one of those games was called after 1½ innings. Early in the season, Grady did match Magdalena well with the Steers winning 3-2 in a March tournament.

“They’re going to be prepared for us,” Candelaria said. “They know what we have, we know what they have. We might have run-ruled them three times in district, but when we get to Albuquerque, everyone is even.”

If anything, fifth-seeded Grady may have a slight advantage in that it last played May 7, beating No. 4 Melrose 11-8 in the tournament’s opening round.

“I don’t really know if the bye is beneficial,” the coach said. “We would rather keep playing. We need to pick up where we left off. In practice, we’ve been working on what we can control and not worrying about what we can’t.”

What Magdalena can control is chucking a whole lot of lumber at the Bronchos. The last time the teams met, in a doubleheader at Grady, the Steers hit seven home runs in seven innings of play.

Magdalena has a robust .402 team batting average, led by Joseph Zamora, who is hitting .548 with 33 RBI and five homers. Josiah Candelaria is not far behind at .539 with three home runs and 38 RBI. The team has also stolen 90 bases in 99 attempts, led by Ayden Herschbach, who has snared 19 of 20.

Grady will counter with its ace, left-hander Deakin Ragland, who has four of the team’s wins.

“He’s been there before and he throws hard,” coach Candelaria said. “If he’s on and throwing strikes, he has the ability of shutting teams down. They’re going to rely on him to throw strikes and keep the game close. We have to try to get to him early, and his get his pitch count up.”

Still, the Steers are more than able on the mound themselves with Josiah Candelaria on the hill. He’s 7-1 with a 0.83 earned-run average and 59 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings. He’s allowed only 16 hits with seven walks. Mathew Lopez will be backing him up with Herschbach available as a closer.

And should Magdalena advance, Montoya is waiting for his chance. He’s 7-0 with a 2.18 ERA and 51 Ks in 41 2/3 innings while allowing 24 hits and 17 walks.

“We’re going to sit behind our pitchers,” coach Candelaria said. “The most runs we’ve given up is seven and that was the third game of the season. We gave up six runs twice and three runs was the most we’ve given up in district. My guys are ready. We have a lot of guys who have been here before. We’re ready and we have guys who have not been afraid for the moment.”