Alvarado hammers Hawks with four homers

ALBUQUERQUE — What do Lou Gehrig, Gil Hodges, Willie Mays and Rio Rancho High School senior infielder Aleah Alvarado have in common?

They each hit four home runs in a ballgame.

Alvarado’s impressive feat came on April 22 in her Rams’ 19-11 victory at Volcano Vista, where she homered in four consecutive at-bats and drove in nine runs.

It was a windy day, and the Rams took advantage of it by slugging nine homers in the District 1-5A win, their third win in a row after a frustrating 21-5 loss to visiting Piedra Vista on April 11, and the Rams have scored 14 or more runs in each.

Lilyrose Larrabee hit two homers, which isn’t unusual for the junior catcher. Olivia Chavez, Delysia Valdez and Jordyn Tenorio each “went yard” once.

Alvarado led the 20-hit barrage in a game in which the Rams trailed 8-3 after three innings. A nine-run fourth inning quickly changed the outcome of that contest. She also singled in her 5-for-6 day and scored five times.

Strangely, Alvarado doesn’t have a reputation as a power hitter and said she’d hit maybe “five or six” all together before her big day. She’s been playing the game since she was 5 years old, in the Sunset and Cibola Little Leagues, but never made an all-star team.

“I was very excited after my first home run — it was my first home run of the season. And after my second, ‘OK, that’s hot,’” she recalled. “And then, (after) my third run, I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then, after my fourth one, it was so unreal.

“I think my teammates’ hype really helped me to make the positivity,” she said. “During my fifth at-bat, they were pitching me all outside. It was a good experience; I was very happy.”

Alvarado said the day was memorable because her grandmother was there to see the ballgame.

“She doesn’t see many of my games, and this was only her second or third time she’d seen me play a high school game, and it was really special for her to be there,” Alvarado said.

Rams coach Paul Kohman, the only head coach the program has had since its debut in 1998, said he’s had a few players hit three homers in a game, but Alvarado is the first with four. According to the New Mexico Activities Association record book, she is just the third player to accomplish that four-homer feat.

“I want to thank Paul; he’s been with me for my ups and downs, and he never gave up on the team or me; I think his positivity for the whole season has given us more spirit,” she added.

Alvarado said she hopes to play softball in college next year but will be focusing on someday becoming a flight nurse.

Valdez had three hits; Chavez, Ariana Hernandez, Larrabee and Tenorio had two hits apiece, keeping the usual West Side district power winless after seven 1-5A games. The damage could have been worse, as the Rams left 10 runners aboard.

Destiny Gonzales was in the circle for the Rams for the first three innings, and Valdez took over in the fourth.

Cibola 3, Rams 2Alvarado wasn’t done hitting home runs, as she hit another three days later, on April 25, but the Rams came up short in their contest with visiting Cibola.

The Rams led 1-0 after three innings and 2-1 after six, but the first-place Cougars (20-4, 7-1) put the game away with two runs in the seventh.

Alvarado and Marissa Valdez each went 2 for 3; Valdez had a double and the other RBI.

With that loss, the Rams (15-8, 7-2) were relegated to a tie for second place with Piedra Vista (16-7-1, 6-2) — a tie that would be settled by the outcome of the April 29 Rams-Panthers’ game in Farmington.

Farmington 11, Cleveland 0FHS’s Alba Allen twirled a five-hitter and went 2 for 2 with a homer and two RBIs the afternoon of April 22 in the Four Corners, the game ending after the Storm batted in the fifth.

The Scorpions scored four runs in the first, two more in the second and soon made it a mercy-rule-shortened game with five more runs in the fourth.

Piedra Vista 11, Cleveland 1The visiting Storm scored their run in their first at-bats, but the Panthers only needed five innings to amass 11 runs and end the game early on April 25.

It was the Storm’s fourth loss in a row.

BuntsThis is the final week of the regular season, with the Class 5A state tournament starting May 15 at Cleveland, where the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played May 16. The 5A championship game is set for noon at the University of New Mexico softball complex.

… After the Rams’ game at Piedra Vista, they had an important nondistrict game — with possible seeding implications — with visiting La Cueva May 30. The No. 2 Bears — Centennial is No. 1 — whipped the Rams 14-0 at La Cueva on March 21. La Cueva (19-3) had a 15-game winning streak going into its game with visiting Capital on April 28.

… The Storm host the Rams at 4 p.m. Friday, May 2, which follows Cleveland’s April 29 game at Volcano Vista. The Rams-Storm contest ends the regular season.

… The Class 5A bracket for the state tournament will be released May 4 and can be found at nmact.org. The Rams were ranked ninth in the April 21 Coaches’ Poll and 10th in the recent MaxPreps’ poll. The Storm were not among the top 10 in either poll and are in jeopardy of not making the postseason.