Rams softball team is 11 seed; Storm done

RIO RANCHO — Among the myriad sports clichés is this one: You want to finish the season strong.

That’s not exactly how the regular season ended for the Rio Rancho High School softball team, which ended its three-game skid Friday, May 2, with a 5-3 win over Cleveland at the Shock Yards.

Last week, the evening after a loss to visiting Piedra Vista, dropping the Rams from second to third place, came another double-digit loss to No. 2 La Cueva, which racked up its 17th win in a row.

A 3-2 loss to visiting Cibola on April 25 started the brief losing streak and that knocked the Rams from contention for first place in District 1-5A. La Cueva’s only loss to a New Mexico team was to Cibola, so two of those late losses were anything but upsets.

Longtime Rams coach Paul Kohman managed to find some bright spots as the postseason loomed, among them his team playing much better defense than in past seasons.

“We’ve got half the errors we had last year,” he said, and the Rams made some fine aggressive throws behind La Cueva runners, resulting in outs in the third and fourth innings.

But, feeling better about defense gets outweighed when the bats aren’t hitting and the pitchers aren’t finding the strike zone.

The Rams’ postseason begins with the Class 5A first round “down the hill” at 4 p.m. Friday, May 9, at Cibola, one of the four top seeds to host the opening round. The Rams (16-10) are the 11 seed and face No. 6 Alamogordo (17-9).

No. 3 Cibola also hosts a first-round game at 2 p.m., with the Cougars (20-6) meeting No. 14 Albuquerque High (14-10).

Teams that lose Friday are done for the season. Friday’s winners face off at 10 a.m. Saturday. On May 15 at Cleveland High School, the victor goes to the championship round and the loser goes to the consolation round.

The Rams and Tigers did not meet this season, although Alamogordo participated in the annual Kristin Griego Tournament here in late March, when it lost the championship game to La Cueva, 6-2.

Cleveland did not qualify for the 16-team state tournament for the first time since its inaugural 2010 season.

Here’s what happened last week

La Cueva 12, Rams 2

On the windswept evening of April 30, there was no way Aleah Alvarado — or anyone else on either team — was “going yard.”

That brisk wind was coming toward hitters, and Rams left fielder Olivia Chavez showed there wouldn’t be many long balls when she caught the first batter of the ballgame’s deep fly at the fence.

As it turned out, the Bears’ patience at the plate paid dividends: Of a dozen La Cueva batters who walked, seven came around to score. Six walks were issued in the eight-run fourth inning, when the Bears only had four hits, leading to eight runs — making it “the inning from hell.”

“No argument from me. Obviously, we’re going to have to get the ball closer to where it’s needed to be to be successful. … If we can keep going in that direction, we’re gonna be great.”

Rams starting pitcher Delysia Valdez walked four Bears in the first inning, and the first two scored for a 2-0 lead.

The Bears strung three singles for another run in the second, then put the game out of reach with their big fourth frame.

Rio Rancho spoiled the shutout in the fourth, when La Cueva hurler Liliana Montoya walked Alvarado and Lilyrose Larrabee. A wild pitch sent Alvarado to second, and Larrabee then stole second. Olivia Chavez drove them both home with a single to left, but Alivia Henderson and Kianna Lambert whiffed.

La Cueva scored its 12th run in the fifth, and the Rams went down in order to end it.

Piedra Vista 7, Rams 6 (9 innings)

Rio Rancho lost a heartbreaker to the visiting Panthers on April 29, the first of three games the Rams had last week.

“The kids really did a good job compared to two and a half weeks ago (21-5 loss at Piedra Vista on April 11) when we didn’t show up,” Kohman said. “We didn’t get that ‘one more’ hit or (have) one more good thing to happen in the first seven (innings).”

Cleveland 4, Volcano Vista 0

The Storm kept their hopes for the postseason alive by whitewashing the visiting last-place Hawks on April 30.

Rams 5, Storm 3

With this May 2 win, the Rams (7-3 in district)) ended their streak and gave the Storm (10-16, 3-7) their fifth loss in their final six games.

“I’m gonna guess between 10 and 12,” said Kohman, when asked where he expected his team to be seeded for state. He knew his team was done playing at home for the season.

Bunts

Here’s how the District 1-5A softball standings wound up, in order: Cibola (8-2, 21-5), Piedra Vista (8-2, 18-7-1), Rams, Storm, Volcano Vista (2-8, 10-16), Farmington (2-8, 12-13-1).

… Here are other first-round games Friday: at the Field of Dreams in Las Cruces, No. 16 Eldorado (14-12) vs. No. 1 Centennial (23-0) and No. 9 Atrisco Heritage Academy (19-6) vs. No. 8 Los Lunas (18-6); at La Cueva, No. 10 Las Cruces (16-9) vs. No. 7 Piedra Vista (18-7-1) and No. 15 Organ Mountain (12-12-1) vs. No. 2 La Cueva (23-3); and at Carlsbad, No. 12 Sandia (15-11) vs. No. 5 Mayfield (19-6) and No. 13 Hobbs (13-12) vs. No. 4 Carlsbad (20-6).

… Former Rams slugger Kendra Levesque has earned another honor in her lone season at Lubbock (Texas) Christian University. The two-time Lone Star Conference Player of the Week leads LCU with a .398 average and a D-2 leading 23 doubles, leading her to first-team All-Conference and Golden Glove (she plays first base) honors.