Storm baseball team wins Puentes tourney

RIO RANCHO — Scoring in each of the first four innings Saturday afternoon, the Cleveland Storm beat Carlsbad in the championship game of the Sal Puentes Rio Rancho Tournament.

More impressive than the victory over the perennial power from Carlsbad, the previous evening the fifth-ranked Storm (11-5) had beat Class 5A’s No. 1 La Cueva, which edged Cleveland 3-2 in the 2024 state championship game.

“We have a lot of history with La Cueva, and I think just playing them was going to help us either way (win or lose),” Storm coach Shane Shallenberger said. “Obviously, winning it was really good for us. But, at the end of the day, we want to play the best teams and they’re one of the best, and we found a way and I was proud of (my guys).”

It was the Storm’s third appearance in the championship game of the Puentes event in the past four seasons: They had lost to the Rams in 2022, beat Academy in 2023; the host Rams beat Sandia in the 2024 contest. CHS also won the tournament in 2011 and’17.

Shallenberger said after the win over Carlsbad that he was happiest with his team’s energy.

“That had been lacking most of the year. We came out with some fire and energy all three games, and, you know, that’s what I’m happiest about,” he said. “(And) some pretty good defense. And it was a bullpen day, and sometimes you have to allow a few things (namely, seven walks issued by his trio of hurlers Saturday), but we played defense behind it.”

Storm 7, Carlsbad 4Cleveland sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning, scoring off a fielder’s choice off the bat of Ben Herman, a sacrifice fly by winning pitcher Peyton Noel and an RBI single by Gunner Carey.

In the two previous games, the Cavemen had been stingy, beating St. Pius 11-0 and Goddard 10-1.

A wild pitch in the second inning made it a 4-0 lead; after the No. 7 Cavemen scored in the third to make it 4-1.

The first of three straight innings ending when the Storm turned 6-4-3 double plays – Cleveland came back with an unearned run in the third on an infield single by Jarren Villa.

The Storm scored their final run in the fourth when Anthony Del Angel, the tournament’s MVL, walked for the third time in a row, stole second and plated on a double by Noel.

Alex Larvie relieved Noel to start the fifth, and when he ran into trouble in the sixth, walking two and fanning two before a three-run homer by pinch-hitter Connor Roberson,

Treven Polanco earned a save by retiring four of the five batters he faced to close out the game.

Villa paced the offense, going 3 for 3; Carey had two hits.

Storm 4, La Cueva 3Spot the No. 1 Bears three runs and expect to beat them?

No problem. Cleveland rallied in the bottom of the seventh Friday evening to send the Storm into Saturday afternoon’s championship game of the annual Sal Puentes Rio Rancho Tournament.

Josiah Armijo reached on an error to open the bottom of the seventh, and went to second when Villa grounded out to short. Gabe Nelson then swatted a double to plate Armijo with the winning run.

Earlier Del Angel had homered for the second game in a row, paving the way for his MVP honor.

“Gabe had a pretty good tournament,” Shallenberger added. “The last two games, he’s really squared-up a lot of balls and doesn’t have a lot to show for it, because he’s hitting right at people. So, it was nice for him to get that hit.”

Storm 7, Artesia 1Del Angel socked a three-run homer in the first inning to back the pitching of southpaw Xavier Vasquez, as the Storm beat the Bulldogs Thursday evening to advance into Friday’s semifinals.

The victory over the Bulldogs snapped the Storm’s three-game skid in the recent Metro tournament.

Vasquez departed after giving up an infield single to open the seventh, but had scattered just three hits and fanned nine by the time he was relieved by Alex Larvie.

By game’s end, each team had just six hits, as Vasquez didn’t allow a Bulldog past second base until the fifth inning.

After Del Angel’s round-tripper, the Storm scored in the third on an RBI single by Peyton Noel; in the fifth on an RBI double by Noel and an infield single by Francisco Hernandez; and off a fielder’s choice off the bat of Del Angel in the sixth, giving him a four RBI game.

Season’s ‘second half’ underway this weekThe Storm opened the district campaign Tuesday with a game at Cibola, then head up U.S. 550 to meet Farmington Friday. Next week, CHS is back in Farmington April 8 to face Piedra Vista, then home Friday to meet Volcano Vista. All games start at 4 p.m.

“I’m concerned about everybody,” Shallenberger said of this historically tough district, which saw Atrisco Heritage Academy depart and replaced by Farmington and Piedra Vista.

“I try to worry about what we can do and what we can handle, because it’s so tough and there’s no easy teams in our district,” he said, believing his team had “cleaned up” its defensive woes from earlier in the young season.

“I think we just have to keep grinding on hitting a little bit; I think (sometimes) we get a little complacent, and working on the little things.”