SPORTS DIGEST: Softball world series, golf, a new coach, a hoops camp and more

Former Ram off to World Series

Mia Flores, a member of the Rio Rancho High School Class of 2022, and her Trinidad State University softball team are off to the National Junior College Athletic Athletic Association's Division I World Series May 20-25 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford, Alabama.

Flores, a sophomore third baseman for the TSU Trojans (37-14), has played in all 51 games and has 23 home runs and 79 RBIs.

Trinidad State won the Region IX tournament after beating Northeastern (13-3 and 15-9), and then Otero (9-1 and 8-6). Flores went yard in each of the final three games.

Flores was an All-State second-teamer after her junior season with the Rams.

City’s golf teams finish in top 10

The Rio Rancho High School boys golf team placed fifth and the Cleveland High boys were sixth April 29 at the annual APS Metro Golf Championships, played at Los Altos Golf Course in Albuquerque.

La Cueva High School won the boys’ competition with a team score of 300. The Bears were followed by St. Pius X (303), Albuquerque Academy (309), Volcano Vista (312), the Rams (322) and the Storm (332) in the 16-team field.

RRHS’s Payton Black (75) tied for sixth, and CHS’s Zerrik Harrington (76) was tied for eighth.

The girls’ teams reversed the boys’ finish: Cleveland (393) was fifth and the Rams (401) were sixth.

Albuquerque Academy (319) won the girls’ division, followed by La Cueva (323), St. Pius X (346), Clovis (386) and the City of Vision teams.

No city girls were among the top 10.

The Class 5A state tournament is being played May 13-14 at Twin Warriors Golf Club.

Storm tennis camp served in June

A youth tennis camp for boys and girls ages 7-15 is set for June 11-12 on Cleveland High School’s tennis courts.

The camp runs from 9 a.m. to noon both days.

The cost is $75 for those pre-registered (includes snacks and a T-shirt); $85 for drop-ins the day of camp.

Payments for pre-registration may be made at camppros.com.

For more information, contact coach Diana LaCour at 505-720-9922 or diana.lacour@rrps.com. (A link for the camp is on the CHS tennis website.)

Hoops camps for youngsters at RRHS

Rio Rancho High School boys basketball coach Wally Salata is having two more youth basketball camps in the RAC this spring, May 28-31 and June 10-14, from 9 a.m. to noon each session.

Both are for boys and girls entering kindergarten through ninth grade when the 2024-25 school year starts, and both focus on fundamentals.

The cost for each is $125 in advance, $150 for walkups the first days.

Campers will learn the basic skills and fundamentals in the game and play 5-on-5 games every day. Campers receive a T-shirt and basketball for attending.

The camp has sold out for the past 10 years, with 120 campers (30 in each age group K-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-9) being the maximum per session.

To register, go to rioranchocamps.net. For more information, contact Salata by email at wally.salata@rrps.net or by phone at 505-620-9068.

Speaking of basketball

Kassandra Tenorio, who spent the past two seasons as the girls junior varsity basketball coach at Cleveland High School, has been named the new head coach at Cibola High School.

“She has a ‘rebuild’ (there), but she is really excited to get going,” said former Storm varsity coach Susan Kubala. “I am really proud of her; she has earned it.”

The Cougars were 2-25 last season, and winless in eight District 1-5A games under head coach Joe Sena. The Cleveland JV was 14-5 last season, and 15-6 the previous season under Tenorio, according to MaxPreps.

Boxing day at Bernalillo High School

Zimbalist “Zim” Satcher has scheduled an amateur boxing event at Bernalillo High School on June 15.

Satcher staged his first amateur card last December at Able Strength Fitness in Rio Rancho. But as close as the gym is to his home, Bernalillo High is closer.

It feels closer, too. “I literally live down the street,” Satcher said.

As a boxing coach, Satcher was a protégé of the late Joe Louis Murphy. After Murphy’s death in November 2022, Satcher formed his own club, The Crow & The Cub.

Among his pupils is his son, Zimbalist Jr., who also competes in track and field (triple jump, 400 meters) for Cleveland High School.

Zim Jr. used to play basketball — his dad played at Albuquerque High — but discovered he preferred track and boxing.

Trio sets state record

Three New Mexico bowlers set a new city and state record team score on the final night of the $23,500 Bud Trios League at Tenpins & More on May 8.

The two right-handers and one southpaw combined to roll 32 strikes from 36 deliveries.

Pete Sheridan led the way with 290, Victor Napolitano had 279 and anchor Carl Chavez added a 266 for a combined 835 — a 278.3 average.

Chavez later found that their 835 was the ninth-highest three-person team game recorded so far this year across the U.S., which includes more than 1 million registered league bowlers.

Elsewhere on the local lanes…

• Isaiah Salinas, 19, and Annie Alvarado, 11, won their way into the New Mexico squad to bowl against 12 Australian bowlers from the city of Brisbane, who will be in Rio Rancho for the International Challenge Cup and the Youth New Mexico Open in mid-September.

Salinas, a powerful two-handed player, shot 225, 221, 188 and 210 for a handicap-added 960 series; Alvarado overcame a low second game to add 145, 168 and 148 for 952.

The other nine bowlers each received points for placings, with 21-year-old Robin Prioleau closing with 256, alongside 225, 208 and 199 for 932; followed by former Rams high school bowler Tyler Grier, who finished with 256 and 910.

Next were brother-and-sister Alberto and Mia Medina, finishing well with 254 and 222 for 906 and 902, respectively.

After the qualifying tournaments are over in July, the top two point-scorers will complete the local side.

The next roll-off is 1 p.m. Sunday, May 19.

• Up to 12 teams of four will take to the Tenpins & More lanes May 18 to bowl in an email challenge match against bowlers at Keon Park Center in Melbourne, Australia.

It's the third annual contest, which has been won by Rio Rancho by 23 pins per game the first year and seven pins a game in 2023.

Gladiators drop two more

After suffering a 42-28 loss in Henderson, Nevada, on April 27, the Duke City Gladiators were idle for a week, then returned to the Rio Rancho Events Center for a May 11 contest with the San Antonio Gunslingers.

The game came down to the final possession after six second-half lead changes.

San Antonio took a 56-53 lead with 10 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Gladiators (0-6) marched down the field, but kicker Ernesto Lacayo’s 45-yard field goal attempt was wide left, and the Gladiators were still winless.

New quarterback Joseph Mancuso, the fourth QB to start a game for Duke City this season, was 11 of 18 passing for 118 yards and four touchdowns; he also ran for two TDs and gained 91 rushing yards in the game.

In their previous loss to the Knights Hawks, Alphonso Howard became the third QB to start this season, but the Gladiators never led, although the game was knotted at 21 after Howard’s second TD pass of the game.

The Knight Hawks outscored the Gladiators 21-7 the rest of the way. McDowell Malik scored Duke City’s first TD on a pick-6; Deva Concliffe and Gregory Dent Jr. were on the receiving ends of touchdown passes; Lacayo kicked two 30-yard field goals, the first giving the Gladiators a 28-24 halftime deficit.

The team on May 1 announced the signing of Mancuso, who played at the University of Richmond, in the Canadian Football League with Winnipeg, and for the Knight Hawks of the IFL.

The Gladiators’ next four games are on the road: May 19 (San Diego), May 25 (Arizona), June 1 (Tucson) and June 8 (San Antonio).

The Gladiators are home again June 15 to face the Knight Hawks at 6:05 p.m. in the Events Center.