The Lady Bulldog softball team headed east to Hobbs Friday hoping to build on a solid Southern New Mexico Invitational showing.
In their season-opening tournament in Las Cruces, the Artesia girls had overcome an opening loss to Miyamura by run-ruling Santa Fe High and edging out Silver and El Paso Eastwood en route to the consolation championship.
Their confidence was high. But as head coach Sandra Pulido stated following the double header against the Lady Eagles, their focus may have suffered as a result.
“We played well in those last three tournament games, but as much as it hurts egos, we kind of needed (Friday) a little bit to show us that from now on, we can’t let up,” Pulido said.
Mistakes added up for the Artesia girls in Hobbs, and the result was a pair of losses, 10-9 and 11-5, that evened the squad’s early record at 3-3.
“We beat ourselves more than anything,” Pulido said. “These first few games have shown us what we’re capable of, but they’ve also given us a look at the other side, at what happens when you make mental mistakes and when you’re not communicating the way you should.”
The Class 6A Eagles jumped out to a commanding early lead in Game One Friday, 10-3, but after regaining their patience at the plate, the Lady ‘Dogs began to chip away.
“We just started putting the ball in play and making them make mistakes, which is something I’ve told the girls plenty of times – just put the ball in place,” Pulido said.
Down 10-5, senior Ale Flores strode to the plate and delivered a grand slam to quickly propel Artesia within a run.
“We just couldn’t get that last one across the board,” said Pulido.
Game Two came down more to miscues on the mental side.
“We just had some mental mistakes, but that’s what you get with a young team,” Pulido said. “We’re learning from it and growing from the mistakes that were made.”
Flores finished 3-4 at the plate in Game One and Adrianna Baeza and Aubree Olguin both 2-4. In the circle, sophomore starter Jelisia Perez gave way after two and two-thirds innings to freshman McKaylay Liles, who took the loss with four hits and five earned runs allowed.
Stacia Martinez batted 2-3 and Flores and Olguin 2-4 in the nightcap, with sophomore Kacey Thurman allowing 10 hits and eight earned runs through six innings pitched.
The Lady Bulldogs will be able to put the lessons learned into further practice starting Thursday when they head to Rio Rancho for the Kristin Griego Tournament. Artesia is set to take on a familiar foe – Miyamura – at 5 p.m. Thursday in the unusually-formatted tournament, through which teams remain in bracket play until a loss is suffered, at which point they drop into pool play. Each squad is guaranteed five games.
Win or lose, the Lady ‘Dogs will compete again at 9 a.m. Friday.
“We’ve had a good two days of practice this week, which was really good to see after having those two games play out the way they did,” said Pulido. “Right now is when you’re trying to get all the kinks out and figure out how to learn from the mistakes so you can nip that in the bud before you get to district.”
As for what the coach will be looking for in Rio Rancho, that answer is simple:
“Communication and leadership.
“That’s kind of what we were lacking on Friday, and it’s something we’ve talked about this week. We’ve had some great leadership come out of a few girls at practice now, and if we can keep that going into the tournament, we’re going to be fine. If our pitchers hit their spots and we do what we’ve been working on this week, we should be the team we were in Cruces.”
