Quay Little League teams eliminated

Quay County's Little League baseball teams were eliminated from postseason last week after suffering two losses in their respective district tournaments.

The Quay County All-Stars Major League team of 10- to 12-year-olds fell 16-5 Thursday night to the Roosevelt County All-Stars at Portales in a do-or-die game that took two days to play because a storm suspended action the previous day. Quay County lost its earlier home game that week to Roosevelt County 10-4.

Roosevelt County held a 6-2 lead after two innings Wednesday night when lightning stopped action for an hour, then a rainstorm made the field unplayable.

Roosevelt County tacked on 10 runs when play resumed Thursday, effectively ending Quay County's season.

"We shot ourselves in the foot like we did Monday," Quay County coach George Montano said. "The little things got to us, and they capitalized on them. We had our chances, but unfortunately we couldn't hit the ball we needed to the most."

In the first game June 24 at A.J. Moya Little League Field in Tucumcari, Quay County drew first blood in the top of the first inning when Kameron Apodaca blasted a two-run double off the center-field fence after an infield single and a walk.

The lead was short-lived. Roosevelt County scored two runs in the first and three in the second.

Apodaca hit an RBI double and Josh Griego drove in a run on a groundout during the third inning to close the gap to 5-4.

Montano took starting pitcher Griego off the mound early in the third inning and moved Apodaca from first base to the pitcher's slot. Montano said he made the move to save Griego to pitch later in the week.

"We felt like we could possibly jump into a lead and hold it," he said. "We didn't want to put ourselves in a bind to where we were scraping for pitchers later."

Roosevelt County answered with a run in bottom of the third and four in fourth. Quay County never threatened after that.

Montano noted after the game his team committed five errors, while Roosevelt County kept making plays in the middle infield to snuff out potential rallies.

"Defensively, their second baseman and shortstop were fantastic," he said. "They were able to move side to side very well, scoop up the ball and make plays. That's what it takes to be successful."

The Quay County All-Stars Minor League team of 9- to 11-year-olds had a tougher time last week against the Zia All-Stars of Clovis, losing by consecutive scores of 44-0 and 27-1 last week in games shortened by the mercy rule.

During Quay County's second game against Zia on June 25 at Moya Field, Jaden Navarro scored his team's only run. The first pitch from hurler Giana Cordova hit him, putting him on base. Navarro advanced to third on two wild pitches, then scored when another pitch got away from Zia's catcher.

Zia scored 12 runs in the first inning and 15 in the second to take control. Zia pounded 18 hits and drew nine walks during those innings.

Quay County coach Robert Marroquin acknowledged his team not only was overwhelmed by errors during both losses - including 10 in the second game - but by Zia's higher overall talent level.

"Our biggest kid was as big as their smallest kid," he said. "They're really a stacked team."