For five-and-a-half innings Thursday at the state tournament in Rio Rancho, the Lady Bulldog softball team was on the brink of upsetting Class 5A’s top-ranked team.
The girls in orange took a one-run lead over the Lady Tigers of Aztec in the top of the third and, after falling behind and tying things up, trailed by just one, 4-3, heading into the sixth.
There, however, a leadoff home run sparked a rally for the Tigers that propelled them to a 7-3 win.
After going down in order in their first two trips to the plate against Aztec junior pitcher Paige Adair, the Lady Bulldogs gave up the game’s first run in the home half of the second when Jocelyn Ulrich – aboard with a leadoff double – scored on a RBI ground out by Ashlynn Bradley.
But Artesia was not intimidated, turning the tables in the top of three.
With one away, a hit batsman in the person of Stacia Martinez gave the Lady ‘Dogs their first baserunner of the morning, but a strikeout put them in danger of leaving her stranded. A single turned-error by Alex Riggs, however, saw Martinez to third, and a two-base error plated both runners to make it 2-1 Artesia.
Aztec wasted little time regaining the upper hand, scoring twice in the bottom of the inning on a sac-fly and an Ulrich RBI base hit, but the Lady Bulldogs knotted the game at 3-all in the fourth on a big triple to right-center field by Elisa Cardenas.
That score would stand until the bottom of the fifth, when a Trinity Pollock leadoff triple and an error gave the Tigers the upper hand once again, 4-3.
Artesia threatened in the top of the six when Aubree Olguin was hit by a pitch to lead off the at-bat, but three consecutive outs left her standing, and Aztec would pull away for good in the home half. Ulrich launched a solo homer over the right-center-field fence to kick things off for the Lady Tigers, who tacked on two more before inning’s end on a RBI ground out and a CheyAnn Simkins single.
Lady ‘Dog catcher Melody Payne opened the top of the seventh in excellent fashion with a ground-rule double to center, but a line-out to short, a ground ball back to the pitcher, and a fly out to center field ended the threat and the game, 7-3.
Sophomore pitcher Kacey Thurman took the loss in the circle for Artesia with eight hits and five earned runs allowed through five complete. McKayla Liles, on in relief in the mid-sixth, had three hits and two earned runs to her credit. Payne led the team at the plate, going 2-3 with the double.
The loss dropped the ninth-ranked Lady Bulldogs into the losers’ bracket Thursday and a 1 p.m. showdown with fifth-ranked Los Lunas.
Facing elimination, the Artesia girls turned things around and gave themselves a chance to earn their way back into the winners’ bracket with a 6-2 win over their second set of Lady Tigers of the day.
