Both the Bulldog baseball and Lady Bulldog softball teams kicked off their 2024 home tournaments Thursday with decisive wins to advance to today’s winner’s bracket semifinal rounds.
The Lady ‘Dogs put on a hitting clinic in their opener against Las Vegas Robertson, belting a trio of home runs in their first trip to the plate and one in the third before securing the 11-0 run-rule win with a walk-off tater in the bottom of the fifth.
Senior catcher Perseis Aguilar was the first to send one over the fence, bringing both herself and Zowe Warren — aboard with a walk — around in the home half of the first. Mikenzi Carlo followed immediately with a solo dinger to right-center, and with two away, Elizabeth DeLaRiva sent one long to dead center to make it 4-0 Artesia.
The Lady Bulldogs would tack on three more in the third on Aguilar’s second home of the night and RBI doubles by Kinsley Rodriguez and DeLaRiva. Artesia’s eighth run crossed in the fourth on a four-base error, and Kayden Apodaca closed the book in the fifth with a walk-off three-run bomb.
Eighth-grade pitcher Katrin Marquez got the five-inning no-hitter in the bout. At the plate, DeLaRiva went 3-3 on the night with a homer, a pair of doubles, and two runs batted in. Aguilar, Carlo and Rodriguez were all 2-3, Aguilar with three RBI and Carlo and Rodriguez with one apiece.
The victory bumped the Lady ‘Dogs to 7-4 on the season as they prepare to take on Deming at 6 p.m. today in the semis.
The Bulldogs were also dominant at the plate in their Artesia Invitational opener against Miyamura, racking up 11 hits in a five-inning, 20-0 run rule.
After going down in order in the bottom of the first, the Diamond ‘Dogs batted around in the second, taking a 7-0 lead with help from a Frankie Galindo bases-clearing double, a Jett Whitmire RBI single, an error and a pair of wild pitches.
Artesia nearly batted their lineup twice in the third to put the run rule in effect. RBI doubles from Jett Fuentes and Jesse Armendariz combined with RBI base knocks from Whitmire, Fuentes and Brant Usherwood to help see the ‘Dogs to an 18-0 lead.
The boys in orange then added two more to their tally in the bottom of four on bases-loaded walks by Fuentes and Nye Estrada before the sophomore Usherwood closed out a five-inning no-hitter in the top of the fifth by striking out the side.
Whitmire led Artesia at the plate on the night, going 3-4 with two RBI, while Fuentes and Armendariz both went 2-3 with three and one RBI, respectively.
The ‘Dogs (3-4) will square off with Los Alamos at 7 p.m. today for the right to advance to the tournament championship.