The Artesia softball team defeated the Aztec Tigers 5-3 in the semifinals of the 2026 Nusenda Credit Union State Championship. The Lady ‘Dogs will face the winner from the Consolation Round at 10 a.m. Saturday, at the University of New Mexico softball field.
A statewide ban on golf carts driving on city streets drew chagrin from those living near the Artesia Country Club.
A group of about 30 attendees at the Artesia City Council’s Tuesday, May 12 meeting, including several members of the country club, aired grievances regarding recently increased local enforcement of a state law disallowing golf carts on public roads.
Constituents requested golf carts be permitted to and from the country club and agreed golf cart drivers must respect the rules of the road including carrying a valid drivers license. Comments ranged from golf cart specifications that might be included in an ordinance to accusations the traffic stops are money grabs.
Robert Duncan contended the sudden stops have created “confusion and distrust” between Artesia police and the public.
He called for police and members to collaborate on regulations that could allow the practice of driving from homes in the surrounding neighborhoods to the entrance of the country club and its golf course.
“We want to know what we can do to team up with the City management to help get a golf cart ordinance passed,” Duncan said.
Richard Price stated his “frustration” stems both from personal and professional foundations.
Price relocated his family “six homes- five golf carts” to the area near the golf course, he said. A former President of the Country Club Board, he stated he cannot recall a time when golf carts on the road have been treated as illegal.
“It only takes me 73 seconds to get from my garage to the front gate of the Country Club,” he said.
Mayor Jeff Youtsey encouraged meeting attendees that city leaders were working on a solution.
“Believe me I have ate, slept and drank golf carts for a solid month- When you go home tonight you can know that your City is working towards a solution,” Youtsey said.
Residents responded from their seats asking what they might expect from law enforcement in the coming months, hoping to resolve the issue before the meetings end.
“I realize it’s going to take the council time to go through this, but I haven’t heard anything about- I’m driving my golf cart to the Country Club tomorrow to play golf. Am I gonna get stopped?” asked local resident Jesse Hilliard.
Youtsey took a long pause before responding:
“You’re asking me as mayor to make a statement to my police chief to ignore that law. I can’t do that,” he said.
The remainder of the meeting centered around budget requests from City departments and local nonprofits who receive funding from the City of Artesia as the new fiscal year FY27 approaches.
Police Chief Kirk Roberts clarified budget increase requests intended for equipment and software upgrades. Some equipment included would allow APD more advanced forensic interviewing, especially with child victims of domestic violence. Chief Roberts assured the Council the department is working to cut costs and is conducting a thorough review of all contracts to mitigate the increase requests.
Council approved the annexation of the HF Sinclair Navajo Refinery property West of Bolton Road. The Public Hearing portion dedicated to council decision generated no comment from the public.
Artesia senior Charlie Campbell IV does his routine of touching first base after the end of the inning out against Goddard in the state playoff game.
Daniel Zuniga
Albuquerque — It was an instant classic at the Riordan Spark Kindness Sports Complex on Thursday. In a game defined by grit and razor-thin margins, the Artesia Bulldogs emerged with a 3-2 victory over St. Pius X, punching their ticket to the 4A semifinals for the fourth consecutive year.
The Bulldogs (21-8) survived a grueling nail-biter that was not decided until the final out.
“It was a great win,” Artesia head coach Jackson Bickel said. “St. Pius is a very good team, and they played hard, but our guys found a way to win. That’s what you have to do this time of year.”
The game was scoreless until the third inning, when Artesia broke through. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out, and junior catcher Frankie Galindo delivered a clutch two-run single to center field, giving Artesia a 2-0 lead.
St. Pius X (19-8) answered in the bottom of the fourth. The Sartans used a pair of hits and a Bulldog error to cut the lead to 2-1.
Artesia added what proved to be the winning run in the top of the sixth. Senior outfielder Nye Estrada led off with a double and later scored on a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Diego Wesson.
The Sartans did not go quietly. In the bottom of the seventh, they mounted a serious threat, scoring a run and putting the tying run on third with two outs. However, Artesia reliever Jack Byers—known for his high-velocity “email” on the mound—stayed cool under pressure, inducing a flyout to right field to end the game and ignite the Bulldog celebration.
Byers earned the save in relief of starter Kaden Grantham, who pitched five solid innings to pick up the win.
“Our pitchers were outstanding today,” Bickel said. “Kaden gave us a great start, and Jack came in and shut the door. They both showed a lot of heart.”
The Bulldogs now turn their attention to the semifinals, where they will face Deming, a familiar foe in their quest for their second blue trophy.
Photos by Mike Smith, Artesia Daily Press
Thursday at the Artesia Public Schools Administration all kinds of organizations gathered for the Summer Activities Fair.
Jessica Hope, supervisor of the Artesia Historical Museum, offers information to interested parties on Thursday.
It gave parents and kids a chance to see what summer related happenings are taking place this summer in the community.
Further details coming to this website and in Wednesday’s newspaper.
Rivers and Abby Rich from the Hermosa Church of Christ offered youth activities for interested children and adults.
Danny Zuniga
RIO RANCHO — Top-seeded Artesia beat Lovington 6-0 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the 2026 NMAA state softball championships at Cleveland High School, sending the Bulldogs to the semifinals.
Artesia set the tone early and kept pressure on Lovington throughout the game. The Bulldogs finished with 17 hits, and Danyela Munoz reached base four times and scored twice. Isabel Cruz added three hits and an RBI as Artesia continued to put runners on and force Lovington to work from behind. Lovington finished its season at 16-13.
Artesia improved to 25-4 and recorded its eighth shutout of the season, including its second against Lovington this year.
Kayden Apodaca led Artesia with a seven-inning shutout and six strikeouts. She also hit a home run and drove in two runs.
“Kayden was phenomenal in the circle,” Artesia coach Sandra Pulido said. “She was throwing the ball hard, and our defense backed her up.”
The victory was Artesia’s 17th in a row and continued the form that carried the Bulldogs through district play and into the postseason. Artesia had already beaten Bloomfield and Goddard in earlier state tournament games, and Thursday’s win over Lovington moved the Bulldogs one step closer to a state title. With Apodaca controlling the game in the circle and the lineup producing steady contact, Artesia again looked like one of the top teams in Class 4A.
“We had to make sure we played our game and made adjustments at the plate,” Pulido said. “Some girls were struggling early, but they adjusted. They went to small ball, put the ball in play, and made the defense work.”
Artesia will face No. 2 seed Aztec, which is 21-5, at noon Friday at Cleveland High School. The winner will advance to Saturday’s state championship game at the University of New Mexico.
Artesia’s Chamber of Commerce is gearing up to celebrate community and youth with preparations in full swing for a summer activity fair and the city’s annual Fourth of July festivities.
The Summer Activities Fair will be held Thursday, May 14, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Artesia Public Schools Administration Building, 301 Bulldog Blvd.
The fair is designed to help parents and kids learn about summer camps, classes, sports and other events planned for the summer months, according to Jessica Bollema, executive director of the Artesia Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s a one-stop shop for families to gather (summer information) for children,” Bollema said. “We’re making it easier on parents.”
The fair started 10 years ago, and Bollema said the event has grown in activities and attendance.
Kamili Burnett, marketing and events coordinator for the Chamber of Commerce, attended her first fair last year.
“It was fast and moving and there were a lot of people there,” she said.
Bollema and Burnett said the fair is an effective way for organizations to get the word out on summer activities.
Artesia Public Schools wrap up classes May 22.
The city’s Independence Day celebration starts at 7 a.m. Saturday, July 4, with a “citywide salute” at Heritage Plaza in downtown Artesia. Bollema said the ceremony, featuring a prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem, will be broadcast live on KSVP Radio 990 AM and 93.7 FM.
Other activities on tap include the Star-Spangled Dash 5K, which will begin after the opening ceremony at Heritage Plaza, and a mid-morning parade through downtown Artesia.
“We want to bring back old-school floats,” Bollema said.
The parade starts at the Bulldog Bowl parking Lot and heads east on Main Street before ending downtown.
“It’s free to enter the parade,” Bollema said.
Post-parade activities range from skydiving to live music to fireworks at Jaycee Park.
Country music act Aiden Logsdon and the Outlaws will kick off the musical entertainment followed by rock band ShineOla from San Angelo, Texas.
Once the music ends, a fireworks show will light up the sky over Artesia.
The fireworks are returning after last year’s absence due to a scheduling conflict involving Colorado-based J&M Displays, which had provided Artesia’s Fourth of July pyrotechnics and music since 2013.
Last year’s celebration featured a July 5 drone show instead of traditional July Fourth fireworks but J&M Displays will be back this year.
“We were not about to let Artesia not have a celebration at Jaycee Park so we started working on this year’s fireworks show on July 6, 2025,” Bollema said.
Artesia resident Brad Knowlton will produce this year’s show after being trained in safety and production of public fireworks displays, Bollema said.
“We’re so thankful for a local person,” she said.
No figure has been set for the cost of the fireworks show but Bollema said the chamber is accepting donations to help pay for it.
“We do our best to raise the cost of the show,” she said. “Every dollar donation counts. We don’t really have a goal or anything – just to cover the cost, nothing more.”
Anyone wanting to make donations or inquire about the Fourth of July celebration, Bollema said, should contact the Chamber of Commerce at 575-746-2744.
JT Keith
Champions don’t always show up in the trophy presentation. Sometimes they show up in the decision — the one made when playing it safe would have been the easy move. Artesia sophomore Beau Byers faced that moment in the Class 4A state golf tournament, and he didn’t blink.
Byers finished second at state for the second straight year, one shot behind Albuquerque Academy’s Thomas Whitten — the same player Byers tied for third with a season ago.
The situation was simple on the 18th hole: Byers and Whitten were tied. A par likely keeps him in it. A birdie wins it outright.
Artesia coach Tristan Bowden said he asked Byers what he wanted to do. Byers didn’t hesitate.
“I’m going to make birdie to win,” Byers told him.
Byers didn’t get the tee shot he wanted, but he still played the hole with the flag in mind. He reached the green in three and finished with a bogey — the kind that stings when a title is sitting right there.
Bowden said Byers was upset in the moment, but his perspective showed up later on the bus ride home. Bowden said Byers called it a learning experience and said he knows what he has to do to get better and win it next year.
That mindset is exactly what Bowden wants from his golfers — playing to win instead of playing not to lose.
“I want that out of all of my kids,” Bowden said. “I don’t want them to hold back. It would have been easy for him to just make par, but he wanted to win it on the 18th hole in front of a big crowd — about 100 people.”
Byers finished second individually at 149 after rounds of 78 and 71. Whitten won the title at 148.
“I know Beau felt disappointed with the finish,” Bowden said, “but he gained a lot of knowledge on that last hole.”
And that’s the point worth celebrating when the moment asked for caution, Byers chose conviction. The result will fuel an offseason, but the approach — going for the win with everything on the line — is already championship stuff.
JT Keith Artesia Daily Press
Artesia moved into the quarterfinals of the 2026 Nusenda Credit Union State Softball Championships after a 4-0 win over Bloomfield on Friday and an 8-2 victory over Goddard on Saturday at Mack Chase Sports Complex.
“The biggest thing I told our team was to make sure we were playing our game,” Artesia coach Sandra Pulido said after Saturday’s win.
Pulido said rankings don’t matter once the tournament starts. Bloomfield proved that by holding the Lady Bulldogs to four runs, but Artesia controlled both games and never trailed.
Artesia (24-4, 9-0 District 4-4A) has won 16 straight and will face Lovington in the quarterfinals at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 14, at Cleveland High School on Field One.
The Bulldogs swept Lovington in the regular season, winning 15-5 and 12-11 at home on April 17 and taking the third meeting 4-0 on the road.
The matchup will hinge on how well Artesia handles eighth-grade pitcher Jezarae Quiroga, who owns a 3.48 ERA and has settled in as the season has progressed. Defensively, Artesia will need to keep sophomore Johanna Ochoa (.448), senior Zemarie Ellis and freshman Leslie Corral (.388) off the bases.
Lovington (16-12, 5-4 District 4-4A) has played spoiler before. Last season, the Wildcats lost three times to Artesia in the regular season but stunned the Bulldogs 11-10 in the state semifinals. Lovington went on to fall to eventual champion Silver.
Pulido said seeing Lovington three times this spring helps with preparation, especially with the statistics and tendencies already in hand. The teams have met in the state semifinals each of the past three years.
“We are excited and proud of our team for advancing to the quarterfinals,” Pulido said. “It was not an easy weekend, and that is why we take it one day at a time.”
jtkeith can be reached at 575-420-0061, or on X@JTKEITH1.
What’s your superpower? That’s a question you hear often about today’s pop culture. You’ll find jokes about it on Facebook or the Internet, such as “I can make coffee disappear. What’s your superpower?” Or quips such as, “I’m a librarian. What’s your superpower?” In fact, maybe cracking jokes or the ability to make clever quips IS your superpower!
But this is in fact a pressing question for today’s young people. “What’s your superpower?” It’s a question asked not just in social media, but in an interview, in a workplace, or maybe even in your church!
I’m sure you’ve heard the old story of the conversation between a pig and a cow. The pig is complaining to the cow that nobody ever has a kind word for him. “Look at the way I give of myself,” he says. “I produce bacon, ham, and pork chops. The bristles of my skin are used for brushes, my hide for luggage. Why, some people even pickle my feet and consider them a delicacy. Why is it then that everyone speaks more kindly of you, the cow, than of me?”
To which the cow replied, “My friend, perhaps it is that I give of myself while I am still alive.”
Traditionally we’ve associated superpowers with superhuman abilities. But in today’s world, it doesn’t mean what you think. It’s not a pretend game of whether you identify with superman or spider man or iron man or wonder woman. In today’s culture, your superpower represents something unique to you, a unique gift or ability within you that enables you to do something that others can’t or don’t.
For some, it may mean succeeding at business or being a great cook. For others, it may mean winning at a certain video game or playing the piano well. Knowing your “superpower” doesn’t really mean others don’t have that gift too. But it means that this particularly unique ability sets you apart and, well, makes you, you.
It’s a way in common 21st century slang to say, “This is my particular strength that supersedes all others.” Understanding your “superpower” can help you make healthy career choices, can help you choose a life partner, make good decisions, or simply give you an advantage in daily life.
So, I’ll ask again, “What’s your superpower?”
Like people, churches too need to ask, “What’s unique to us?” “What’s our superpower?”
But there’s something else that’s important in asking that question within the church, something that we can’t find anywhere else in culture, because a church’s “superpower” always starts with Jesus, always begins with the supernatural touch of Holy Spirit power. Because you see, your superpower in culture may not be anything other than your natural ability. But within Christ’s holy church, we have a much bigger definition of “superpower”.
Paul Harvey, a well-known radio broadcaster from days long past, once said, “Too many Christians are no longer fishers of people but keepers of the aquarium.” Ouch!
I take that to mean that we Christians are more concerned about preserving the Church than we are about touching the lives of other people, more concerned about preserving our “religion” than we are about helping people discover the source of wholeness, the fountain of living water that wells up to eternal life.
JT Keith
The Blue Trophy rode home to Artesia this week, cradled a little tighter than most hardware. A year after watching Albuquerque Academy walk away with it, the Bulldogs carried the memory of that finish through long practices, longer rounds, and one more chance to get it right.
“Our kids were upset because they lost to Academy last year,” Bulldogs coach Tristan Bowden said. “They knew what we could do. They felt like we could beat Academy last year. We came back and reloaded. It was awesome.”
Artesia entered the postseason playing its best of the spring, then hit a bump during district play against Lovington — a reminder that nothing is promised over 18 holes. The Bulldogs regrouped and carried a sharper edge into the state meet.
Before Monday’s opening round, Bowden kept the message simple: play like the better team and leave no doubt about who belonged at No. 1.
After Day 1, Artesia trailed by five strokes, 318-313, and nobody flinched. Monday night, Bowden gathered the five golfers, handed each a specific job, and tried to shrink the moment: beat your matchup by five strokes, one swing at a time.
“I told our team, ‘Let’s go do it,’” Bowden said. “All we have to do is beat three of their five guys. Our top guy beat their top guy by 12 shots.”
This year, the roles reversed. Artesia posted a two-day team score of 623 to win the Blue Trophy, while Albuquerque Academy finished at 634.
On Day 2, the Bulldogs erased the deficit early and traded the lead into the closing stretch. Then, over the final holes, they created breathing room — building an 11-stroke advantage that finally let the celebration feel real.
Artesia’s Beau Byers finished second individually at 149, shooting 78 on Day 1 and 71 on Day 2. He was one stroke behind Albuquerque Academy’s Thomas Whitten (148).
“I know Beau was disappointed with the finish,” Bowden said, “but he learned a lot on that last hole.”
Artesia placed four golfers in the top 20. Senior Steven Williams finished 10th with a 157, and Jack Byers was 11th at 158. Joel Ochoa posted a 160 to take 14th, and freshman Locklyn Gray placed 19th with a 164.
One of the surprises was Gray, a freshman whom Bowden spotted in the school hallways and recruited on the spot. When Bowden asked if he was ready to play, Gray didn’t hesitate.
Gray had been near the top of Artesia’s lineup most of the season, but his 84 on Day 1 didn’t count toward the team total. On Day 2, he answered with a 79 — matching Jack Byers — and helped the Bulldogs pull away.
“I know he didn’t have the season he really wanted,” Bowden said. “But he came out and played really well for us the second day. He had something to prove, and I was proud of him.”
The title was the Bulldogs’ third in program history, joining the 2007 and 2017 championships. The senior class has now won state titles in football and golf this school year and finished as the state runner-up in basketball. Baseball and track were still to be decided on May 15-16.
Bowden said much of the work happens out of public view. A tournament day can stretch more than six hours, with warmups, waiting, and the steady focus it takes to start over after every swing — even when the last one didn’t go as planned.
Talking about Tuesday’s team banquet, Bowden paused, his voice catching as the week finally slowed down enough to feel it.
“It was a really good feeling,” Bowden said. “It was nice to see the smiles on our kids’ faces and know the hard work paid off. This is special — especially because I’ve coached these seniors in other sports.”
Copyright © 2026 El Rito Media, LLC. All rights reserved.