Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Lady Tigers face stiff test against Manzano

Jessica Dyer News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdyer@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas The Los Lunas High School softball team is going to get a toughie right off the bat.

When the Lady Tigers visit Manzano Thursday for their District 5-5A opener, they might just be seeing the best the league has to offer.

"I think Manzano is probably one of the better teams in the district," said LLHS head coach Paul Cieremans. "Not to overlook anyone, but I think Manzano is probably the greatest challenge."

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The Monarchs put together a 9-3 record headed into their own district opener against Highland on Tuesday. (Results were unavailable at News-Bulletin press time.) That's largely due to the pitching of Emily Huhta, Cieremans said.

Manzano has lost to only West Mesa, Del Norte and La Cueva — teams Los Lunas has also been defeated by en route to its own 8-6 record.

"It'll be a good game," Cieremans said of the 5-5A match-up.

The coach, whose team is competing in the Albuquerque-based district for the first time, said the Tigers should be prepared for anything Manzano throws at them. He said seniors Ashley Trujillo, who plays pitcher and catcher, and shortstop Monique Chavez have been hitting well, while younger players such as sophomores Amy Sedillo and Heather Kline have excelled in their roles.

"I think we're ready," Cieremans said. "We've had a really tough pre-district schedule, and we did that in preparation for district so, hopefully, we'll be ready. The girls are mentally prepared."

The Tigers enter the district season after going 2-2 at the Kristin Griego Memorial tournament in Rio Rancho.

Los Lunas started off with a bang, winning its first two games in grand fashion. The Tigers rocked Roswell Goddard, 16-0, and smoked Albuquerque Academy, 21-2.

But Los Lunas was subsequently knocked out of title contention with a 6-2 loss to old District 3-5A rival Anthony Gadsden.

"We had them beat. We had them 2-0 going into the sixth, but they got six runs in the bottom of the sixth," said Cieremans, noting that a handful of walked batters and mistakes snowballed in the inning.

"It just fell apart on us, so that was a bummer," said the coach.

With the loss, the Tigers moved on to play in the third-place game against Class 4A Del Norte and wound up losing in somewhat similar fashion. The Tigers were leading 2-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning where the Knights rattled off seven runs.

Los Lunas scored four of its own runs in the top of the seventh to close the gap to one run. The Tigers had runners on second and third base when the final out was recorded.

Cheryl Torres pitched in the Tigers' loss, giving up six hits. The Tiger lineup registered eight hits on Del Norte's Jessica Redhouse, including a double by Louisa Chavez.

Cieremans said Los Lunas was capable of more at the tournament. The Tigers had beaten eventual champion Rio Rancho on March 14. But the coach said he was generally happy about his team's pre-district performance.

"We've played some tough teams and won some good games, so, as long as we're getting mentally prepared for district and state, that's what we're looking for," he said. "I'm happy with where we are. There's a few games we could've won, but I think our learning experience has been good."

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