Hanna Bergeman slides into 2nd ahead of the ball to Haleigh Pecotte in the 3rd inning. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Jamie Cisneros runs under the pop fly but was unable to make the catch in the 3rd inning. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
By MIKE COTE
Sports
Los Alamos Daily Post
The fact that the Los Alamos Hilltopper softball team was knocked out in the first round of the state Class 4A tournament Friday afternoon was surprising.
The manner in which it happened was even more surprising.
The Hilltoppers were beaten soundly at their own game: power hitting.
The Bloomfield Bobcats, the No. 12 seed in the 4A postseason, bombed away at the plate, hitting three long home runs and scoring 7 times in the pivotal fifth inning as they trounced Los Alamos 19-7, ending the fifth-seeded Hilltoppers’ season.
Friday’s game was broadcast on the Los Alamos Daily Post’s YouTube channel.
Friday’s first-round game was played on the home field of Pojoaque Valley – Hope Field in Los Alamos doesn’t have lights and because it was a Bloomfield (13-14) was not a typical 12-seed in the tournament. Along with its big bats, Bloomfield was also a solid fielding team and made a couple of big defensive plays on the field that helped preserve the win.
Hilltopper starting pitcher Nadia Cedillo, an eighth grader playing in the first postseason game of her career, went in Friday coming off a dominant performance in the season finale against Taos.
But Bloomfield jumped on Cedillo early, getting a triple, RBI single and a 2-run home run in the span of the game’s first five batters.
Los Alamos fell behind 5-1 early in the contest, but rallied to tie the score in the bottom of the third. In that inning, shortstop Abby DeHerrera, right fielder Sidney Kitts and Cedillo each came up with run-scoring doubles.
While Los Alamos did come up with 7 hits in the game, it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the powerful top half of the Bobcat lineup. Late in the game, Ami Goins punctuated the victory with a towering 3-run blast to straightaway center.
It was a disappointing end to the Hilltoppers’ season after a stellar run during District 2-4A play. However, the Hilltoppers will be losing just one player to graduation, Lindsay Ferran.
Bloomfield now heads into the main tournament bracket, which is double elimination, where it will face fourth-seeded St. Pius X on Thursday. St. Pius was a 13-8 first-round winner over Aztec, Bloomfield’s district rival.
Mikaela Guillen slides into 3rd ahead of the tag by Nevaeh Durall at 3rd in the 5th inning. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com
Pitcher Mikaela Guillen covering home plate tries to tag out Ami Goins but the ball came late. Photo by John McHale/ladailypost.com