Saturday, May 7, 2011 Phone: 575-622-7710, ext. 28
LOCAL SCHEDULE SATURDAY MAY 7
SPORTS Roswell Daily Record
LAWRENCE FOSTER RECORD SPORTS REPORTER
H.S. BASEBALL Class 4A first round 10 a.m. • Valencia at Goddard Noon (if necessary) • Valencia at Goddard H.S. TENNIS NMAA Team State Championships 9:30 a.m. • 1A/2A/3A Boys — NMMI vs. TBA, at Albuquerque Academy H.S. TRACK & FIELD 9 a.m. • Dexter, Gateway Chr., Hagerman, Lake Arthur, Valley Chr. at NMAA State Championship, at Albuquerque
LOCAL BRIEFS ALL SAINTS GOLF TOURNEY SET FOR MAY 21
The All Saints Catholic School golf tournament will be held on May 21 at Spring River Golf Course. The tournament will have 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. shotgun start times. The fee is $60 per golfer and includes green fees, cart fees, two mulligans and lunch. The registration deadline is May 10. For more information, call Richard Anglada at 637-0412 or All Saints Catholic School at 627-5744.
• More briefs on B2
NA T I O N A L BRIEFS UNCLE MO A NO GO FOR DERBY
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The pockmarked road to the Kentucky Derby claimed another victim Friday when Uncle Mo was scratched due to a mysterious stomach ailment, further dimming a race already short on star power and speed. Uncle Mo’s defection also threw the Derby wide open. “You’re never safe until you put that saddle on because anything can happen,” Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said. Owner Mike Repole announced the decision to scratch second favorite Uncle Mo about 40 minutes before wagering opened for the 137th Derby, set for Saturday at 4:24 p.m. Mountain. The colt has been bothered by a stomach problem, but vets couldn’t find a reason for his decreased appetite, energy and poor-looking coat. “I’m actually relieved and now I’m really concerned and worried about Uncle Mo,” Repole said. “My hope is Uncle Mo gets healthy. He is a superstar.” Uncle Mo’s absence reduced the already lessthan-dazzling field to 19 horses, with Dialed In as the 4-1 favorite for two timewinning trainer Nick Zito. Already lost in one of the flukiest Triple Crown seasons in memory were Premier Pegasus, The Factor, Jaycito, To Honor and Serve and Toby’s Corner, among others.
SPOTLIGHT ON SPORTS 1977 — Heavily favored Seattle Slew, ridden by Jean Cruguet, wins the Kentucky Derby by 1 3/4 lengths over Run Dusty Run. 2005 — Giacomo, a 50-1 shot, wins the Kentucky Derby in a gigantic upset, running down a game Afleet Alex in the final strides and generating a huge payoff. Closing Argument, a 70-1 shot, finishes second with Afleet Alex third in the largest Derby field since 20 started in 1984.
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NMMI downs Taos 9-0 to advance Section
Lawrence Foster Photo
ALBUQUERQUE — There are certain insights that can be gathered from a sporting event when it is viewed on the field, or in this case, the court of play. Sitting in the stands will give you the basics: How well someone is performing and body language signals. Standing two feet from the action, however, allows one to pick up on the verbal cues. During the NMMI boys first-round match at the NMAA Class 1A/2A/3A Team Tournament against No. 8 Taos, the Taos players did a lot of talking to each other. Usually this type of chatter involves asking the scores of games and compli-
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menting a teammate on a shot. When the Taos players are asking their teammates if they have won a point, let alone a game half an hour into the match, the Colts have already won the mental battle. NMMI won the first five matches and rolled to a 9-0 victory over the Tigers on Friday at Albuquerque Academy. No Colt was more dominant than Frederico Sanchez, NMMI’s second singles player. Sanchez squared off against Taos’ Allen Palmer and made quick work of the Tiger. Sanchez opened on serve and won without allowing a point. On Palmer’s first service game, Sanchez smashed
two winners off of Palmer’s first serves and won the game without surrendering a point. The Colt went up 40-0 in the third game before Palmer was credited with his first point. By the end of the first set, Sanchez had won 6-0, but the more telling stat was Palmer’s scores. In the first set, Palmer was credited with four total points, and never had more than one in a game. “Frederico was a lot more consistent (today) and didn’t overhit it,” said Colt coach Jim Kelly. “It was a whole different match than yesterday.” Sanchez continued his hot play in the second set, winning 6-0 and battled
Rockets beat Valencia for 1-0 series lead NMMI’s Frederico Sanchez hits a forehand return during the Colts’ win over Taos at the state tournament, Friday.
KEVIN J. KELLER RECORD SPORTS EDITOR
The Goddard baseball team took its first step toward a state championship on Friday with a victory in Game 1 of a threegame series with Valencia in the NMAA Class 4A State Championships. The Rockets (21-6) benefitted from a pair of home runs and a solid pitching performance from Ryan Greene to go up 1-0 in the series with a 9-3 victory over the Jaguars at The Launch Pad. “We’re looking at winning that first game (on Saturday) and not having to go into that third game,” said Rocket coach Steve Nunez after the win. “We’re pretty pleased with the way the kids played. They’re waking up finally, so that is looking good.” Greene’s performance on the mound wasn’t stellar in the first two innings, but he settled down in the third and cruised the rest of the way for the victory. After giving up three runs on three hits in the first two, Greene allowed just three hits over the final five innings to pick up the complete-game victory. He struck out seven — five in the final five innings — and allowed two earned
runs. At the plate, he stroked a two-run double in the bottom of the third that plated Andre Shewcraft and C.J. Wilcox to give the Rockets a 6-3 lead. “Ryan did a good job today, went all the way and that’s kind of what we were hoping for,” Nunez said about Greene. “He settled down. He started spotting up a little more and the changeup was working a little better. “There might have been a few nerves in there, I don’t know. He didn’t look sharp at first, but he settled down and the defense played behind him.” The Rockets took the lead for the first time in the bottom of the second inning. With Valencia leading 3-2 after the top of the second, Matt Ramey reached on a twoout walk to bring leadoff hitter Brad Blackwell to the plate. On the first pitch he saw, Blackwell sent a bomb over the right-field wall for a tworun home run to make it 4-3 in favor of Goddard. The Rockets would never trail again. Greene’s two-run double came in the
See NMMI, Page B2
Steve Notz Photo
Goddard’s Ryan Greene delivers a pitch during his team’s win over Valencia, Friday. The Rockets won the game 9-3 go up 10 in the best-of-three series.
Rockets bounced by Los Alamos See ROCKETS, Page B2
LAWRENCE FOSTER RECORD SPORTS REPORTER
Lawrence Foster Photo
Goddard’s Lexi Cassels returns a volley with a backhand during the Rockets’ loss to Albuquerque Academy, Friday.
Rocket girls ousted by Albuquerque Academy LAWRENCE FOSTER RECORD SPORTS REPORTER
ALBUQUERQUE — Experience in sports is very important. When an athlete has been on the big stages when it is do or die, whether they win or lose, the experience helps them in the long term.
The problem with that is if you don’t have experience, usually the first time or two on a big stage results in a loss. For the young Goddard girls tennis team, that was the case in the second round of the Class 4A Team Tournament on Friday. See OUSTED, Page B2
ALBUQUERQUE — At the beginning of the Goddard boys tennis team’s season, expectations were muted. They had lost a handful of good players from the 2010 squad, including Bobby Neeld, Harsh Ganjuwala and Ryan Gass, and would have a young team in 2011. When the season started, the Rockets didn’t have a full squad and had a habit of battling with teams, but falling 5-4. As the season progressed, however, those 5-4 losses turned into 5-4 wins and after the full squad came together, those 5-4 wins turned into 7-2 and 8-1 victories. Although Goddard lost on Friday to No. 2 seed Los Alamos in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A Team Tournament, coach Joe Harton was pleased with his team’s progression and how they finished. “I don’t know if I had big expectations for the kids because of all the kids that we lost from last year,” he said. “But I had some real positive thoughts about what we could be. Even with a full team, I knew that we would take some good shots and some bad shots. Overall, I was really pleased with how we ended the season.
Lawrence Foster Photo
Goddard’s David Sweet delivers a serve during a match at the state tournament, Friday. “The preseason was rough. We were losing 5-4 and it was a constant 5-4 thing. I was trying to get across to the kids that our goal was district and that we would come up to state and compete and see what happens.” The message worked as the Rockets took home their second consecutive district title and split its two team matches at state. In the Los Alamos match,
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the Rockets fell behind 4-0, before Eric Lamm won his match, something that Harton hoped would spark his team. “It was dang close,” he said. “I was looking at 3-3 going into doubles and then the wheels just fell off. Eric won his match which perked us up and Dave (Sweet) was in a three and a half hour battle with his. See BOUNCED, Page B6