Albuquerque, N.M. – Goddard has dropped three straight Class 5A championship games, confidently climbing up the mountain but falling just short before reaching the summit.
Top seed Alamogordo’s 2-1 upset loss to No. 8 seed Miyamura Thursday morning has seemingly opened the door for No. 2 seed Goddard to halt three years of frustration, and the Rockets took an important step towards that goal with an 8-1 victory over No 7 Deming Friday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field at the University of New Mexico.
Nonetheless, Goddard coach Alan Edmonson contends his Rocket players aren’t motivated by the opportunity to flip the script.
If they are, they didn’t get it from Edmonson.
“We don’t really talk about that stuff or worry about those things,” Edmonson said. “Our deal is control what we can control. We can’t control what happened yesterday or last year or three years ago. But we can control how we play right now. That’s our approach, one step at a time. We’re process oriented. Hopefully, we’ll get to the final game. What happens there, who knows?
Goddard faces St. Pius X in the Class 5A semifinals on Friday at 1 p.m. at Santa Ana Star Park.
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“We’re not going to outthink or outcoach ourselves,” Edmonson said. “It’s just another team in front of us. We just have to go out there and make our plays and play our game. If we do that, we’ll be OK.”
A one-out throwing error by the Deming third baseman led to the uprising that gave Goddard a lead it would never relinquish in the bottom of the third. After a walk loaded the bases, Luke Fink waited out Deming starter Isaiah Aguilera and worked a free pass to force home the first run of the game.
Moments later, sophomore pitcher Ty Villareal chopped a single past the Deming third baseman to drive home another run. The third walk of the inning to Cole Wentland gave Goddard a 3-0 lead before a popup on a bunt attempt and flyout finally ended the inning for Aguilera.
Aguilera had an opportunity to help his own cause when he came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded (HBP, error, walk) in the top of the fourth, but Villareal got him to ground out to shortstop on a 2-2 pitch.
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Deming finally capitalized on a scoring opportunity in the top of the fifth. After the Wildcats loaded the bases against Goddard starter Ty Villareal, Drew Price took the mound for Goddard but promptly walked the first batter he faced on four pitches to force home a run, narrowing the Rockets’ lead to 3-1.
But Price bore down and struckout the next two Deming batters to end the inning with Deming scoring just a single run. Price retired four consecutive Deming batters – three by strikeout – until Deming put the tying run on base in the top of the sixth on a single and walk. But a flyout denied Deming’s attempt to cut into the deficit.
Deming’s 12 stranded runners through six innings loomed large when Goddard’s Cal Villareal drilled a two-run double to deep left-center with one out in the bottom half of the sixth to give Goddard a 5-1 lead. Both runners had reached base on walks.
A RBI single by Justin Miller put the game out of reach at 6-1, and the Rockets added two more runs before the inning was over.
Villareal worked around a first-and-third, one out situation in the top of the first by fanning the final two Deming batters of the inning. Goddard threatened with its own first-and-third, two-out scenario in the bottom of the second but a grounded out ended the inning.
Edmonson waited until the last moment Thursday before informing Villareal he would be Goddard’s starting pitcher
“We waited as long as we could,” Edmonson said. “Ty didn’t even know he was pitching today until he got on the elevator this morning to catch the bus. We just look at matchups. We never look ahead. We’re confident any guy we have on the roster that pitches for us can get us a win. WE just play behind them. We’ve been here before. Last year, we threw a guy in the first game of the tournament that didn’t have an appearance all season. The kids have really bought into just going out there and playing.”
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CLASS 5A QUARTERFINAL RESULTS (Thursday):
St. Pius X 4, Artesia 3
Miyamura 2, Alamogordo 1
Goddard 8, Deming 1
Albuquerque Academy 7, Santa Teresa 4
CLASS 5A SEMIFINALS (Friday at Santa Ana Star Field)
St. Pius X vs. Goddard, 1 p.m.
Miyamura vs. Albuquerque Academy, 7 p.m.
