Roadrunner got Matt Givens on base in the bottom of the eighth but couldn’t move him around, ending the game with a popup and a strikeout.

It was a great run for our team, and the parents are very proud of our state championship.

Great job guys!!!

In the evening we ordered up a bunch of pizza and had dinner around the basketball court at the college dorm while the kids played basketball and whiffle ball with the kids from Mississippi. Those same Mississippi kids happen to be our opponent this morning. Really nice kids, and we got to know a few of the parents too. It’s sad but one of the two teams goes home today. Gametime is at 10 am.

Don’t know yet who John plans to pitch this morning, maybe Nate Briscoe or Sam Segotta. Hopefully good news to come later……..

RRLL opened the scoring in the top of the second inning with a Sam Segotta triple over the center fielder’s head and a sacrifice fly by Andrew Dellalonga. Arkansas answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the second aided by a past ball and a bad throw from third base on a grounder. The 3rd inning saw RR go 3 up and 3 down with a groundout and two easy fly balls. In the bottom of the 3rd Arkansas put one more run on the board with 3 hits and a fielders choice. RR picked up two runs in the top of the 4th on an Addison Bell single, Sam Segotta reached on an error by Arkansas third baseman, then he made an over throw of first on Dellalonga’s grounder, allowing Bell and Segotta to score.

Arkansas scored 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth as they led off with two hits and a walk. Two fielders choice grounders and a past ball allowed all 3 of the runners to score, giving Arkansas a 7 – 3 lead.

RR responded in the top of the 5th with an Andrew Groves single up the middle, and a hard single through the shortstop-third base hole by Breckan Hunkle. Dalton Bowers reached first on an error by the shortstop, loading the bases. Addison Bell then stroked a single over short to score both runners. This after a 10 minute delay while he changed pants in the dugout. Apparently an earlier slide opened up a cut on his knee, making his pants bloody. The umpire didn’t like it and told him to change. He came out with a slightly smaller pair, and the local girls said he looked better. After a Segotta groundout, Victor Guevara lined a single scoring two more runs and tying the game at 7 – 7.  Roadrunner was right back in the game.

In the top of the 6th, RRLL’s Matt Givens led off with an infield single, followed by a sacrifice bunt by first baseman Travis Tillery, moving Givens to second. Andrew Groves stuck out for the second out, followed by consecutive walks by Hunkle and Bowers, loading the bases for Addison Bell, the leading hitter on the team. Unfortunately Bell struck out swinging on a fastball to end the threat.

The bottom of the 6th saw Arkansas get the leadoff runner on base on a throwing error by Hunkle at short. He moved to second on a fielders choice ground ball, then moved to third with a stolen base. A sacrifice fly to right fielder Matt Givens allowed the final, and ultimately game winning, run to score.

In the 7th for RR, Segotta led off with a groundout, and Andrew Dellalonga followed with a bloop single to right. Victor Guevara then grounded into a double play to short to end the game.

Starting pitcher Dalton Bowers pitched a solid game scattering 9 hits with 3 walks, but his defense made some critical mistakes that could have swung the game the other way. In addition RR failed to get the timely hits they needed to score more runs, leaving 6 baserunners on. RR finished the game with 8 hits and only 2 walks. Arkansas took a different pitching strategy in the game, rotating all pitchers out after 20 pitches in an attempt to save them all for game 2.

We now have Saturday off as we wait for our next opponent, the loser of the game between Midland, TX and Mississippi. Our next game is Sunday morning at 10 am.

District 8 Championship

New Mexico State Championship

Roadrunner 13  Alameda 3

Roadrunner 16  Coronado 3

Roadrunner 14  Petroglyph 1

Roadrunner 10  Altamont 4   

Roadrunner wins District 8 Tournament

State Tournament – Los Alamos

Zia 5  Roadrunner 4

Roadrunner 9  Deming 1

Roadrunner 13  Los Alamos 2

Roadrunner 13  Zia 1

Roadrunner 13 Alamogordo 2

Roadrunner 5  Carlsbad 0

Roadrunner 18  Carlsbad 16    

Roadrunner wins state tournament to advance to regional tournament in Midland, Texas

Glen

By MIKE MAEZ-COTE Monitor Sports Editor

An improbable run through the bottom half of the state tournament bracket took Albuquerque Roadrunner all the way to the championship.
Roadrunner, which lost its first game of the tournament on the final play Saturday, bounced back to win four straight games to get to the state playoff series. Then, Thursday night, Roadrunner swept a doubleheader from the Carlsbad All-Stars to claim the state Juniors Little League title.
The state tournament was held on North Mesa, marking the first time Los Alamos had hosted a state Little League tournament. In all, nine teams participated in the tournament, including the Los Alamos All-Stars.
The tournament was played on Bomber Field and the adjacent Senior Field.
Roadrunner took the opener of the two-game set 5-0, then erased an early 14-run deficit for a win as improbable as its run through the loser’s bracket, taking the nightcap 18-16.
In a tight first ballgame Thursday, Carlsbad blew a chance to put some runs on the board, then some members of the Carlsbad squad started blowing their tops.
With Roadrunner clinging to a 2-0 lead in the fifth, Carlsbad loaded the bases with just one out and the heart of its order coming to bat.
But Roadrunner pitcher Dalton Bowers, who was facing serious trouble for the first time in the game, got Koby Lewis to line out to short center field and then struck out Isaiah Castañeda on a knee-buckling curve.
Castañeda, out of frustration slammed his helmet to the ground and was tossed from the ballgame. A Carlsbad assistant coach, coming out to protest the ejection, was himself ejected.
In the bottom of the fifth, the wheels started coming off for Carlsbad as Roadrunner scored three times on three hits and two Carlsbad errors, bumping their advantage to 5 runs. Carlsbad did nothing with its final two at-bats of the game off reliever Sam Segotta.
Bowers went 5-1/3 innings on the bump, allowing just three hits.
By the start of game two, both teams had largely depleted their pitching staffs, and both suffered early.
Roadrunner surrendered 15 runs in the first two innings of the second game and looked to have fully recovered from the late-game one dramatics.
However, in the second inning after having already surrendered six runs, Roadrunner put in relief pitcher Victor Guevara, who made all the difference. Guevara threw 5-1/3 innings of relief work, giving up just one run on three hits and one walk the rest of the way.
With the pitching now settled in, Roadrunner would bounce back to score eight runs in the bottom of the second, turning an out-of-control 15-1 ballgame into a manageable 15-9 ballgame.
Then, in the bottom of the fourth, Roadrunner would explode for eight more runs, taking a 17-16 lead. It would score an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth.
In Carlsbad’s first two innings at the plate, David Gonzalez, who two days earlier blasted a 3-run home run against Alamogordo which proved to be the difference in the game, went 3-for-3 with a double, 3 RBI and scored two runs.
Devin Groves drove in two runs in the top of the first for Carlsbad, as did Austin Gregory. Gregory reached base and scored three times in the first two innings.
But the big-swinging Roadrunner squad would bounce back. To get back into the game in the bottom of the second, Bowers had a 2-run double, Jesse Wise had a RBI double and Matthew Givens would come through with a RBI base hit.
Breckan Hunkle finished game two going 1-for-3 with a RBI, Wise was 2-for-4 with a run scored and Addison Bell drove in 3 runs.
With the win, Roadrunner advances to the Little League regional tournament in Odessa, Texas.