A wild, crazy, memorable final day to prep baseball and softball's regular season

May 4—LOS LUNAS — One pitch.

"Exactly one pitch," Joe Chavez said.

A strikeout. A pop up. A fly ball. A ground out. Any one of these outcomes, with Albuquerque High sophomore catcher Annika Stanley standing in the batter's box, would have sent the Bulldogs and Los Lunas to the most rare of all the tiebreakers in New Mexico prep sports:

A coin flip.

But Stanley avoided that mess with a two-out, two-strike, two-RBI double to right center in the top of the seventh inning in Game 2 of a District 5-5A softball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.

And although AHS lost the game 11-10, that two-run double by Stanley was the difference in breaking the tie for first place in 5-5A.

"They told me," Stanley said of the situation in her clutch at-bat. "But I was trying not to think about it, because it gets my nerves going."

So when is an 11-10 loss a good thing?

"It's a good thing today," said Chavez, the Albuquerque High coach.

And despite the outcome of Game 2, Chavez was only concerned with the larger picture.

"My girls have big hearts," he said. There was a long pause, as the emotional coach gathered his thoughts. "They never quit. They fight, they fight, they fight. I am so proud of them."

By two runs, AHS (21-5, 9-1) is the first-place team out of 5-5A. The Bulldogs beat the Tigers (17-7, 9-1) 4-1 in the opener behind Raquel Waldrop's complete game. So this 11-10 loss was an overall victory for Albuquerque High.

Los Lunas was firmly in position to win the tiebreaker, leading 11-2 in the top of the fifth inning of Game 2. Then two runs for AHS in the fifth, and an 11-4 deficit. And four more in the top of the sixth.

Los Lunas led 11-8 when the seventh inning of Game 2 started. Had that been the final score, a coin flip would have been needed to break the tie. Why? Simple. Because both would have beaten the other by three runs Saturday, and their run differential against everyone else in the district was an identical plus-76.

The AHS-Los Lunas doubleheader was just one aspect to an eventful final day of the regular season for all baseball teams and Class 5A and 4A softball teams.

Ironically enough, there was the very real potential for four coin flips this weekend.

Cleveland's baseball team edged out Rio Rancho in a tight run differential tiebreaker in District 1-5A following Friday's results — the Storm mercy-ruled Atrisco Heritage 13-0, and Rio Rancho defeated Volcano Vista 9-7.

Cleveland and Rio Rancho each beat the other by at least 10 runs. Cleveland finished with a three-run edge on Rio Rancho in runs scored (+52 for the Storm, +49 for the Rams) against the remaining three teams in district: Cibola, Volcano Vista, Atrisco Heritage. If the Rams had beaten Volcano Vista by five runs on Friday, a coin flip would have been required.

There was plenty more.

Rio Grande won a narrow run differential tiebreaker against Los Lunas in 5-5A baseball. The Tigers had to make up three runs on the Ravens coming into Saturday after those two split a doubleheader the previous week, with each winning by four runs. Los Lunas made up two of those three in the first game of Saturday's doubleheaders, with Rio Grande beating Santa Fe 8-0 and Los Lunas routing Albuquerque High 15-5.

Rio Grande also won Game 2 by an 8-0 count, while Los Lunas defeated AHS 4-1. So the differential for the Ravens as they won 5-5A was six runs.

Rio Grande coach Orlando Griego said Ravens coaches and players were well aware of what was happening between Los Lunas and Albuquerque High, who started at the same time Saturday morning.

"We monitored their doubleheader from start to finish," Griego said. "We let (our players) know from inning to inning, they knew where we stood. (And) I wanted them to play knowing what they had to do to win."

Rio Grande received two stellar pitching performances Saturday.

Lane Shrader gave up singles to the first three Santa Fe batters in Game 1 — and then he retired the next 21 batters in order..

Adan Marquez pitched five no-hit innings to start Game 2, before giving up his only hit, in the top of the sixth. Which means, Shrader and Marquez combined for 11 consecutive no-hit innings over the two games.

Crazily enough, there WAS a coin flip needed Saturday to break the tie between Belen and St. Pius in District 4-5A softball.

The Sartans called the toss correctly, so they get the first-place finish in district after they and the Eagles each went 7-1 in league play, and each finished plus-60 in run differential against Valencia, Highland and Grants.

"Very, very rare," New Mexico Activities Association executive director Sally Marquez said, asked how often a coin flip is required to break a district tie.

None of this factors in La Cueva's baseball team facing an unexpected must-win in Game 2 of its home doubleheader Saturday against Eldorado.

The second-place Eagles won the opener 7-5, and a sweep would have given Eldorado the District 2-5A title.

No. 1-ranked La Cueva scored 10 runs in the first inning of Game 2 and rocked the Eagles 15-1 to clinch the regular season. The start of the Bears-Eagles doubleheader was delayed three hours because of a flooded field at La Cueva due to a sprinkler malfunction.

That's the kind of oddball day Saturday turned out to be.

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