Clovis falls to St. Pius in final

St. Pius made short work of the Clovis Lady Wildcats in Saturday’s championship game of the season-opening Clovis Invitational.

The Sartans erupted for nine runs in the first two innings, in part taking advantage of six Clovis errors, and rolled to a 15-2 victory shortened to five innings by the run rule.

Nicole Madrid went the distance in the circle for St. Pius, allowing six hits. Vanessa Garcia provided the Sartans’ big blow, a three-run double in a four-run second.

Clovis coach Brandi Thomas noted that senior pitcher Lynnae Logan struggled early, issuing two walks and a hit batsman in St. Pius’ five-run first.

“I think it was just nerves,” Thomas said of her team’s performance. “We just couldn’t stop the bleeding.

“St. Pius is a good team, but we didn’t help ourselves on the defensive side.”

The Lady Wildcats (2-1) scored single runs in the second and third, the latter coming on an RBI double by Jessie Martinez.

Earlier Saturday, the Lady Cats used a six-run second to beat Lovington 8-5 and complete a two-game sweep of Pool A.

Felicia Aguilar hit an RBI single and Lorrie Garza, Chyanne Avila and Charlotte Varney added run-scoring doubles for Clovis in the second, overcoming Lovington’s early 2-0 lead. Aguilar and Laura Barela added RBI singles in the third.

Freshman Andrea Ramos worked four innings in the circle to get the win, with Kelsi Osborn finishing up with two hitless innings for a save.

Thomas said her team was relegated to inside work for much of the past few weeks due to inclement weather, noting the Lady Cats worked on hitting in that time.

“We hit the ball well all weekend,” she said. “It would’ve been better to end it on a high note, but to come out of it 2-1, I’m OK with that.”

The Lady Cats return to action with a 4 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday at Roswell High.