North claims win in rubber game

After the last game of the North/South All-Star series in Clovis, the North representatives were fairly subdued as awards were handed out.

They had just won the game.

The South, on the other hand, were joking and laughing although on the bad end of a 10-5 score. The reason for the joviality was that the South had already wrapped up the three-game series by winning a doubleheader the night before.

In the finale, the North salvaged a bit of pride by pulling away from a 3-3 tie with a five-run rally in the fourth inning.

Still, after three years of series losses to their counterparts, it was still the southerners’ day in the end.

Before the first pitch had ever been thrown on Friday, Roswell’s Art Sandoval — the South head coach — had expressed concerns about his team’s overall quietness. All that changed after the opening night sweep when Onate’s Antoinette Diaz threw a 1-0 shutout and Alamogordo’s Alexis Sifuentes pitched the South to a 12-2 victory.

“Once you come to an all-star game like this, even for us coaches, no one really knew what to do,” Sandoval said. “But it just kind of fell in place. These kids are the best group of kids I’ve ever been around in my life.”

With the series win in hand, the South got off to a rough start on Saturday as the North scored three runs in the first inning - thanks to RBI-singles from Manzano’s Amity Livingston and Farmington’s Alyssa Rahm.

The South came back to tie in the top of the second inning as Onate’s Evelyn Mirabal slammed a double to deep center for the key hit of the frame.

In the fourth inning, however, the North went ahead for good. After a pair of walks and a bunt single by Los Alamos’ Megan Burditt, Los Lunas’ Devonne Martinez hit a soft single to center to break the deadlock. Later in the frame, Piedra Vista’s Jayme Fuller ripped a two-run double and Livingston added an RBI-single as the North broke away.

“I think we all came together today. Even though we lost last night, it didn’t affect us,” said Livingston, who was 4-for-4 in the finale.

“The way I look at is that we won our last high school game and they didn’t,” she added with a laugh.