FARMINGTON – A total of five local and area high school softball teams have stamped their tickets to the New Mexico Activities Association’s state tournament which opens across the state this week. Brackets and seedings for the tournaments were announced on Sunday by the NMAA.
Depending on the classification, the tournament opens Wednesday or Friday and features a variety of contests both days, including play-in games and main bracket contests in the double-elimination tournament.
Losers of the play-in games are automatically eliminated from the event. Winners of the play-in games move into the bracket portion which will be held later in the week.
When tournament action resumes next week, the Class 3A quarterfinals will take place at the Los Altos Softball Complex with the championships being held at the UNM Softball Field.
Class 4A and 5A quarterfinal and semifinal action takes place next week at the Cleveland High School Softball Complex before the state titles will be decided at the UNM Softball Field.
Riding a wave of momentum that includes 15 consecutive victories, the Navajo Prep softball team is set to open the Class 3A state tournament Wednesday as the No. 6 seed.
The Eagles (18-5) will host No. 11 Tohatchi in a play-in game at St. Michael’s High at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the double-elimination portion of the bracket and will face the third-seeded Horsemen, who earned a first-round bye.
Navajo Prep enters the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the state. Under head coach Delbert Thomas, the Eagles have not lost a game since mid-March, dominated District 1-3A play, and recently capped their regular season with a 16-6 win over Zuni.
The Eagles’ offensive explosion has been led by a mix of veteran leadership and young talent. Freshman infielder Kyleigh Lincoln has emerged as a powerhouse at the plate, hitting .646 with six home runs and 30 RBIs on the season.
Leading the local contingent is Aztec, which earned the No. 2 seed after an impressive 18-5 regular season. The Tigers will host No. 15 Valley (9-10) at 6 p.m. Friday at the Tiger Sports Complex. Aztec enters the postseason on a tear, having won its last nine games, including a 2-0 shutout of Kirtland Central to close out the regular season on May 1.
The Tigers have been nearly untouchable at home and will look to senior leadership and a potent offense to carry them into the double-elimination rounds in Albuquerque.
Kirtland Central, the No. 7 seed, will also play close to home in Saturday’s play-in game against No. 10 Los Alamos at 10 a.m. at the Tiger Sports Complex.
Despite a late-season stumble against Aztec, the Broncos have shown they can compete with anyone in 4A, boasting a high-scoring offense that averaged double-digit runs for much of April.
A win for Kirtland Central would likely set up a local blockbuster in the next round, as they are positioned in the same quadrant of the bracket as Aztec and they could meet at noon on Saturday.
The most daunting task belongs to Bloomfield. The Bobcats (7-14) squeezed into the field as the No. 16 seed and must travel to face top-seeded Artesia (22-4).
Piedra Vista hits the road against La Cueva
The Piedra Vista softball team, seeded sixth overall in the Class 5A tournament, will hit the road as they seek their 10th state title.
The Panthers will open tournament action Friday at 4 p.m. at the Field of Dreams in Las Cruces to face No. 11 La Cueva in a play-in matchup.
Piedra Vista finished second in District 1-5A with an overall record of 19-7 (7-3 District). La Cueva was unbeaten in all 10 of their games in District 2-5A and come into the tournament with a record of 17-8 overall. The Bears were Class 5A runners-up last season, losing in the state title game to Centennial.
The Panthers, led by head coach Kevin Werth, have won five of their last six games. The winner of this play-in game will advance into the Class 5A bracket and will come back later that same day to face either third-seeded Organ Mountain or 14th-seeded Cibola.