FARMINGTON – A quartet of local and area softball teams remain in play for state titles this week when the New Mexico Activities Association’s state tournament resumes in and around Albuquerque.
In addition to Kirtland Central and Navajo Prep, who are on the brink of elimination in their respective classifications postseason tournaments, the Aztec and Piedra Vista teams enter the week in the championship bracket in the double-elimination event.
The last time a San Juan County school brought home a state title in softball was 2017, when Aztec captured the Class 5A crown by beating Artesia by a score of 7-2. Piedra Vista played for the Class 5A title in 2023, losing 6-0 to Carlsbad and denying the Panthers a 10th state championship.
Piedra Vista, the No.6 seed, earned their spot in the Class 5A championship bracket in dramatic fashion, with a pair of walk-off wins last weekend in both the play-in game and their first round contest.
Druscilla Nabors’ home run in the ninth inning of a 11-9 play-in victory Friday afternoon over La Cueva lifted the Panthers into the championship bracket. That same day, Raegan Lefebre’s second home run in a first round clash over Organ Mountain proved to be the game winner as Piedra Vista topped the Knights by a score of 7-5.
Thursday, the Panthers return to action when they visit Cleveland High School to face No. 10 Las Cruces with a start time of 9:30 a.m. The winner of that game advances to the third round of the championship bracket while the losing team will drop into the consolation round.
This will be the second game between the two squads this season. The Bulldawgs topped Piedra Vista by a score of 5-2 on March 7 during a regular season tournament contest. Shortstop Erin Madrid drove in a pair of runs in the win while pitcher Leah Pacheco struck out six. Pacheco finished the season with 147 strikeouts, tops in Class 5A and 12th best in the state of New Mexico.
In Class 4A, Aztec displayed both power at the plate and in the circle in their first two wins of the postseason. Cami Lucio, Cheyenne Yellow, Kamora Henry and Sydney Lee each homered and combined for 12 runs batted in during the Tigers 17-0 play-in game win on Saturday over Valley.
Henry, who leads Class 4A in wins (15), strikeouts (216) and an earned run average of 2.27, showed why she is perhaps the most valuable asset on the Tigers team when she struck out 18 Kirtland Central batters later that same day in a 1-0 first round win.
Thursday morning’s second round game of the Class 4A bracket between the No. 2 seed Aztec and No. 3 seed Silver will be their second meeting this season. The Fighting Colts outslugged the Tigers 15-8 in regular season tournament action on March 20.
No. 7 Kirtland Central will look to avoid elimination in the Class 4A tournament when they face 11th seeded Belen on Thursday at noon.
In Class 3A, the Navajo Prep softball team will look to stave off elimination on Wednesday when they visit the Los Altos Softball Complex to face Santa Fe Indian School.