BENT COUNTY – Despite sliding feet-first and dangerously close to opposing Peyton’s dugout railing, with any number of Panthers undoubtedly trying to distract him, Ignacio freshman first baseman Stephen Romero kept his concentration and caught PHS senior David Martin’s pop-up in foul territory.
It was Romero’s second catch of the fifth inning, which ended with 24th-seeded Ignacio up 4-0 on Saturday in the neutral-site 2A Region 8 matchup at Las Animas High School. While Ignacio would go up 6-0 in the sixth inning, the Bobcats gave up seven runs in the bottom of the sixth and would lose a 7-6 heartbreaker to No. 9 seed Peyton.
The 24th-seeded Bobcats were riding senior right hander Ambrose Valdez’ red-hot arm in the 94-degree heat. Valdez had allowed three PHS players to reach base up to that point in the fifth, striking out PHS in order three times.
“It was HOT hot – I kept having to pour water in my hair, put a water towel on my neck!” Archuleta (3-4, 3 R, RBI) said. “But knowing that the season was coming to an end, and it’s my senior year, I just did my best to get on base and leave it all out there.”
Ignacio freshman Zackariah Loudenburg (1-3, R) led off the sixth doubling to left off Peyton starter Bryce Love. Loudenburg got home two batters later off a triple by Archuleta (3-4, 3 R, RBI). Still Valdez’s equal in most aspects, save for runs against, Love then got Romero (2-4, R, RBI) to ground out to senior shortstop Zayden Ebbert. Archuleta scored on the play and increased IHS’ lead to 6-0.
Love struck out Bobcat senior Sonny Flores (1-4, RBI), the senior righty’s 11th strikeout (against zero walks and zero hit batters) on the day, to keep the Panthers from sinking into any deeper of a hole. There was next to no indication, however, how swiftly and shockingly they’d surface.
Valdez walked leadoff man Love to start the bottom of the sixth, and Ebbert doubled him over to third. Senior first baseman Trent Gregg (2-3, BB, R) then reached via error when second baseman Loudenburg couldn’t field his high-bouncing chopper, allowing Love and Ebbert to score and get Peyton on the board. Sophomore Brennan Christensen then flew out to right fielder Shaun Sanderson, and PHS junior Brayden Nonaka knew he had to re-stoke the developing rally before Valdez could snuff it out.
Nonaka (1-3, R) proceeded to single into left and Valdez walked the next two Panthers before Ignacio head coach Isiah Valdez decided to bring the left-handed Romero onto the mound with bases loaded and one out.
Peyton senior Bradlee Nonaka (0-2) immediately drew an RBI-walk and Martin (0-2) did likewise to shrink the IHS lead to 6-4. Love, coming to the plate for the second time in the sixth, (1-3, BB, R, 2 RBI) singled to left to bring two batters home. Peyton was suddenly up 7-6.
Romero (L; 0.2 IP, H, R, ER, 3 BB, 0 HB, 0 K) then got Ebbert (1-4, 2B, R) to fly to Evan Maez in left, and after walking Gregg got Christensen (1-4) to line to shortstop Flores. But every bit of momentum had swapped sides, and the Panthers knew it.
“Later innings … we grind and we don’t give up – that’s how Peyton rolls,” said Gregg. “Once you get late into a game, you want to try to get the counts super-deep, which allows you to get walks. Also, you start to see patterns with the pitcher.”
Brought in to relieve Love (W; 6 IP, 12 H, 6 R, 6 ER), Ebbert struck out Valdez for the first out of the seventh. IHS’ Joseph Atencio, however, drew a walk and took second when Max Mendoza (2-4, RBI) fanned and Ornelas had to throw to first. Atencio (1-3, RBI) reached third base when Ebbert pitched wild to Maez (1-4, 2B), but was stranded 90 feet from home when Ebbert (SV; IP, 0 H, BB, 3 K) struck Maez out swinging to end the game and complete the comeback.
Peyton improved to 17-5 and moved on to face 8-seed Las Animas, while Ignacio finished their season 13-10.
“It was a very big honor to be out there and on the mound starting for us today,” Valdez (ND; 5.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 0 HB, 7 K) said. “We had a lot of good heart and showed good effort out there today. That’s all we could do.”
