Three events happened last week – two were related – and all provided venues of excitement and positive thoughts.
The GABSA (Gallup Amateur Baseball Softball Association) finished the city tournaments started last Saturday. All of the winners except three will be moving on to state playoffs, though one of those age-bracket tournament may yet be played if rescheduled in time.
Those three winners that will not move on are the Sandy Koufax Yankees, whose tournament was cancelled in Las Cruces. It is not known at this time if it will be re-scheduled. Another winner is the Willie Mays Dodgers, who won their division from a fourth seed. Their manager was unable to take the time off his regular job to attend the state tournament in Santa Fe, but the Yankees and the A’s from that league will pick up the slack. And, as far as is known the U-8 Softball winners - the undefeated Angels – have no tournament to attend.
The Sandy Koufax Yankees also opted out of a team picture, but the team was coached by Jeff DeArmond and the team roster, alphabetically, is: William Damon, Kyle DeArmond, Kyle Ebright, Kory Padavich, Chris Sanchez, Dale Warren, Nicholas Watson, Gabriel Lee Jr., Dante Griego, Jason Cordova, Blain Menapace, and Matthew Marquez.
The U-10 (undefeated Ducks), U-12 (one-loss Diamondbacks) and the U-14 Yankees will all be playing in Moriarty on July 18 and 19.
The Roberto Clemente Marlins have been playing in Grants since Thursday, while the Pee Wee Reese Braves and a team called the Gallup Mud Hens have been playing in Ford Canyon since yesterday.
At the OHV/MX Park in Hassler Valley, Red Rock Motor Sports hosted the third round of the NMMX Championship Series last weekend, although the practice session Saturday was shortened by rain and the resultant flooding of the area.
Races were run Sunday though, and pictures are provided for the readers, as well as the placement of members of RRMS in these events.
Five more rounds in this series will be offered before the October Awards are given to those riders accumulating the most points. The riders range in age from four up to “I ain’t telling you how old I am.”
And in Las Cruces, the Gallup Sundevils U-11 baseball team finished first in the Global World Series. See picture on this page.
A final note is that no one was seriously injured by fireworks this year, as far as it is known. What a great week! Hope yours went as well and if you’ll get off your seat, I’ll probably see you in the bleachers this week. I will be keeping score during this tournament, but don’t know whether I’ll be at Stafie or PeeWee Reese field. If you get a chance, stop by and I’ll visit between innings.