Softball: No. 2 La Cueva Rallies Past Cibola, Undefeated No. 1 Seed Centennial Awaits

May 15—Whether it be in the pitcher's circle or the batter's box, senior Liliana Montoya has seemed to do it all for the La Cueva Bears in many games this season.

Thursday, she got a little help from her friends at just the right moment as the No. 2 seed Bears rallied to beat No. 3 Cibola 4-3, advancing to Friday's winner's bracket semifinal of the Class 5A, double-elimination state softball championship.

"She's been, on both sides, carrying us so many times this year," La Cueva coach Ron Romero said of Montoya. "She got some help today, and it was great to see. We pieced it together and our girls came through when we needed it."

Montoya was her usual dominant pitching self — at least for six of seven innings on Thursday — striking out 14 in seven innings of three-run work. But at the plate, where she's hitting a mind-boggling .527 this season, Cibola's star pitcher Gabby Moncada, managed to keep Montoya hitless (0-for-2 with a walk and two strikeouts).

Cibola took the lead in the third off Montoya's one hiccup of the day. After striking out the first two Cougars, Montoya walked the No. 9 hitter, right fielder Vanessa Romero, who later scored off an RBI double by catcher Presley Peek-Ruscetti.

Next, it was consecutive walks to Ashley Varela and Moncada to load the bases. Sophomore second baseman Ava Benavidez ripped a two-RBI single to put the Cougars up 3-1.

There it would stay until the bottom of the fifth.

La Cueva's Nos. 8 and 9 hitters led the inning by reaching on an error and a walk. The bases were then loaded when leadoff hitter Genesis Jaramillo legged out an infield single on a very close play at first.

That set up Bears first baseman Alex Fox, who smashed a three-run double, regaining the lead for La Cueva, 4-3, which proved to be the final score.

"The first two runners that inning that we got on were bench players — players we brought in off the bench," Romero noted. "That's our whole thing. If we can get the girls to flip it to the top (of the lineup), we'll be in business. So those girls — every one of them today — did a great job. They did their role and it panned out for us today, it really did."

The teams split in the regular season.

Cibola (23-6) will now face No. 4 Carlsbad in an elimination game at 9 a.m. Friday at Cleveland High School. The other 9 a.m. elimination game will be between No. 5 Mayfield and No. 10 Las Cruces.

La Cueva (26-3) will face defending champion and No. 1 seed Centennial on Friday. The undefeated Hawks (28-0) were challenged by a hot-hitting Mayfield squad, but eventually overwhelmed the Trojans, racking up 14 hits and four walks, including junior centerfielder Addie Moccia going 2-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored. Amanda Valles added a solo homer of her own.

The winner between Centennial and La Cueva gets a spot in Saturday's championship series at UNM.

La Cueva has not been in the championship series since their undefeated 2017 6A title season with Romero as the coach. That year, they beat Oñate, which was coached by Fernie Valles, now the coach of Centennial.

Class 4A

The Silver and Artesia collision course is still on. The two 4A powers, who split in the regular season, face off at 11 a.m. Friday in the winner's bracket semifinal at Cleveland High School.

For Silver, the 13-time state champion who this year has an impressive 25-4 record and earned the No. 1 seed, the question isn't so much about how good they are, but how ready they'd be for state tournament-level competition after steamrolling their way through a weak District 3-4A with a perfect 9-0 record and outscoring Deming, Santa Teresa and Chaparral 140-2 in those nine games.

The answer? The Colts look just fine, winning three state tournament games by a combined 32-3, including 7-1 on Thursday against No. 4 Aztec.

The Colts got three runs in the first and four more in the seventh to book-end a one-sided affair. behind Ariel Alvarado's four-hit, one run (it wasn't earned) pitching gem.

No. 2 Artesia (22-7) beat No. 3 Lovington, 7-2, to advance.

Class 3A

Friday's Class 3A Championship series will be No. 1 Dexter (26-3) vs. No. 2 Cobre (22-7) with Game 1 at the UNM Softball complex at noon and an if-necessary Game 2 at 4 p.m.

Cobre beat Dexter 2-1 in eight innings on Friday, sending the Demons to the elimination bracket, where they ended West Las Vegas' season with a 10-3 win. Dexter beat Cobre, 2-0, in March.

West Las Vegas freshman slugger Malie Satete followed up her 25-home run season as an eighth-grader last year with 22 more dingers as a ninth grader this season. She hit four homers on Thursday, two in a win over St. Michael's, two in a win over Robertson and none in the loss to Dexter.

Class 1A-2A

No. 6 seed Hozho Academy (25-5) is playing in its first softball championship series, advancing unblemished thus far in the 1A-2A tournament with a 6-5 win over No. 1 seed Estancia on Thursday, which followed their 3-1 win over No. 2 Loving on Wednesday.

Loving (23-7) will get its rematch in that championship series on Friday, battling back through the elimination bracket, including a 9-3 win over Estancia. Game 1 is at 10 a.m. at the UNM Softball Complex with the if necessary Game 2 scheduled for 2 p.m.