Eagle Pass-Maverick County Little League Junior Softball All-Stars Fall to Santa Fe, New Mexico 5-3 in Elimination Game at Southwest Regional
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2022
The high-flying Eagle Pass-Maverick County Little League Junior Softball All-Stars (Texas West) valiant tournament run through Little League Softball came to an end on Sunday, July 24, 2022, in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Southwest Regional Championship tournament after sustaining a second loss at the hands of the Santa Fe, New Mexico All-Stars (New Mexico) 5-3 in an elimination game.
New Mexico avenged an earlier tournament loss (14-4) to Eagle Pass-Maverick County (Texas West) to earn a berth for the Southwest Regional Tournament Championship game against the potent Texas East team from Columbus, Texas on Monday, July 25, 2022, at 9 a.m. (MST).
Eagle Pass-Maverick County All-Stars scored one run in the bottom of the first inning as Mayte Figueroa led off with a base on balls, Sofia Gomez singled to left field to advance Figueroa to third base, the next batter flied out for the first out, Karina Gomez flied out deep to left field to allow Figueroa tag up and score, and the next batter grounded out, giving Eagle Pass an early 1-0 lead.
Starting pitcher Mayte Figueroa shut out New Mexico’s hitters for three innings before allowing four runs in the top of the fourth inning on two hits, two base on balls, and a pair of fielder’s choice ground balls, giving New Mexico a 4-1 lead that they would never relinquished. Elisa Gomez came in relief of Figueroa to end the inning.
New Mexico added one run in the top of the sixth inning to take a 5-1 lead.
In their last at bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, Eagle Pass-Maverick County rallied for two runs as Mayte Figueroa tripled to field with one out, Sofia Gomez doubled to center field scoring Figueroa, Claritza Leija singled to advance Sofia Gomez, the next batter flied out for the second out, Emily Valdez singled to center field to score Sofia Gomez, and the next batter grounded out to end the game at 5-3, eliminating Eagle Pass-Maverick County from the double-elimination tournament.
The Eagle Pass-Maverick County Little League Junior Softball All-Stars (Texas West) finished placing third-place in the competitive Southwest Regional Championship tournament (1-2) and overall finished with a 10-2 record during the summer Little League Junior Softball tournaments. Eagle Pass-Maverick County enjoyed an outstanding summer season, gained valuable experience, met new friends, and represented our community as great Goodwill Ambassadors.
The Eagle Pass-Maverick County Little League Junior Softball Team members include Claritza Leija, Emily Valdez, Mayte Figueroa, Sofia Gomez, Karina Gomez, Fatima Montiel, Elisa Gomez, Itzel Luna, Amber Espinosa, and Daisy Garcia. Team Manager is Hector Leija and assistant coach is Harold Valdez.
The Eagle Pass Business Journal congratulates the Eagle Pass-Maverick County Little League Junior Softball players, coaches, and parents on their successful summer season and on winning the Texas District 35 Championship, the Texas West 3 Sectional Championship, the Texas West State Championship, and third-place finish at the Southwest Regional Championship tournament.
