Jul. 19—Francisco Guerra’s official title for the ongoing Little League Majors Baseball State Tournament is, quite simply, “tournament director.”
What he should be is a pitchman for Santa Fe’s tourism industry.
In taking a few minutes out of what seems like an endless stream of work, the White Rock resident and Little League District 1 administrator said the week’s baseball extravaganza at Santa Fe’s Alto Park is a chance for the City Different to show the rest of the state it’s open for business. What’s more, it’s ready for business.
“After what we’ve all gone through when the state was shut down, Santa Fe has what I think is a great opportunity with this tournament to show everyone what a great place we have,” Guerra said. “It’s very important for Santa Fe to put its best out there, to make this an advertisement for what it can do.”
Guerra has been involved in Little League since 1985. If you’ve filtered through the league as a coach, player, umpire or volunteer, chances are you’ve crossed paths with him at some point. He’s the calming force in a district that has grown and contracted several times over the years.
The pandemic has had an interesting impact on Little League around Santa Fe. With the local AABC league rumored to be on its way out, Santa Fe’s numbers more than doubled from its most recent pre-pandemic figures. The league has formed a central base at Alto Park, and three weeks ago its majors baseball team (ages 10 to 12) won the District 1 title, just a few months after Alto Park was selected as the site for this year’s state tournament.
Calling all the shots from his temporary tent behind the backstop of Alto Park’s main baseball field, Guerra casually shrugs off the notion that all he does this week is put out small fires. Nine teams and hundreds of out-of-towners have descended upon his field for the chance to earn an automatic berth to the Little League regionals in Waco, Texas.
He halted a conversation about his duties only twice; once to remind a coach to have his catcher wear a helmet during pregame infield practice, the other to have an umpire enforce a rule that coaches not play catch with their players before a game.
“I’m just here to point out the rules for Little League,” Guerra said, stopping to scroll a few notes before talking about his real mission.
“It’s a community effort to hold something like this,” he said. “It’s not just the people who run Little League. It’s the city, the volunteers, the parents, the people who run the hotels and restaurants. All these people you see from out of town, they come here to experience the state capital and when they go back we want them talking about what a great experience it was. They can sell the city for us.”
Pausing to look at a group of players walking past on the other side of the fence, he looked back down at his notes before continuing.
“Those kids, those families and the people who help them have a good time, they’re the best advertisement this city can have,” Guerra said. “Me, I just work here but they’re the people who do all the important things.”
The tournament will run through at least Thursday.
Majors Tournament
Albuquerque Roadrunner 23, Santa Fe 11
Santa Fe Little League was sent into the elimination bracket Sunday, losing 23-11 in the second round to Albuquerque Roadrunner. Santa Fe jumped out to a 6-1 lead after a big first inning, but Roadrunner — which is from Albuquerque’s northeast heights near Eldorado High School — scored four times in the top of the second. It chased Santa Fe starter Joshua Avila and summoned Darrell Carbajal to pitch in relief.
Carbajal responded with a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning, but Roadrunner scored 12 unanswered runs over the next two innings to take control. They pushed five across in the third inning and six more in the fourth, getting help from bad hops and a few defensive miscues.
Carbajal was lifted in favor of Gabe Barker in the fifth after a routine infield popup wasn’t caught, leading to Roadrunner’s 17th run. Six more runs would cross the plate before Santa Fe answered with three of their own in the bottom of the inning to end it via the mercy rule.
Santa Fe will take Monday off and will face the winner of Monday’s Artesia-Belen game in the elimination bracket. Santa Fe will need to win three games in as many days to reach the finals, then beat the winner’s bracket champion twice in order to win state.