Jun. 26—(Click here for the Class 5A baseball bracket.)
A strange year ended with a sight that is easily recognizable to New Mexico’s prep baseball community: La Cueva hoisting another state championship trophy.
The fourth-seeded Bears on Saturday won the 11th title in school history — all since 2003 — as they beat No. 2 Hobbs 11-2 at Santa Ana Star Field.
“The latest one is always extremely special,” Bears longtime coach Gerard Pineda said, “but this one will stick out for quite a long time.”
He wasn’t only thinking of his wife Bridget, who is in a Phoenix hotel room for the next few weeks as she recovers from recent kidney transplant surgery. And just to add another element to the day, Saturday was Pineda’s 23rd wedding anniversary.
There was also the uniqueness of how this spring season unfolded, given that a handful of expected impact players transferred out of La Cueva before the season to play in other states. And also, the overall youth of this La Cueva roster; seven of the nine bats Saturday against the Eagles were juniors, and the Bears (18-3) have only four seniors total, making this arguably the youngest team Pineda has coached to a title.
“We’re gonna be back here again,” junior catcher David Cooper said.
One of the La Cueva seniors, first baseman Ryan Roche, fought back tears. “Honestly, this is for the seniors last year. They didn’t get this at all. To come out here and win big like this means everything.”
La Cueva scored twice in the bottom of the first, on Akili Carris’ RBI double and an RBI single from Roche. Hobbs (20-3 and in the state final for the first time since 1981) tied the game in the top of the second, stealing home for one run, and tying it on a wild pitch.
The Bears put up five runs in the bottom of the second inning, and the game never again was close.
Carris and Roche drove in runs during this rally, and two other runs scored on Hobbs errors. There were three Eagles errors in the second inning alone. Nico Sandoval, the other senior bat in the lineup along with Roche, added an RBI single in the second.
That was plenty for La Cueva junior left-hander Max McGaha (2-0), who went
6 2/3 innings before Pineda pulled him. It was an orchestrated exit and tugged at the heartstrings. McGaha began his prep career at Piedra Vista, but a leukemia diagnosis led his family, including his father Mike, who is a La Cueva assistant coach, to move to Albuquerque for medical reasons in October 2019.
La Cueva’s pitching was solid all week, from Greyson Long on Tuesday versus Cleveland, to Tyler Manyo on Thursday against Oñate, to McGaha.
“We can rely on every single one of our kids to come through,” Cooper said. “Our pitchers will stick it through no matter what.”
And Saturday, there was little stress for the Bears in the final innings.
“They’re a good ball team,” Carris said of Hobbs. “We just had a fantastic day.”
Ronan Hella and Roche both had three hits, and Roche and Carris each had three RBIs.
NO. 4 LA CUEVA 11, NO. 2 HOBBS 2
Hobbs 020 000 0 — 2 5 5
La Cueva 252 020 x — 11 13 1
Batteries: H, J.D. Parada, Marcos Aldrete (3) and Kenyon Singleton. LC, Max McGaha, Brenden Hepker (7) and David Cooper. Win: McGaha (2-0). Loss: Parada. Leading hitters: H, Eryk McNabb 2-3. LC, Ryan Roche 3-4, 2B, 3RBIs; Ronan Hella 3-4, 2 R; Akili Carris 2-2, 2B, 3RBIs; Cooper 2-3, 3B. Records: LC 18-3; H 20-3.