Lady Rams post sweep over Clovis

Apr. 13—When the Clovis and Portales High softball teams met early in the season at Lady Wildcat Field, the teams combined for two football scores in a doubleheader swept by the Lady Rams.

Wednesday's rematch — pushed back a day by Tuesday's rain — turned out much differently. Portales won both games again, but took the opener 14-8 after trailing 8-0 early and then squeaked out a 3-2 victory with a run in the seventh in Game 2.

"I feel like we're doing things in midseason that we should've been doing from the start," CHS coach Kaitlyn Wolfe said. "Our defense has picked up from where we started."

The Lady Wildcats (2-12) are still struggling to get over the hump, but they're certainly a lot closer than they were a few weeks ago.

In the opener, Clovis scored three times in the second before adding five in the third keyed by a two-run single from sophomore Karely Baeza and an RBI single from sophomore Amor Soto.

Portales (9-5) began the long road back with three in the bottom of the third, but still trailed 9-5 before tallying nine times in the bottom of the sixth.

Junior Myleigh Banda went 3-for-5, scored twice and drove in a run for PHS while junior Dawci Cordova doubled twice and drove in three runs. Sophomore Maria Lujan and freshman Annaleah Lujan each had a couple of hits, while freshman Addyson Mayberry delivered a two-run single.

In the nightcap, PHS carried a 2-0 lead into the seventh before the Lady Cats tied it when senior Giselle Romero tallied on a wild pitch and Soto scored on a passed ball to tie it. Both had singled to start the frame.

In the bottom half, Terrazas led off with a single, took second on junior Angel Ornelas' one-out sacrifice and scored when Banda smashed a single to right-center.

Freshman Kiara Noack went the distance for Clovis in the circle, striking out nine.

Portales returns to action on Tuesday with its District 4-4A opener at home against Lovington, set for 4 p.m., then travels to Dexter for a non-league twin bill the following night. Clovis begins District 4-5A play at home with a pair of games on Tuesday against Carlsbad.