Dove Creek to visit Shiprock for three games in tournament

Dove Creek to visit Shiprock for three games in tournament

Mar. 29, 2001

TERENCE GARDNER of the Dolores County High School varsity baseball team gets ready to deliver a pitch during action recently against Montezuma-Cortez in Dove Creek.

BY JIM THOMAS
Journal Sports Editor

They are the only area prep baseball team to have scheduled games over spring break.

Dolores County will compete in the annual Shiprock (N.M.) Invitational Baseball Tournament today through Saturday, March 29-31, at Shiprock High School’s field.

The Bulldogs, though, will play awfully early this morning. They take on Kirtland Central’s JVs at 8. Farmington JVs tangle with Zuni at 10 a.m. in the game of the bracket. On the other side of the bracket, are Bayfield, Cuba, Shiprock, and Tohatchi. Dove Creek beat Farmington JVs in the title game a year ago.

"I’m glad we don’t have Bayfield on our side of the bracket (the Wolverines defeated the Bulldogs 5-4 in DCHS’ second game of the Cortez JV Tournament last week, their only loss of the season). But Farmington JV-C will be tough as always. It will be a good tournament."

Dolores County has played another team in this tournament. It pounded Kirtland-Central JVs 13-1 in the first game of the Cortez JV Tournament.

Since many of the Dove Creek ball players did not have break from basketball to baseball, Soper gave the players several days off earlier this week from practice.

"We have several with sore arms and others with injuries, so they needed the rest. But it will be good to get back on the field. At least we are playing over spring break and they didn’t have the whole week off. At least we don’t have to start over again,"he added.

Soper indicated he will probably start Dallas Coker on the mound for today. He said he will come back with either Terence Gardner or Dallas Daves on Friday or Saturday, depending on who the Bulldogs face.

If Coker in deed does start on the hill, then Gardner will be behind the plate. Brandon Neely will be at first base, Daves at second, Chris Kail at short, and Joe Buffington at third. The outfield will be Casey Spitzer in right, Keith Pierce in center and either Matt Beanland or James Smith in right. Kail, Spitzer and Pierce all have been hitting the ball well.

The Bulldogs are 5-1 overall entering the tournament.

It was snowing early Wednesday morning in Dove Creek and raining lightly in Shiprock. The weather forecast, according to the National Weather Service, is calling for cool with rain or snow showers for Friday and Saturday. Today should be a transition day from the weak disturbance at moved through the area Wednesday.

"I just hope we can get some of these games in," Soper said. It snowed for the third-fourth place game of the Cortez JV Tournament and it was canceled.

"We need to be playing some games. We will have one more nonconference game (at home against Bayfield) at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, and then we get ready to start league (San Juan Basin League)," he said.

The Bulldogs will have two more nonconference games but they come after they host Dolores on April 7 and Nucla on April 10. They play San Juan County (Blanding, Utah) on April 14. They visit Dolores on April 17 and Nucla on April 21 before visiting nonconference foe Monticello, Utah, on April 24, the final game of the regular season.

How is the San Juan Basin League shaping up?

Nucla has a senior-laden team and have been doing well so far this season. Dolores certainly is much improved from a year ago. The Bears are 4-2 overall, already more than doubling their total win output from last season.

How about Class 2A as whole?

Defending champion Crowley County was hit hard by graduation, but the Chargers have been decimated by injuries before and still managed to contend. One year after losing to Crowley County, Akron looks to make another strong claim to the top spot in the classification with six starters returning.

Making strong pushes at Akron from the Northeast District will be Wiggins and Dayspring Christian.

Nucla and Custer County are favored to emerge from the West/Southwest District but a strong group of teams such as Cotopaxi and Dolores County could emerge.

Limon, Strasburg and Aurora Christian are the front-runners in the Central District while Fowler, Wiley and Eads are the strongest threats out of the Southeast.

Divisionals will be held in Cortez on April 28 with Districts in Gunnison May 5. Regional and State are set for May 11-12 in Colorado Springs.

Dolores has not played since beating Cortez JVs 10-4 on March 23. They will host Ignacio on April 3 before opening up SJBL action at Dolores County on April 7. DHS head coach Jim Everin said he will try to hold practice Friday and Saturday.

In Class 4A, Montezuma-Cortez is 2-3 overall and coming off an 8-7 loss to Dove Creek on March 22. The Panthers will not play again until they open Southwest League play at home against rival Durango on April 3. Durango, which also has lost to powerhouse FHS earlier this season, is the team to beat in the Southwest League. But when league play is over, the Panthers will move back to playing 4A teams, if post-season is in the cards.

Niwot is showing some dents on the armor. The Cougars finished in third place at the recently-held Farmington Invitational, after being pounded by FHS in the opening game. However, Niwot should be ready come May.

That's because veteran coach Bob Bote and the Cougars are gunning for a fourth consecutive state 4A championship. Even though Niwot suffered heavy graduation losses, many coaches believe the cupboard is stocked with enough talent for that four-peat.

Pueblo Central, Montbello, Sterling, and Broomfield also have the talent to win a championship, and several other clubs aren't far behind. One of those is Centaurus, a 5A force in recent seasons, figures to benefit by the move to 4A.