Here it is, folks - my favorite post of the year. :) Baseball season, baby. Below is La Cueva's 2013 Varsity baseball club. They look kind of mean but they are actually the nicest group of boys you will ever meet. Even their coach said that he wished they were a little meaner. Last year varsity lost almost all of its players to graduation so this was a pretty new group overall. They ended up ranked 3rd in the state and for as little experience as most of them had playing varsity, I'd say that's quite awesome!
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Here is a view of the entire field. Do you like the Bears lettering on the home plate halo? I made the stencils this year. It is my claim to fame. Ha!
Chad was pretty much a pitcher only this year (at least until last week when we started legion ball) but he did occasionally play first. Here he is doing his thing. Bethany says he's a beast.
The beginning of the chilliest, most dreadful game ever against Sandia. I think we went through five pitchers and the score ended up being 17-7. Our booster club president said that our boys are just divas and simply cannot play in the cold. :) Sadly, Chad was the starting pitcher and got the loss. His other loss was against Rio Rancho. But that game was 3-2, not nearly as ugly. We played Sandia three more times - two wins, one more loss. Unfortunately the other loss was in the state semi-finals. :(
Final Stats - Chad ended up pitching 57.333 innings, facing 235 batters, striking out 48, walking 15 and earning an ERA of 3.17. He had 6 wins, 2 losses and one save. He made all-district academic, second team all-district pitching and honorable mention for pitching all-metro. Here are some comments in the Albuquerque Journal about him.
Friday, 3/22/13
"Tanner Wade and Alex Howard opened with singles off Volcano Vista starter and loser Brian Fox (1-3). Calvert took a meaty fastball the other way, and a healthy wind carried it until it hit the rightfield pole. Bears pitchers Trey Alexanderson and Chad Smith, both Juniors, took care of the rest. Smith, in particular, made two clutch pitches against the Hawks' top player, Andre Vigil, getting him to fly out with two runners aboard in the bottom of the fifth and again to end the game. "Chad made pitches in crucial situations," (Coach) Pineda said, "against the best hitter in the state."
Thurs 5/09/13
While No. 1 Carlsbad ought to breeze into the quarterfinals after dispatching of No. 16 Alamogordo this weekend, No. 2 La Cueva faces an interesting assignment. I would describe the 15th-seeded Storm as more physically talented than several higher-seeded teams, like No. 12 Valley, No. 13 Eldorado and No. 14 Mayfield – and Cleveland has beaten the Bears twice, although La Cueva surely is playing sharper baseball now as we begin the playoffs. Bears coach Gerard Pineda has done a fantastic job this spring, but they’ll go as far as front-line starters Chad Smith and Trey Alexanderson will take them.
Sun 5/12/13
"Right-hander Chad Smith (6-2) went the distance for La Cueva, which put up five runs in its first at-bat. The outburst was keyed by Andrew Pratt's two-out, two-strike, bases loaded triple down the right field line."
Sat 6/1/13
Here they are, the last batch of Journal All-Metro athletes for the 2012-13 school year. It’s a salty bunch. And unfortunately, with just 20 slots available in each sport, more than a few talented kids didn’t crack the final list. I hope we’ve done our due diligence and done both sports justice....Narrowing the list to just two pitchers proved troublesome. Albuquerque Academy’s Tyler Buffett got the nod on the second team, but there were a handful of candidates who could just as easily have filled that slot — players such as Cameron Fite of Volcano Vista, Matt Valdez of Rio Grande, Wyatt Kelley of Rio Rancho, Phil Trujillo of Cibola, and Chad Smith and Trey Alexanderson of La Cueva, to name just a few.
And so, the pressure is mostly off for several months, and I at last get to see Chad bat again. Good times. And so ends another Smith catch-up post. Signing off...Chad's proud Mama.
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