Do your eyes deceive you or is that Chad Smith with a bat in his hand? I know. I know. But it's true. Chad actually got three at bats this year. It was awesome. He got one hit, grounded out once and got walked once, so he ended the season with a .500 batting average. Ha! His friend Trey who is also a PO (pitcher only) got one at bat, hit a triple and probably has the highest batting average in the state. At least I don't know anyone else who batted 1000. So fun!
Trey started the final game against Eldorado. To set the stage, we had already beat Eldorado three times but they were still ranked #2 in the state at seeding time. They are a remarkable team. La Cueva just happened to play three of their best games ever when we played against them in district. For sure, Chad's district game against them was his best pitching game of the year. But, anyway, their batters had definitely seen every one of our pitchers before, which gets a little tricky. Trey was uncharacteristically nervous, but he did great. Eldorado was definitely hitting better than they had in any of our previous games though, and Chad said it was nerve racking being alone in the Isotopes bull pen for the first four innings while the rest of his teammates were in the dugout and the score remained painfully close. Eldorado got a run in the first inning. La Cueva got one in the second. Tied. Then Eldorado got another in the third to pull ahead again. Finally in the top of the fifth, La Cueva scored four giving them 3 run lead. But then in the bottom of the fifth, Eldorado loaded the bases again with only one out. And that, my friends, was when Coach Pineda decided to bring Chad in. It was my worst nightmare people - a scenario I had dreaded for two years. I was as pale as a ghost and probably closer to barfing than Chad was. Luckily we got out of the inning with only one run and the following inning with only one as well. Coach Pineda went to take Chad out during that second inning with two runners on and two outs but Chad really wanted to get the last out. So coach (who later said Chad looked scarier than he had ever seen him at this point) said to go ahead. Chad threw the pitch, the batter hit the ball and Jeff made an outstanding play at short stop ending the 6th inning. Phew! La Cueva didn't score anymore runs in the top of the sixth so going into the bottom of the seventh the score was still 5-4 La Cueva. Thankfully for my frazzled nerves, Cub went in to pitch. We were all on the edge of our seats, but he was a beast and retired the last three batters with no problem whatsoever! Woo Hoo! State Champs! Below is Chad during his pitching stint in the final game with his catcher Drew who can hit homeruns like nobody's business and once even hit two grand slams in one game. Pitchers fear him and often just walk him to avoid the threat. What a stud!
Here are the boys running in for the dog pile after the game. I think the news said that there were three thousand people in the audience and most of them were screaming. It was awesome!
The scoreboard with the final score.
The boys were on such an adrenaline high I thought they'd never be able to go to sleep. Most of the players actually camped at the La Cueva field that night but Chad was just too tired after a week of graduation and baseball activities so he came home and immediately dozed off. Apparently the exhaustion overcame the adrenaline after all.
With their shirts and their trophy.
Chad with his second most loyal fan after the game.
And a few weeks later in Las Cruces - the North New Mexico All-Star team wearing swapped uniforms. You might recognize that Manzano Monarch standing in the back. So silly!
Here are some comments about Chad in the media:
The
La Cueva Bears were in a greedy mood.
Splitting
a District 2-5A doubleheader with 15-1 Eldorado, on the surface,
might have seemed a reasonable enough wish.
But
that is not what the Bears wanted – and it is certainly not what
they got.
“We
wanted a sweep,” senior pitcher Chad Smith said.
The
Bears scored all their first-game runs in the final three innings,
then carried that momentum over to Game 2 as La Cueva swept the
top-ranked Eagles on a gloomy Saturday afternoon at Eldorado.
The
scores were 12-1 and 9-6.
“Two
huge wins today,” said senior shortstop Jeff Deimling, who drove in
three runs in the second game. “It’s exactly what we were looking
for.”
Both
teams are 15-3 overall. But La Cueva’s sweep gives it command of
the district at 3-0, while Eldorado fell to 1-2.
Smith
pitched a three-hitter in the opener, and he was matched for a while
by Eldorado sophomore Nathaniel Garley.
“He
was pitching really well,” Bears coach Gerard Pineda said, “and I
was having flashbacks to last week.”
Seven
days earlier, the Bears were beaten 9-0 by Volcano Vista and the
Hawks’ sophomore lefty, Tanner West.
But
the La Cueva offense surged just in time.
Trailing
1-0 in the fifth, La Cueva scored five runs. Caleb McAlister’s RBI
triple to left tied the game 1-1, and the Bears suicide squeezed home
the go-ahead run moments later with Caleb Turcotte getting the bunt
down for La Cueva. Jesse Becton added a two-run double to make it
4-1.
The
Bears blew the game wide open in the seventh, adding seven runs.
Catcher Andrew Pratt’s two-run single was the key blow.
Eldorado,
meanwhile, had nothing going against Smith.
“Chad
was money today,” Pineda said. “He had all his pitches working,
and we were able to make some plays behind him.”
Albuquerque Journal 4/20/14
In
Class 5A, it really was no surprise that the La Cueva Bears landed
the top spot in the tournament. Ending the year with a record of 21-3
and sweeping Eldorado late in the year made the playoff committee's
job an easy one. The Bears clearly very dangerous are led by Caleb
McAlister who
is hitting right at .500 and Connor
Calvert who
is hitting .485 with three bombs and 33 RBI's. Andrew Pratt leads the
State of New Mexico with 7 home runs, Jeff
Deimling has
three bombs and 30 RBI's. You pitch around anyone on La Cueva, the
next in line can rip it, it's been like that all year. On the mound,
the Bears are led by Chad
Smith who
has 36 K's and 6 wins. Trey
Alexander along
with Alex
Howard have
combined for 11 season wins, salty bullpen.
NM
Preps 5/5/14
Four
La Cueva Bears were chosen to the Class 5A all-state first team after
their championship season.
One
of those four, senior Alex Howard, was named at two positions: second
base and pitcher, and he was the coaches’ vote for player of the
year.
Pitcher
Chad Smith, first baseman Caleb McAlister and outfielder Connor
Calvert also earned first-team recognition from La Cueva.
Albuquerque
Journal 6/4/2014
La
Cueva pitcher Chad Smith held the South hitless for two innings
before Carlsbad's Jared Rodriguez cracked a solo home run in the
third inning. Acevedo added a solo home run in the fifth inning off
of Rio Rancho pitcher Eli Cappello.
"I
had a hard time finding it in the first but it's all good because I
know they are going to hit for me," Smith said.
"It's
not as much pressure and I know I have time to be able to find it. I
found my fastball and once I found that, everything else was working
off of it."
Friday's
opener saw the North go ahead 10-0 after two innings following a
seven-run second innings. The North out hit the South 13-5.
"It
was really fun," Smith said. "I know most of these guys and
some of the guys from the south. It's fun playing against them. They
are all great players."
Las
Cruces Sun 6/13/2014
And here is what our wonder principal Mr. Resch had to say:
What makes this State Baseball Championship so special? Because this may be the finest group of young men I've known. Much respect gentlemen.
La Cueva ended the season with a 26-3 record. Chad ended the season with a 9-2 record. He had 14 walks, 43 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.34. He made academic all district, first team all-district pitcher, first team all-state pitcher and was selected for the North-South All Star teams. What a kid!
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