Lady Dons, Lady Horsemen get byes, host opening rounds of state softball tournament

Both teams will host quarterfinal games Wednesday as the state tournament format changed this season. In all five classes, the top four seeds are the host sites for the opening round and the quarterfinals. The opening-round game between the teams that line up in the bracket against each of the top four happens first.

So, the Lady Dons will await the winner of the game between No. 6 Navajo Prep and No. 11 Hatch Valley that will happen Wednesday in Las Vegas, N.M. Meanwhile, the Lady Horsemen play the No. 5 Las Vegas Robertson/No. 12 Wingate winner at Christian Brothers Athletic Complex in the quarterfinal game that begins the double-elimination portion of the tournament.

Julie Esquibel, the interim head coach of the Lady Dons, is a fan of the new format for a very significant reason.

“I like it only because we got one of the four [seeds],” Esquibel said. “I think [the format] is tough. There’s a lot of pressure when it comes to that first round being single elimination. I guess we’ll see after it’s all done.”

On the other end of the spectrum is SFIS. Seeded 10th because of their fourth-place finish in 2-3A, the Lady Braves head to No. 2 Cobre for their opening-round battle against a familiar foe in No. 7 Ruidoso. The teams played each other in the semifinals of the West Las Vegas Invitational in March, with the Warriors pulling out a 9-5 win.

SFIS head coach Oliver Torres said he believes his team’s district finish hurt it in the seeding process, and the Lady Braves have the hardest road to get to Rio Rancho for next week’s set of games.

However, Torres pointed out his team played the fourth-toughest schedule of any 3A teams, according to MaxPreps.com’s ranking system that is used to help select and seed teams for the postseason.

“I think our seeding was horrible,” Torres said. “I’m not sure they’re evaluating teams the right way. If they are evaluating teams properly, then strength of schedule should have more to do with it.”

St. Michael’s head coach Maria Cedillo said she loves rewarding teams for their performance by making the top four teams the home sites for the first two rounds. However, she added she wished Robertson wasn’t lined up to potentially be the next opponent for the Lady Horsemen.

St. Michael’s won two of the three games between the teams, including a season-ending doubleheader split that gave the Lady Horsemen the head-to-head edge to earn the fourth seed.

“I was hoping we would see Ruidoso because we’ve seen them so many times, and just recently, too,” Cedillo said. “But at least we get to be at home.”

In the 1A/2A bracket, Mora grabbed the No. 7 seed and will play No. 10 Capitan in Loving Wednesday. The winner takes on the No. 2 Falcons later that day.

In 4A, Los Alamos earned the sixth seed thanks to an 18-5-1 record and winning the District 2-4A title. The Hilltoppers will head to No. 3 Lovington for their first-round matchup against

No. 11 Bernalillo. The winner will play the winner between the Wildcats and No. 14 Moriarty, with the games scheduled for Friday and/or Saturday.

Game times will be determined by Monday.