Santa Fe Little League taking path through loser's bracket in Southwest Regional

Jul. 24—ALBUQUERQUE — For the first time in Little League play this season, Santa Fe Little League's Juniors Softball All-Star team finds itself down, but not out, of the Little League Southwest Regional Tournament.

If Santa Fe Little League is to make its way to the Little League Juniors Softball World Series, it will have to do so through the loser's bracket. That journey began in earnest Saturday afternoon when it dismantled the Three Rivers All-Stars representing Colorado, 16-0, in four innings in the first elimination game of the tournament at Roadrunner Little League.

The Santa Fe All-Stars are in the loser's bracket after Eagle Pass-Maverick County, the West Texas champion, scored 10 unanswered runs over the final three frames for a 14-4, five-inning mercy rule win. East Texas champion Columbus beat Louisiana's Shreveport 20-7 to set up an all-Texas matchup on Sunday for a spot in the championship game set for Monday.

Santa Fe must beat Shreveport, which eliminated the host Roadrunner, 29-4, Saturday evening, in Sunday's noon matchup to reach the loser's bracket final against the West Texas/East Texas loser. That would will be at 3 p.m. Sunday.

After a humbling loss to Eagle Pass-Maverick, the Santa Fe All-Stars said they took to heart the lessons they learned from the defeat. It represented the first loss for the team in Little League play.

"I think we all need to lay everything out on the line," pitcher/first baseman Mikiaela Guillen said. "We all need to want it equally. We need to have attitude and we need to work for it."

Santa Fe bounced back in the afternoon behind Guillen, who overcame a rough start against Eagle Pass-Maverick to retire all nine Three Rivers batters she faced in the afternoon. Leah Gutierrez capped Santa Fe Little Little Leauge's combined two-hit performance, which came after a no-hitter by Nadia Cedillo in a 16-0 win over Roadrunner in Friday's opener.

The offense collected 16 hits and benefitted from 11 Three Rivers errors to regain its composure. Santa Fe showed off its "small ball" skills, collecting five bunt hits and stealing five bases.

"Small ball is a big part of our strategy," infielder Jadyn Padilla said. "Everybody on the team knows how to lay down a good bunt and be able to get down the line quickly and be able to hit the ball if we need do. We are ready for any situation that we run into."

Santa Fe Little League also showed it could respond when the chips were down Saturday morning. A rough opening inning saw Eagle Pass-Maverick erase a 1-0 deficit by scoring four times, with three of the runs coming with two outs.

The key play in the frame was a sharp liner by Eagle Pass-Maverick starting pitcher Emily Valdez that Santa Fe first baseman Mariella Ruiz couldn't glove for an RBI single to break a 1-all tie. Ruiz compounded the play with a throwing error trying to nab Mayta Figueroa at the plate that sailed wide, which allowed Claritza Meija to score to make it 3-1.

Santa Fe Little League head coach Maria Cedillo said consecutive illegal pitch calls on Guillen had a significant impact on the inning, especially when the first call nullified a groundout that would have ended the rally with the score tied.

"The minute they called that illegal pitch, it changed the momentum of our game," Cedillo said. "Mikiaela, what she ended up doing was taking off some of her speed [on her pitches]. Her response was that she didn't know whether to focus on the glove or the pitch."

Despite that, Santa Fe rallied to tie the score at 4-all with a run in the second and two in the third. Leah Gutierrez scored the tying run on what appeared to be a botched double steal, but she collided with Valdez as she applied the tag at the plate, which jarred the ball loose for a safe call.

Eagle Pass-Maverick County, though, responded with a solo home run by Karina Gomez in the bottom of the third to break the tie. The fourth inning was punctuated by missed opportunities for Santa Fe Little League.

Jamie Cisneros opened the top of the fourth for the New Mexico champion by reaching base on a fielding error, then heading to third on Abriella Herrera's sacrifice bunt in which no Eagle Pass-Maverick County player covered the open base.

But Ilyana Garcia struck out and Jadyn Padilla's infield popup stranded Cisneros.

In the bottom of the frame, Guillen tried to make a big play instead of the right one when she tried to get lead runner Hzel Luna out at second on a sacrifice bunt. Instead, her throw sailed past Padilla and into centerfield, allowing Luna to score.

It was the start of a six-run outburst that settled the outcome. The West Texas champion scored three times in the fifth to invoke the 10-run mercy rule.

"We need to be more aggressive, and fielding-wide, we need to catch lazy pop flies," Padilla said. "And what else is killing us is little mistakes. We just need to go for everything. As long as you try, that's all that matters."

Eagle Pass-Maverick County head coach Hector Leija said his team was a little sluggish to start the game, especially because the team hadn't played in over a week and earned the first-round bye from Friday's action.

"Santa Fe is a really good team," Meija said. "They stopped us for three innings before our bats came alive."

If Santa Fe gets to the consolation bracket final, it will have the services of Nadia Cedillo, who missed Saturday because she participated in the Little League Home Run Derby West Regional in Seattle. Coach Maria Cedillo, Nadia's mother, said she could be back for the game against Shreveport but will definitely be in the starting lineup for the potential 3 p.m. matchup.

"It throws the dynamics off," coach Cedillo said of Nadia's absence. "She has never not been here."