Arkansas Valley Round Up by Randy Robinson

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Arkansas Valley Round Up by Randy Robinson

Week 2 of full sports in the Arkansas Valley is in the books. Volleyball took the majority of the schedule this week as 11 games were on the schedule. One undefeated team remains out of the Arkansas Valley in volleyball, that being the Cheraw Wolverines. A pair of rivalry games in softball highlighted that schedule. And a rough week for Arkansas Valley football teams to end it.

Starting in softball on Tuesday the La Junta Lady Tigers travelled to Pueblo South for a non-conference matchup. A pitcher dual to start the game saw us go tied at zero into the 3^rd inning, where Pueblo South took the lead and never gave it up as they scored three runs. La Junta would pull to within one in the top of the 5^th, but the Colts plated three runs in the bottom half to ultimately take the win 8-4. Hunter Wallace had a good outing for the Lady Tigers going 5.1 innings, only walking one batter and striking out 3.

Also on Tuesday, the Rocky Ford Lady Meloneers hosted the Lamar Lady Thunder at Babcock Park. Rocky Ford looked good early as they took a 2-0 lead after two innings. Lamar would take the lead in the 4^th with three runs across the plate, the Meloneers had something to say about that as they tied it up in the bottom of the 4^th. From there it was all Thunder as they would score 16 runs between the final three innings to take the win 21-7.

No other softball would take place through the week until Saturday, when we saw “a rivalry as old as time” with the La Junta Lady Tigers and the Lamar Lady Thunder with Lamar playing host. A tight game throughout as both teams got one across in the 1^st inning. Then from there it was a pitching and defensive battle. No one would score again until the 5^th as both teams got two more runs on the board making it 3-3 going to the 6^th. Lamar would get the winning run across on an error with two outs in the 7^th to take the rivalry win 4-3. Ylani Garica led the Tigers at the plate as she would go 2 for 4.

Rocky Ford hosts Widefield in a non-conference game and got out to an early 4-0 lead after three innings. Widefield would try a comeback in the 5^th coming up just a bit short as they would only score three. Nobody would score the final two innings of the ballgame as the Meloneers would take it 4-3. There were 24 hits combined in this game with Annesyiah Camacho leading the Meloneers going 2 for 3 with one hit.

A packed week of volleyball began for us on Tuesday, with three sweeps taking place and a barn burner for a 3-2 set win. Hoehne would get the best of La Junta at Tiger Gym as the Farmers would win 3-0 (25-14, 26-24, 25-21). Fowler kept their undefeated season intact as they would sweep Walsenburg (25-8, 25-4, 25-17). Swink would sweep Crowley County at Charger Gym in another Santa Fe League matchup (25-14, 25-10, 25-18). The Meloneers of Rocky Ford would travel to Colorado Springs to take on Vanguard and come back home with just one set won as the Courser would win 3-1 (25-9, 22-25, 25-13, 25-18). Holly and Las Animas would battle it out to a 3-2 win for the Wildcats (16-25, 25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 15-12).

More volleyball was all we had for sports on Thursday with two sweeps and yet another five-set match. Swink would continue their impressive start to the 2023 season with a sweep of Las Animas (25-16, 25-16, 25-19). Holly would sweep Rocky Ford in Holly (25-20, 29-27, 25-11). Fowler saw their undefeated season come to an end with a 3-1 loss to 3A James Irwin (25-19, 27-25, 17-25, 25-14). Cheraw would battle back from a 2-1 deficit to La Veta to win 3-2 (25-10 22-25, 19-25, 25-15, 15-9).

Two 1A contests on Friday saw both end in 3-1 wins. Cheraw would take down Kim/Branson to stay undefeated (25-15, 25-13, 22-25, 25-18). Manzanola would fall to Cotopaxi (25-21, 21-25, 25-21, 25-10)

Only one game was on tap for Saturday afternoon as the Las Animas Trojans would face the Center Vikings, the Vikings would come out on top of that tough game 3-2.

This weekend wasn’t too kind to Arkansas Valley football teams as they went a combined 1-6. On Friday, Byers would take care of Crowley County 42-8, Simla would shutout Fowler 47-0. Lyons brought their best to Las Animas and showed why they’re in the top 10 in the state as the Lions won 46-0. Rocky Ford improved after last weeks loss to Monte Vista, many bright spots for the Meloneers although they fell to Del Norte 48-12.

Saturday saw our only win for football on the weekend. La Junta would defeat Pagosa Springs 22-6. Meanwhile Cheraw would fall to Branson/Kim 25-6 and Sanford would dominate Swink in the second half to win 52-8.

GAMES TO WATCH

SOFTBALL