Ark Valley Round Up by Randy Robinson

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Ark Valley Round Up by Randy Robinson

With sports season starting to fire on all cylinders in the Arkansas Valley, week 4 of the season was full of action. Volleyball saw a majority of the schedule while softball and football played their fair share. It was a rough week for both Arkansas Valley volleyball and football as volleyball teams went a combined 5-7 against teams outside the Arkansas Valley while football would go 2-4.

We kick off this week’s recap with softball once again. In a light scheduled only three games were completed with a postponement in the La Junta at Florence game. Starting off our week the Rocky Ford Lady Meloneers would shutout James Irwin in a crucial 3A Tri-Peaks matchup. The Meloneers would get off to a hot start and not look back. Scoring three runs in the 1^st inning, 4 in the 2^nd and finishing the game with 8 in the 3^rd to take the win 15-0. This would be the only game the Meloneers would have this week.

The La Junta Lady Tigers would finish the week at 1-1 to make their overall season record 8-8. Starting on Thursday, the Tigers would welcome in 4A Discovery Canyon. In what seemed like an offensive struggle to begin the Thunder would come out of the gate in the 3^rd inning, scoring 6 runs. Offensively La Junta did not have an answer as they would not score at all, Discovery Canyon would add 6 more runs in the 6^th and take the run rule win 12-0.

La Junta would head to take on Florence on Friday, but after one inning of play, the game was postponed to a date to be determined. So, the Tigers would head home and take on Pueblo East on Saturday. After a two-and-a-half-hour delay, as we waited for umpires and a scoreless 1^st inning, the bats would wake up for the Tigers in the bottom of the 2^nd as La Junta would score five runs. After holding Pueblo East to one run in the top of the 3^rd, the Tiger offense went back to work scoring five more. Both teams would remain scoreless the rest of the way as La Junta took the win 10-1.

Volleyball once again held a majority of our schedule this week. On Tuesday, league matchups in 2A and 3A took place. In the 2A Santa Fe League, every match ended in a sweep. Hoehne would sweep Fowler (25-16, 25-14, 25-23), Rye would easily handle Crowley Couty (25-9, 25-14, 25-14), Las Animas was the lone winner from the Arkansas Valley in Santa Fe League play Tuesday as they would sweep Swallows Charter (25-23, 25-20, 25-16) and Rocky Ford would fall to Walsenburg in three straight (29-27, 25-15, 25-19). In the 3A classification, La Junta would host Tri-Peaks foe Banning Lewis with the Tigers coming out on top in four sets (25-22, 25-19, 26-28, 25-21).

Thursday saw some Arkansas Valley head to heads, a matchup in 1A and more Santa Fe League action. Starting off in 1A Manzanola continued to struggle as they would be swept by Kim/Branson (25-21, 25-20, 25-10). Santa Fe League action saw two sweeps and a four-set competitive match. Fowler would take down Swink in three straight in what was a battle of two of the top teams in the league (25-22, 25-14, 25-14), Crowley County would take care of Walsenburg in a close four set match (25-21, 20-25, 25-21, 27-25) and Hoehne would sweep the Las Animas Trojans (25-13, 25-20, 25-21). The La Junta Lady Tigers would come into the Melon Dome on Thursday night to take on the Rocky Ford Lady Meloneers. The Tigers would ultimately come out on top in a three-set sweep (25-15, 25-16, 25-23).

Friday saw two matches competed in the 1A ranks. Cheraw would take down High Plains rival Cheyenne Wells in a tough five-set match (21-25, 25-17, 25-17, 19-25, 15-5) and Manzanola would fall to Deer Trail in three straight (25-14, 25-20, 25-18).

More league contests took place on Saturday as the Swallows Charter Spartans would sweep the Rocky Ford Meloneers in 2A Santa Fe League action (25-22, 25-15, 25-11) and Cheraw would remain undefeated as they took care of Springfield in four-sets.

For the first time all year all our Arkansas Valley football teams played on Friday night. With the league season starting next week, this week was as crucial as ever to get some momentum going. In 6-Man action Deer Trail would shutout Manzanola 53-0 and Cheraw would fall to Cheyenne Wells 64-18. 8-Man football saw our only head-to-head as Crowley County would defeated Las Animas 38-20. In other 8-Man action Sanford would narrowly escape Fowler 20-16 and Swink would fall to Hoehne 38-8. In 1A Rocky Ford headed up to take on 2A Manitou Springs, the young Meloneer squad once again showed signs of turning things around but would fall to the Mustangs 54-6. The La Junta Tigers continued their impressive state to the 2023 season with a 52-6 win over 1A Manual.

The league season starts this week in football, so now is the time to turn it on if you can. You win your league, you’re automatically in the postseason.

GAMES TO WATCH:

SOFTBALL