Today's Sports

It could be a crapshoot in District 2-4A baseball and softball this season, but both Los Alamos Hilltopper teams have as good a shot as anyone.
Both the Hilltopper baseball and softball teams open district play Wednesday, playing approximately 100 yards from each other. The teams will take on Bernalillo’s Spartans in single contests Wednesday in Bernalillo.
The district season consists of 12 games per team, with each head-to-head matchup consisting of a doubleheader hosted by one team and a single game hosted by the other team.
The Hilltopper baseball team was four games under .500 heading into Saturday’s doubleheader against Miyamura — results from those games weren’t available as of press time — but, despite managing just a 4-8 record, still have more wins than Santa Fe, Bernalillo and Capital put together.
District 2-4A could be shaping up to be a two-team race between the Hilltoppers and the Española Valley Sundevils (8-2). The Sundevils who play Aztec Monday before opening their district season Wednesday against Santa Fe, have outscored their opponents nearly 2-1 this season.

WASHINGTON (AP) — When played to perfection, there's nothing quite like Syracuse's aggressive, half-court 2-3 zone defense.

It's 40 minutes of trapping and shot-challenging, of closing off angles, of trusting teammates.

"We showed," senior guard Brendan Triche said, "that defense wins games."

Yes, the Orange D certainly does.

With a second suffocating performance at the East Regional, No. 4-seeded Syracuse shut down No. 3 Marquette 55-39 Saturday to earn coach Jim Boeheim his fourth trip to the Final Four — and first since a freshman named Carmelo Anthony helped win the 2003 NCAA championship.

"A tremendous, tremendous defensive effort," Boeheim said.

Fittingly, a matchup between schools from the soon-to-break-apart, rough-and-tumble Big East became quite a struggle on the offensive end. Syracuse (30-9) was led by senior forward James Southerland's 16 points. Michael Carter-Williams, a 6-foot-6 guard who is out front in the zone, was named the regional's top player after accounting for 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists, five steals and only one turnover Saturday.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico basketball fans were blindsided Saturday by news that coach Steve Alford had been hired away by UCLA.

The Lobos had just wrapped up another winning season that was topped by their second straight Mountain West Conference title and their third NCAA tournament appearance in the past four seasons. And just days ago, Alford signed a new 10-year contract that could have been worth up to $2 million a year.

No one thought Alford was going anywhere.

Not even Alford.

Overnight, it all changed. Lobo Nation is now awash in disappointment.

New Mexico athletic director Paul Krebs is among those feeling the effects of the loss. He said it was clear when he talked to Alford early Saturday that the coach had made up his mind. He said he understood and respected the decision.

"This is a very emotional time," Krebs said to a room packed with reporters and television cameras.

For some of the players it has yet to sink in. Lobos center Alex Kirk said they needed to come together and clear their heads.

"It's tough," Kirk said. "It hit us all really hard. It hit coach hard and it's going to hit the whole state hard. I think it affects the whole conference."

The Los Alamos junior varsity softball team went 1-3 at its home tournament last weekend.
Los Alamos topped the St. Michael’s Horsemen 15-5, but fell to the Piedra Vista Panthers 10-2, the Los Lunas Tigers 16-1 and the Pecos Panthers 9-6.
The tournament was won by Los Lunas, who posted a 4-0 record, while the two Piedra Vista JV teams went 3-1 in the tournament.
Los Alamos scored 11 runs in the second inning in its big win over St. Michael’s. Los Alamos had 7 hits in the four-inning game, led by Elizabeth Anaya, who was 2-for-3.
Hannah Mojica earned the win, tossing a complete game and striking out 7 batters.
Against Piedra Vista, Taylor Jaramillo went 2-for-3 and Shelby Chavez was 2-for-4. Chavez also had a multi-hit game against Pecos, going 2-for-3.
Piedra Vista scored 5 runs in the first inning and tacked on 4 more in the sixth to win the contest going away.
Against Pecos, the Hilltoppers went up 6-5 after two innings but the Panthers came right back to score three runs in the top of the third and blanked the Hilltoppers the rest of the way.