Today's Sports

ALBUQUERQUE – Bruce Cottrell didn’t even pretend he didn’t know where his program stood historically.
“This is our eighth victory, one more than Academy,” he said immediately after watching his Los Alamos Hilltopper girls win the Class 4A state tennis title Saturday night.

But Cottrell, the longtime head coach of the team, had to sweat out its championship match against the four-time defending champion Farmington Scorpions.

Los Alamos seemed to have the match well in-hand after going 4-2 in the singles competition, but dropped two of the first three doubles contests to Farmington, leaving the No. 2 doubles teams to battle it out for the state title.

But in the late evening – the singles matches were interrupted by a rain delay of about 33 minutes – the team of Susanna Lucido/Colleen Fitzsimmons finished off Farmington’s Allie Linville/Sydney Schumacher in straight sets to upset the Scorpions and claim the Hilltoppers’ first team title since 2008.

Even though Los Alamos won the No. 2 doubles title in straight sets, even the second set win didn’t come easily.

Both the Los Alamos Hilltopper girls and boys golf teams will be represented at the state Class 4A championship tournament.

The 4A state tournament, which will be played at the New Mexico State University championship course in Las Cruces, starts Monday and continues through Tuesday.

Los Alamos’ girls earned four qualifying legs on the season, grabbing the necessary three qualifying legs during the fall.

The Hilltoppers secured one leg during the spring season, that coming April 29 at Santa Fe Country Club.

The Hilltopper girls ended up as one of eight teams to earn their way into the Class 4A tournament and was one of just two teams from the north-central part of the state to get in, with Santa Fe being the other.

Leading all 4A girls teams with qualification legs was Deming with 11 total. Goddard earned 10 legs on the 2012-13 season.

Los Alamos’ boys will have one entry in Las Cruces, Raul Roybal. Roybal qualified as an individual, shooting 79 at the Santa Fe Country Club April 29 to earn his try to state.

Deming will go into the tournament as the defending 4A champs on both the boys and girls sides. The Wildcat girls shot a two-day total of 709 and the Wildcat boys carded a 633 in the 2012 tournament, played at the New Mexico Tech course in Socorro.

In the bottom of the fifth of a tight ballgame Friday, the Los Alamos Hilltoppers exploded. The Aztec Tigers imploded.

Los Alamos pushed eight runs across in the bottom of the fifth to close out game one of the best-of-3 series in the first round of the Class 4A baseball tournament Friday. Los Alamos had three hits in the inning and Aztec committed five errors including a wild throw to the plate that brought home Trevor Pacheco to close out the contest early.

The Hilltoppers won Friday’s game at Bomber Field 11-1.

The Hilltoppers closed out Aztec Saturday with a 9-4 victory as it rallied from a 4-0 deficit at Bomber Field by scoring four runs in the fourth inning and adding five more in the fifth.

Los Alamos likely will play top seeded Piedra Vista Thursday at LaCueva High School. Jake Downs got the win for the Hilltoppers, going the distance giving up eight hits.

Friday’s game had all the earmarks of a pitcher’s duel early, with Tanner Moore retiring five straight to open the game – he struck out Los Alamos leadoff batter Connor Mang to open the first but Mang reached base on a passed ball. Moore probably didn’t realize it at the time, but that passed ball would be a harbinger of things to come.

ALBUQUERQUE — There was little in the recent history of either Los Alamos or Farmington girls tennis to suggest the Hilltoppers stood much of a chance in the Class 4A doubles title match.

But that didn’t deter either Madeline Margevicius or Gillian Hsieh-Ratliff Thursday evening.

Margevicius/Hsieh-Ratliff came out firing in the first set, winning five straight games to set the tone against the powerful Farmington Scorpions’ squad of Molly Merrion/Danielle Nguyen.

Then, when Los Alamos needed it, the Hilltoppers put together a nearly-unstoppable attack at the net, putting away Merrion/Nguyen in a classic title match, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

“It’s surreal, it’s liberating,” said Hsieh-Ratliff, a five-year veteran of the program who had never tasted a state title until Thursday. “I feel like my senior year ended on a nice note. I’ve worked since eighth grade. All that’s come together…working so hard, but it’s all been worth it.”

Hsieh-Ratliff crushed an overhead volley right in between Merrion and Nguyen to put the final touches on the upset victory. Margevicius/Hsieh-Ratliff entered the 4A doubles draw as the No. 3 seed, while Merrion/Nguyen was the top seed.