Belen High School softball players Katherine Archuleta and Miriah Salas were selected to the All-District 3-4A first team. Another senior, Jaclyn Trujeque, was selected to the second team, along with junior Darlene Baca.
Salas, a second-team all-district player a year ago, led the Lady Eagles with a .388 batting average — the best average on the team. She is the daughter of Lady Eagle head coach Nettie Salas.
“She was a three-year starter who was very quiet and mature,” coach Salas said. “She had a good work ethic. She knew how to set the goals on what she wanted to achieve for herself and for the team.”
Salas squeezed out an inside-the-park home run against cross-county rival Los Lunas in the team’s second meeting of the season on March 14.
Archuleta, also a second-team player a year ago, has been a starter for Belen since she was a freshman. Belen’s center fielder batted .361 this year.
“She brought maturity on defense and a good glove in the outfield,” the coach said, “and she has an outstanding attitude.”
Trujeque was among the team’s best hitters and was another solid defensive player.
“She’s the best right fielder that I saw all season,” Salas said. “She definitely deserved to make the All-district team.”
Baca was the Lady Eagles’ No. 1 pitcher this season and recorded six wins. She pitched her first career no-hitter in a 10-0 win over Deming on March 26.
“She got a lot of experience this season, and, toward the end, she got some more maturity,” Salas said of Baca. “She will have everything she needs when she develops a strike-out pitch.”
The Lady Eagles finished the season with an 8-13 overall record, 4-8 in district play. They spent the end of the season hoping Albuquerque Academy would lose enough games to help them into at least a regional playoff game. That didn’t happen, and the Lady Eagles lost their last four games, and seven of their last eight, to take themselves out of the running.
Though the Lady Eagles will be losing three of their four all-district players, coach Salas is optimistic about next season.
“I just hope that my juniors and the other underclassmen learned something from the seniors they had this year,” Salas said. “We will have a lot of softball talent on the team in the next few years.”
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April 18, 2024
