Instead of playing softball, Enchantment Little League’s senior division all-star team has been playing the waiting game at the Little League Southwest Region playoffs in Grand Junction, Colo.
Enchantment, which, by virtue of winning the state Little League title last month, is known as New Mexico at the tournament, was supposed to play the first game of a round-robin series at 1 p.m. on Monday. But, because some teams that qualified for the tournament didn’t show up, the format was changed to a double-elimination tournament. So the girls from Los Lunas were slated to play their first game at 8 p.m. that evening, but it was rained out.
“We’re just waiting to play,” said head coach Lisa Chavez on Tuesday morning.
Weather permitting, the team was to play its first game against East Texas Tuesday afternoon (no result was available at News-Bulletin press time).
“We’re ready to play,” the coach continued. “You want to get on that field, and when you can’t, it kind of increases your desire.”
Chavez said the team has spent most of its idle time relaxing and hanging around the hotel.
The team did get in a practice session between the rain drops Monday morning, she said, and they were able to watch a few games in the afternoon before the rains came.
“We watched them work on the fields for two or three hours,” Chavez said. “They had tractors out there hauling in new dirt. There were coaches out there with shovels, scraping up the mud.”
One of the games they watched Monday night was within their division. West Texas beat Grand Mesa, Colo. Enchantment may have to play West Texas if they beat East Texas on Tuesday.
“West Texas is a really tough team,” Chavez said. “I heard they were fourth in the World Series last year.”
If Enchantment manages to win the regional, they would advance to the Little League Senior Division Softball World Series next week in Kentucky.
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April 18, 2024
