Ricketts Park Baseball Tournament Opens With Walk-Off Wins, Area Teams Impress

Walk-off singles, a complete-game gem and a dramatic late rally defined opening day at Ricketts Park, where the Piedra Vista Invitational — also referred to in some coverage as the Scorpion Invitational — drew 10 teams from across the Four Corners region for a three-day high school baseball tournament in Farmington.

Aztec delivered the most improbable result of the opening round, erasing a 7-1 deficit against Kirtland Central to win 9-8 on a walk-off. Kirtland jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and pushed the advantage to 7-1 by the third before Aztec's bats came alive. Sophomore Brody Segotta powered the comeback, going 2-for-3 with four RBIs including a three-run double in the third. Farmington head coach Kary King, whose team played separately in the tournament, acknowledged the quality of the opposing arm Aztec had to solve. "We need to give credit where credit's due," King said. "(Munoz) is a quality pitcher. Once we made an adjustment to stay off the slider, we scored some runs."

Tournament host Piedra Vista had little trouble in its opener, routing the Durango Demons 9-1 behind senior Alexis Hernandez, who threw a complete game and allowed just one run on six hits while striking out five. The Panthers' offense wasted no time despite heavy winds: senior Mason Courtney hit a triple to open the scoring, and Elyas Barton followed with a two-RBI single to cap a three-run first inning. Durango junior Coen Anderson answered with a solo home run in the second, but Piedra Vista pushed back immediately, as Courtney doubled and Barton added another RBI single to push the lead to 8-1 by the end of the second inning. JW Bayless added an RBI double in the late innings to set the final margin. Durango senior Dawson McInnes took the loss despite striking out five. "I think we got a little complacent with the lead and realized we had to keep grinding," Piedra Vista head coach Jeff Kiraly said.

Farmington closed the tournament with a walk-off of its own on Saturday, beating Durango 5-4 at Ricketts Park. Farmington carried a one-run lead into the seventh, and after Cole Clark singled infield for Durango, pitcher Danny Hagstrom settled the situation by striking out two hitters in succession on his high-velocity fastball. Hagstrom then reached base and eventually came around to score the winning run when Eli Edmiston lined a walk-off single between first and second on the second pitch of his at-bat. Edmiston and Darnell Joe each went 2-for-4 and combined to account for three of Farmington's five runs. Farmington, which used three pitchers on the day with Hagstrom earning the win, finished the tournament 2-1 and improved its season record to 10-3. The Bulldogs head to Albuquerque on Thursday to face Albuquerque High at 4 p.m. in the final week before district play begins.

Other highlights from the three-day event included Grants shutting out Pueblo West 4-0 on Thursday's opening day. Flynn Hoopes capped an unbeaten weekend Saturday night with a four-strikeout shutout performance in a 3-0 win over Pueblo West. Bloomfield also delivered a late-game moment on Friday, as Manuel Chaviarria's two-out single in the bottom of the seventh capped a three-run rally and lifted the Scots to a 4-3 win over Smoky Hill of Colorado in the second round of the Scorpion Invite.

Upcoming schedule items include Aztec hosting Taos on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and Bloomfield hosting Piedra Vista on Friday at 6:30 p.m.