Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 16

pion Farmington is top seed. La Cueva is No. 1 in 5A. Both teams will be in action this afternoon. Kuhn was hoping to get his Vikings off to an early start by scheduling a doubleheader at noon Thursday.

The fifth seed, Valley will play the winner of the Eldorado-Sandia series next Wednesday at Rio Rancho High School. The state semifinals in all classes are slated for next Thursday while championship games will be May 23 at Isotopes Park. If the inclement weather wipes out games, the NMAA has considered extending each series into Monday. That could also wreak havoc on the state quarterfinals. hate to be in a situation where forced to change my pitching rotation just because we get games in on said Santa Fe coach John Morrison.

changes everything if you give your top guys enough rest to get ready for next week. Ideally like to have (left-hander) Herbie (Romero) be able to throw this weekend and next, if we get that Demons are seeded eighth in 5A. making their first state tournament appearance in 31 years the longest drought of any team in the field. gotten this far thanks largely to Romero, a hard-throwing senior with tremendous power at the plate. Santa Fe is scheduled to host No.

9 Rio Grande in a 3 p.m. game today. Morrison said his team will be ready, but sure he could say the same about his field. grassy areas are fine because those parts were so dry in the first place that the water just soaked right he said. the dirt areas worried about.

You do much to dry those A brief look at this matchups. Nine of the 24 in 3A through 5A will be in the Albuquerque area: CLASS 5A: Pitching may grab all the headlines at La Cueva, but the top-seeded potent lineup is just as deserving. Despite the season-ending injury to cleanup hitter Tomas Gutierrez, the order is stacked with hitters like Cody Voelker, Tyler Black, Mitchell Garver, Joe Diz and Ryan Padilla, just to name a few. La Cueva will host No. 16 Clovis.

Second-seeded Rio Rancho faces Manzano. The Rams are the hottest team in the field and they have such heavyweights as La Cueva, Valley, Eldorado and Santa Fe on the other side of the bracket. is the third seed deservedly so despite numerous injuries that kept the Knights from joining the La Cueva-Rio Rancho fray. Now completely healthy, looking to capitalize on last run to the semifinals. Eldorado is fourth and will host Sandia while perennial power Carlsbad is sixth.

The Cavemen were scheduled to meet Las Cruces in a doubleheader Thursday night. CLASS 4A: At first glance, 16-10 record would- seem the stuff of a No. 2 seed. Think again. The Chargers won the toughest district in 4A with a lineup led by power hitters Max Walla and Andrew Sanchez.

Academy will host Aztec while district rivals Belen and Moriarty also will be at home against Los Alamos and Kirtland Central, respectively. St. Pius is the eighth seed but will travel to 2-4A champion Bernalillo, the No. 9 seed. CLASS 3A: Sandia run to the semifinals last year put the Sundevils on the 3A map.

Seeded fifth, host No. 12 Ruidoso today at 4 p.m. Hope Christian is ninth and will travel to defending champion Raton. The series winner will likely face St. in the quarterfinals while Prep would meet either Portales or Santa Fe Indian School.

escalated, if not at the same rate as gasoline. In 2003, the cap was $75 million. Now, $116 million. Percentage-wise, Urlacher believes, he deserves a bigger piece of that pie. easy for people to criticize me for wanting (a new he told I understand a contract and I signed it.

But this is the NFL, and if signed it and played like (expletive), have cut me or tried to get me to take less. my mind, no difference. If they can a contract, I have a right to ask for more if I play well It seems fair to say played pretty well. Six Pro Bowl selections. Four times an All-Pro.

Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2000. Twice the NFL defensive player of the year (by Football Digest in 2001, by The Associated Press in Immensely popular nationwide, Urlacher has become a Chicago icon on the level of an Ernie Banks, Dick Butkus or Walter Payton. Michael Jordan? Not quite, but close enough. Url has displayed signs of breaking down physically. Hampered by an arthritic back and a neck injury that required postseason surgery, he failed to make the Pro Bowl in 2007 for only the second time in his eight-year career.

If the Bears, you might hesitate to invest more money in a 30-year-old middle linebacker, no matter how accomplished, than you already have. Yet, in 2007, an ailing Urlacher still led the Bears in total tackles, unassisted tackles and assists. His five interceptions were a team and career high. Now, he says, he feels great. rehab is he told I was telling our trainer the other day that even my worst day now (regarding his back) is 20 times better than my worst day during the season.

My neck is good, Urlacher always has had the aura of a guy play football for free. unsettling, then, to see him demanding more money. Yet, he is, and has been, a money machine. His list of endorsements is longer than Bears faces would be if he in the lineup come the fall. Not all Bear backers are backing Url on this matter.

The cost of gasoline, some figure, is hitting them harder than it is him. sure the Bears have another linebacker on their wrote one responder to a Chicago Sun-Times article, can allow Adrian Peterson to run for 224 yards on 20 Ouch. But keep in mind that, last summer, Peterson signed with the Vikings for $40.5 million over five years. Then came his historic rookie season. Let the re-bidding begin.

Catch Rick column at www.abqjournal.com. E-mail him at B6 A LBUQUERQUE OURNAL RIDAY AY 16,2008 Rain Alters Local Sports Schedule Url Still Has Gas in Tank Teams Agree New Format Good from PAGE B1 from PAGE B1 scheduled for noon but was called off by 10 a.m., partly because the Isotopes were scheduled to play in the evening. Birmingham said the situation points out the need for another quality baseball park in Albuquerque. probably could have tried to play in the afternoon, but we might have had to stop in the middle of the he said. it would have been nice to have played three night games for a series like this, but a lot of pressure on Isotopes field this time of Nobody supported the idea of moving the series to Lobo Field, Birmingham said.

too grand on that and I blame Birmingham said. Mountain West is televising game, and seeing (Lobo Field) around the nation help us as a from PAGE B1 saying what an advantage it is for teams with the one thing I like about it is it keeps us all in game condition the week before KEN DURAN, ST. COACH, ON THE NEW FORMAT Isotopes Park Sunday May 18 Isotopes vs. Omaha Royals Autograph Session miss the Isotopes Autograph Session presented by the Albuquerque Journal! PRESS PASS SUBSCRIBERS The 2,000 fans through the gates will receive Isotopes Autograph Cards courtesy of the Albuquerque Journal. Collect them all throughout the season! Buy one ticket for regular season Sunday home games and get one FREE! During the week of the game, order tickets online starting Monday at 10 am through Saturday at 4 pm at abqjournal.com or at the Isotopes Box up to game time.

When buying online, simply click on the Isotopes logo and follow the instructions. Have your Press Pass handy, as you will need your Press Pass number and expiration date. You must present your valid Press Pass when buying at the box Call 823-4400 to become a Press Pass subscriber. Upcoming Autograph Sessions: May 18 June 15 June 22 July 6 July 27 August 10 Contact your local representative for pricing details. Federal, state local taxes apply.

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