Lack of experience costly for Cimarron

Spencer Patterson

Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2000 | 11:23 a.m.

His team may have gone 0-3, but Cimarron-Memorial coach Bill Rodriguez returned from the recent American Legion Western Regional Tournament feeling as if his Spartans could have won the whole thing.

Cimarron, one of the favorites going into the eight-team event in Ogden, Utah, last week, dropped two one-run games, 8-7 to West Oahu (Hawaii) Thursday and 10-9 to Tucson (Ariz.) Friday.

The Spartans had a chance to qualify for the tournament's final four against Taylorsville (Utah) on Saturday, but the Utah state champs pulled out a 4-2 win to send the locals packing.

"I went home thinking we were better," Rodriguez said. "It just didn't bounce our way. It's hard when that happens.

"If they went back and did it again, I know they would win, and I'm positive we'd win easy. They just lacked experience."

The Spartans' lineup, which produced a whopping 55 runs in four games at this summer's Legion State Tournament, had trouble coming up with big hits in Utah, leaving the tying run stranded in the final inning in rounds one and two.

"We just stopped hitting," Rodriguez said. "The teams we played used a lot of junkball pitchers, and our kids weren't used to that. Against Taylorsville we had a 2-0 lead, but the guy had a tough slider or sinker and we couldn't hit it."

Cimarron was also unable to hold leads, with all three of the Spartans' opponents coming from behind to win. Rodriguez said that stemmed, in part, from his team's decision to save ace Brad Thompson for a potential title game.

"We explained all the scenarios to the kids and we asked them what they wanted to do," Rodriguez said. "They said, 'We want to go for it' and we said that meant keeping Brad for the championship game."

Rodriguez said that despite his team's winless showing, his players still finished the summer with a sense of pride.

"After the last game, the kids were really down, really depressed," Rodriguez said. "But later they said, 'This is the first state championship for Cimarron and to win in Las Vegas, you've got to be pretty good.' We still think Las Vegas is the best city as far as baseball is concerned."