Pueblo Azteca loses second tournament final in a week with 9-1 loss in 'Bado championship

BY CHRIS ABDELMALEK | The Pueblo Chieftain | JUN. 27, 2022

For the second straight weekend, the Pueblo Azteca 18U baseball team made it to the finals of a prestigious local tournament only to come up short in the final game.

After losing in the championship game of the Tony Andenucio Memorial Baseball Tournament last weekend, Azteca 18U made another deep run in the Artie Escobado Memorial Tournament this week but had its heart broken yet again in a 9-1 loss to the Colton Nighthawks.

After taking down familiar foe 4C Prime — Azteca’s semifinal opponent in last week’s ‘Nuch, as well as this week’s ‘Bado — in a 5-2 victory, the team had its hands full with the Nighthawks, arguably the most talented team in the tournament.

The Nighthawks got off to a quick start in the championship game, blanking Azteca in the first inning and then promptly putting up three runs of its own.

Azteca batters could not keep up with the speed of the Nighthawks’ pitches and they lost 9-1 in a lopsided affair.

Despite the final score of the championship game, the tournament was a strong showing overall for Azteca, a team that has shown a lot of promise over the past two weeks’ tournaments and will seek to build upon those successes in the future.

“(It was) good quality baseball and that's what we prefer. We're just glad we're playing good baseball and we're glad we're in situations where we can extend weekends and get as much baseball as we can in,” Azteca Coach Dylan Gavin said.

“We're really thankful that we keep winning close ball games and getting to play more baseball and that's what's going to benefit these guys. (I’m) just really proud to be the coach of these guys. They're an awesome group of kids.”

While Azteca is earning a reputation as a contender in the summer baseball scene, Gavin said he wants his players to stay humble and concentrate on their progression, rather than what other say about their play.

“What anyone else has to say, that's kind of up to them. We're just going to kind of stick to what we do,” Gavin said. “That's prepare and practice and then come out and compete and really enjoy each other and have a good time as teammates and everything like that. And we'll kind of leave all that discussion of how good we are … up to the other people.”

All-Star selections
Here are this year's 2022 Artie Escobado Memorial Tournament all-stars:

Christopher Abdelmalek is a sports reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain and can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on Twitter @chowebacca