By MIKE COTE
Sports
Los Alamos Daily Post

Los Alamos’ softball team earned the No. 5 seed and will face off against 12th-seeded Bloomfield in the first round of the Class 4A state championships.

The Hilltoppers will face the Bloomfield Bobcats at 4 p.m. Friday. That game will be played at Pojoaque Valley High School in Jacona, with the winner going into the main tournament next week.

Los Alamos finished 19-7 during the 2023 season and went 11-1 in District 2 play to earn that title and the automatic playoff bid. Los Alamos earned a critical sweep over the Moriarty Pintos late in the season to clinch the District 2 title after Moriarty won the first meeting between them.

Other than the loss to Moriarty, which reached the playoffs as a No. 11 seed, the Hilltoppers weren’t challenged throughout the district season, winning all but two of those games by the 10-run rule.

As a team, the Hilltoppers were an offensive juggernaut, hitting .368 and slamming 14 home runs. Nadia Cedillo hit .506, had 40 hits and scored 47 runs to lead the team in those categories, while Mikiaela Guillen finished with 5 home runs.

Bloomfield, for its part, finished third in District 1-4A and went 12-14 overall. Bloomfield got off to a rough start, going 0-5 while playing teams from out of state before settling in and playing solid ball throughout the balance of its 2023.

Following the single-elimination first round, the remaining teams will play a double-elimination tournament starting May 11.

Artesia (19-7) earned the No. 1 overall seed in Class 4A, followed by Silver, Gallup and St. Pius X.

The winner between the Hilltoppers and Bobcats will face the winner between the fourth-seeded Sartans and the 13th-seeded Aztec Tigers.