The season it all came together

For three innings, the state championship game looked tense enough to become another fight. Mayfield led rival Las Cruces High just 3-0, and inside the Trojans dugout, nobody seemed interested in acting comfortable.

Then somebody reached base. Then another. Then another.

And suddenly, the inning that had defined Mayfield High School softball all season arrived again — line drives screaming into gaps, runners flying around bases, teammates pouring out energy with every swing, the pressure building until it became overwhelming for whoever happened to be standing across from them.

By the time the fourth inning finally ended, Mayfield had scored 12 runs before recording an out and blown open the Class 5A state championship game on the way to a 20-2 victory and the program’s first state title.

The explosion felt shocking only if you had not watched the Trojans all season.

Mayfield finished 29-2, set a New Mexico state record with 98 home runs and rolled through the state tournament with the same overwhelming force that carried it through much of the spring. After surviving a tense 5-4 opening-round win over Rio Rancho in the tournament’s lone single-elimination game, the Trojans overwhelmed Centennial 16-6, rallied past Cleveland 9-7, beat Las Cruces 12-3 in the semifinals and then crushed the Bulldawgs again in the championship game.

What separated this team, the players said, was not only talent. It was connection.

“I think honestly our group changed,” sophomore slugger Ausaundra Roberto said. “We were more a team. Last year we had our own little separate groups. This year everybody was a team outside of practice, inside of practice, during games. We set that for ourselves at the beginning of the year that we wanted to change it.”

Junior standout Jayleen Ponce said the team centered itself around one word.

“Selfless,” Ponce said. “That’s what we said before every game, that we were going to play for each other. If I’m not doing well, then I’m going to pick up Dallas and Ausaundra.”

The chemistry became dangerous when paired with a lineup capable of changing games almost instantly. Roberto hit .520 with 20 home runs. Ponce batted .529 with 18 homers. Senior Dallas Bencomo added 16 more as Mayfield launched balls out of parks at a historic pace.

The power, the players insist, was not accidental.

“We work out a lot,” Ponce said. “We always make sure we prioritize extra work and get stronger.”

Ponce even balanced softball season with powerlifting competitions.

“I’d leave practice and have Dallas take me back to the school, and I’d go deadlift,” she said.

That work ethic showed itself most clearly when Mayfield faced pressure. The Rio Rancho game nearly became the season’s defining stumble. The Trojans trailed 4-2 entering the seventh inning and, unusually, had not hit a home run.

“I think first round,” Roberto said when asked about tournament stress. “That was actually a close game. We started wanting to do too much.”

Bencomo said the breakthrough was mental as much as physical.

“We’re a very mental team,” she said. “Sometimes you just need a little breakthrough to get through.”

Mayfield got it. The Trojans scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to survive and advance, then seemed to release everything they had stored up offensively.

Against Cleveland in the semifinals, Mayfield trailed 7-5 before erupting for four runs in the sixth inning. Against Las Cruces in the championship game, the avalanche arrived all at once.

“It feels like an energy that flows through us,” Ponce said. “One person can start it off with a simple base hit, and everybody just wants to keep it going. The energy keeps flowing and it gets stronger.”

Bencomo described it as contagious.

“One person gets a really strong hit and comes in screaming, ‘Come on, let’s do this,’” she said. “It lights a fire on everybody. Everybody wants to be the next one.”

The lineup drew headlines, but Mayfield’s pitching depth helped complete the championship run.

Freshman Audrina Guillen and sophomore Ariana Lujan handled major innings throughout the season, while senior pitcher Angelina Ramirez delivered an emotional return after missing most of the year recovering from hip surgery for a bone cyst.

Ramirez pitched five strong innings in the semifinal win over Las Cruces.

“I’m honestly just really grateful,” Ramirez said. “Coming off an injury, I’m grateful my team brought me here as a senior. I’ll forever chase that feeling for the rest of my life.”

For longtime head coach Dan Dominguez, the title represented years of building.

Dominguez, now in his 12th season as head coach after years coaching baseball and youth softball, said he believed the potential existed from the beginning.

“We had a really good group coming in,” he said. “As long as we kept them working hard and disciplined, we were going to have a chance.”

The players felt it too.

“I think from last season we had a lot of hunger,” Roberto said. “The way we ended our season last year lit a fire under us.”

What Mayfield became by the end of this season may be even more significant than the championship itself.

Most of the core returns. Roberto is only a sophomore. Ponce is a junior. Guillen is a freshman. Much of the roster that powered the Trojans to one of the most dominant seasons in New Mexico history is still growing.

Ponce said the expectations inside the program are not going away.

“We all have one goal,” she said. “And obviously we accomplished that goal, but it doesn’t stop. We’re never satisfied.”