The Centennial High School Softball Head Coach Fernie Valles finishes off his coaching career with a dominant season after going 30-0 and winning the state championship.
Valles retires this summer.
The team secured a resounding win over La Cueva High School in the final game with a 10-1 victory making them just the 8th team in New Mexico history to go undefeated in a season and ranked as the 22nd best team nationally by MaxPreps, a source for high school sports.
This continues the success of the previous seasons where they went 90-5 over the last three years.
Valles said he had some concerns before the season started.
“I had a lot of youngsters coming in because I lost seven players from the previous year,” Valles said. “We played some summer games that we didn’t think we were going to make it.”
After some practice and a couple of close games with Mayfield and Organ Mountain High Schools, Valles said that “We started playing good after the first tournament. We went to Albuquerque and that’s when I said, ‘Wow, we really have a chance here.’”
This season wraps up Valles’ softball coaching career as he is retiring with plans of coaching his grandsons.
“I just enjoyed coaching these girls for a lot of years,” Valles said. “It is rewarding to see them head to college and graduate from school.”
This state championship marks the third in Valles’ more than 40 year-long coaching career.
