The younger Pendley, who is OU-bound to join her older sister Shelby, tore it up at both the New Mexico Class 5A state track meet and the 5A softball championship series:
By James Yodice and Geoff Grammer / Journal Staff Writers
PUBLISHED: Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 12:05 am
On the eve of one of the more impressive athletic achievements in New Mexico high school sports in some time, Nicole Pendley wasn’t worried she was being overly ambitious.
As if the prospect of running a leg in the 4×100 relay for the Rio Rancho girls track team before trying to repeat as Class 5A champion in the javelin, and then crossing the street in the afternoon to pitch the Rams softball team to a state championship wasn’t enough, Pendley knew she needed more.
“She called me (Friday night) and she said, ‘I suck. I’ve got to hit in the morning. What time can you be there (at Rio Rancho High to get in some early morning batting practice)?’ ” said Rams softball coach Paul Kohman. “I said, ‘Whenever you want.’ She came out and hit in the morning before she ever went and (competed in track).”
And when she traded her baseball cleats for track spikes later in the morning, if the nerves were getting to her, she wasn’t showing it at the University of New Mexico Track Complex.
“I think it’s fun,” she said. “I like to compete. It’s all just a mental game for me. If I tell myself I can do it, I can do it.”
The day that started with self-imposed batting practice quickly turned to track. After running the relay, Pendley waited until her final throw of the day to make history. She used her left arm to launch the javelin 142 feet, farther than any girl had ever thrown at a state meet.
“I don’t like being beat,” she said. “In my head, no one can stop me.”
She finished about 15 feet ahead of runner-up Alexx Zumbrun from Carlsbad and 6 inches ahead of St. Pius’ Alix Membreno, who held the overall record at 141-6 in 2008.
“She’s a hell of an athlete,” said Ally Salata, a former Rio Rancho athlete who was the state runner-up in the javelin to Pendley last year. “She has a hell of an arm.”
Pendley joked that her dramatic flair may have been a little poke at her coach.
“I think it’s funny,” Pendley said amid congratulations from friends and coaches. “I like to scare my coach (Nate Pino). I usually wait until the last throw to do good.”
Pino, who talked Pendley into throwing javelin last spring when she took a season off from softball, said he’s blown away by Pendley’s abilities.
“That’s what people don’t realize,” Pino said. “She pitched 21 innings (on Thursday and Friday), and she ran two relays (Friday). It’s impressive.”
As for her softball coach, he was less surprised.
“She was talking this smack (at batting practice) about, ‘If I hit 130 (feet in the javelin), coach Pino said that’s all I’ll need,’ ” Kohman said. “I said, ‘That’s BS, kid. You’re setting a state record today. And then you’re going to come win a state tournament for softball.’”
As Nicole was making the quick uniform change to get to Lobo Field, her mom, Jeri Pendley, was anxiously manning the cell phone getting text message updates on how her other daughter – former Rio Rancho star Shelby Pendley – was faring in Oklahoma’s NCAA Regional victory over Texas A&M. The elder sister hit two home runs and picked up the win in relief.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous in my life,” Jeri Pendley admitted.
She’ll have more time for that next year when the Pendley sisters play together at OU.
Maybe feeling the effects of her ambitious day, Nicole Pendley walked three in the first inning against Oñate. She would walk six in the game and the Knights beat the Rams 6-3 in the first of a two-game series, becoming the first New Mexico team to beat Rio Rancho this season.
“It got me kind of mad,” Nicole said of her early struggles. “But stuff happens.”
The Rams won the clinching game 9-4 in eight innings, and Pendley went the distance. The pitcher said she never doubted her team’s ability to hoist the blue trophy.
“It was a crazy day,” she said. “When I woke up, it felt like Christmas. Right now I’m just so happy I was able to do this with all my teammates, but yeah, it was a long day.”
But one she will no doubt remember for a long time.
