St. Augustine HS' Lourdes Gamez continues family’s athletic success

Versatile softball players are not that uncommon but maybe not to the extent that three-sport St. Augustine Catholic High School star Lourdes Gamez is.

Already an All-Region selection as a shortstop, Gamez added catcher and pitcher to her slate.

“Shortstop, that’s the position that I usually play and that’s what I like, I’ve been moved around to being catcher, so it’s a little trickier,” Gamez said. “But at the same time, I like working my hardest and if that’s where Coach needs me and I’m very thankful that I have the ability and the versatility to play multiple positions and thrive in them, so pretty good, I’m glad that I’m able to have new skills and hopefully helpful on the next level.”

St. Augustine head coach Bill Moten noted that Gamez also has to deal with a young pitching staff that can often throw the ball in the dirt.

“It’s impressive because you take a beating catching and then you have to stand up and she just jumps right into the next role,” Moten said. “And even in a pinch, she’s also pitched for us, so (she’s a) great athlete.”

She played third base when she started playing softball at around 9 years old because of her strong arm before moving to shortstop.

“So, as a short stop, I would just watch and see that the catcher and the pitcher would do most of the work and we were there defensively to back them up, but being behind the plate is kind of like one-on-one with the the pitchers trying to help ‘em through a tough game or having to help them through any slumps that they may be in,” Gamez said. “It’s definitely like a big part of being catcher, being able to be that support for them, but also kicking your butt throughout the whole game, trying to block balls, trying to be the wall in case that pitcher is throwing off that day.

“As a player that likes the sport, I put my hundred in any position I play, but being catcher that definitely made me work, like ten times harder.”

Ahead of Monday’s game, she was first on the team in home runs (5), fielding percentage (1.000), RBIs (28) and slugging (1.250), second on the team in batting (.464 average), on base percentage (.531), hits (13) and doubles (5), third in runs (12) and has a triple.

Moten said she’s “got a college arm.”

“This year I would be surprised if she didn’t become the female athlete of a year because of what she’s accomplished, if you look at playing volleyball, playing basketball and being All-Region and then here, if she does the same, but she comes from a long line of great athletes,” he said. “Her father was a great baseball player in Mexico, her other two brothers … both of them went on to college and she has the same potential.

“She’s just a gifted athlete, one of the strongest arms, when we even had some of the U of A players when we did our summer work, when you get their attention, they know when they can see it.”

Her father, Francisco Gamez, is founder and partner of the Mexican Baseball Fiesta and he played 10 years in the Mexican Pacific League.

“That event is actually my dad’s event, so, I love being able to be helping around and seeing how the teams come from out of town and seeing Tucson itself come together and especially the Hispanic community come together to watch baseball,” Gamez said. “Growing up and watching baseball like relentlessly and being around the sport, always having an opportunity to have that in town is always very exciting.”

Her brothers Juan and Alex went on to play college baseball. Juan was drafted by the Minnesota Twins and has played in AAA for the Iowa Cubs. This year he’s playing for Sultanes de Monterrey.

She said she didn’t feel pressure despite being from such an athletic family.

“I don’t wanna say there is pressure because there was never pressure from my parents to be good or to play sports,” Gamez said. “It was kind of just like seeing my brothers growing up and then playing multiple sports and being good at them, it kind of just gave me the motivation to wanna play and seeing that I was decent at multiple sports, that kind of just like fuels that motivation to keep playing.

“Seeing my older brother Alex and how dedicated he is to playing baseball, that also is like a big fire starter for me to wanna play and be successful.”

Alex played for New Mexico Junior College and Juan played for North Dakota State.

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St. Francis has been talking to Lourdes and Moten expects a chance from Holy Cross, where Salpointe Catholic alum Jordan Goedel is a freshman pitcher and outfielder. Gamez wants to go to a Catholic college.

A captain for the basketball team, she played forward and was first team All-2A South last year. This season she was second team All-Region and was honorable mention as a sophomore.

In volleyball, she was a middle hitter and got All-2A South second team this year.

“I’m very thankful that I’ve had great junior and senior seasons in each sport, so I’m very thankful that I’ve been able to stick to the practices and really do my best and show up and and be able to do the best I can to the team and for the school,” Gamez said.

Nicknamed Loo Loo, in softball last year and as a freshman, she was second team All-2A South. As a sophomore she was first team All-Region.

Moten, who won the 1998 1A state championship with Desert Christian and finished second in 1997, said last Tuesday that he was impressed with her catcher skills.

“She’s had five people to attempt to steal, she’s thrown out two and the other three, she would have gotten if they had held onto the ball, but our kids got slid into and the ball got knocked out,” Moten said.

The young Wolves have started the season 4-3, 1-0 in 2A South play but scored 20 runs one game against Leading Edge Academy — Gilbert and 32 in another against the Spartans, as well as 17 against Catalina and 22 and 34 in games against Santa Rita.

“The season is kind of starting off, I don’t want to say rough because we’re coming together as a team, but it’s a mostly freshman/sophomore team,” Gamez said. “There’s only two, recurring seniors, one manager that plays sometimes and no juniors, so we’re pretty weak on the upperclassmen, but I’m excited to see how they grow and it’s going great, honestly, they’re great coaches.”

Fast Five with Lourdes Gamez

What’s your favorite sport to play?

“I think my favorite play is softball, but it honestly always depends because when I’m in volleyball, this is volleyball; when I’m in basketball, it’s basketball, so right now it’s softball but like I really can’t choose, it’s great.”

What’s your favorite position in softball?

“Oh, still shortstop.”

If you had a walk up song what would it be?

“It would be ‘Baila Conmigo,’ I don’t know if you’ve seen that but it’s like a really hype Mexican song that I really like.”

What’s the last song that you listened to? On your phone or in the car or something?

“El Mayor de los Ranas.”

What’s your favorite subject in school and why?

“My favorite subject is English. I think I’m just good at it, because I suck at math, so I have to be better at English. I think I just like word vomiting on essays and stuff.”