Gallup earns fourth consecutive trip to 4A title game
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Gallup sophomore Morgan Belone swings her bat Friday during the New Mexico Class 4A state softball playoffs against the Silver Lady Colts. Gallup advanced with a 4-1 win.
RIO RANCHO, N.M.
The Class 4A softball championship will feature two familiar foes: Gallup and Artesia.
The top-seeded Lady Bengals earned their ticket Friday morning with a tough 4-1 win over No. 3 Silver in the winner’s bracket of the double elimination tournament at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho.
Artesia, the No. 5 seed, had to work its way through the elimination rounds as the Bulldogs won three straight games on Friday to reach Saturday’s finals, which starts at 10 a.m. at the UNM Lobo Softball Field in Albuquerque.
This is Gallup’s fourth consecutive trip to the 4A title game as the Haines-coached team is seeking its second state championship.
“We’re not taking this for granted because it’s tough to get into the state championship game,” Gallup coach William Haines said. “There’s a lot of tough teams like Sliver, Artesia and Lovington, so it’s tough to get back there.
“But we’re happy to be back here again,” he added.
The two squads met earlier in the tournament with the Bengals posting a 6-2 win over Artesia on Thursday, sending the Bulldogs into the elimination rounds. An “if game” is scheduled for 2 p.m. should Gallup drop the first contest.
“We just have to play our game,” Haines said of coming out on top. “We just have to be smart and be ready to play.”
In Friday’s win the Bengals put across two runs in the bottom of the second frame. Silver starting pitcher Ariel Alvarado issued a pair of walks to Victoria Zarate and Leia Tso with no outs.
A nicely placed bunt by Yanabah Harvey scored Gallup’s first run, and two batters later senior SJ Haines hit her first offering in left field that was caught by Silver’s Mia Sanchez.
But a tag up by Tso earned Gallup a 2-0 cushion.
The Lady Colts cut that lead in half in the top of sixth when leadoff hitter Larissa Rueda, who earned a free pass, scored on an RBI groundout from Vanessa Lucero.
Gallup, however, responded in a big way to close out the sixth frame with back-to-back doubles from SJ Haines and Brenna Becenti.
Becenti’s fly ball to center scored courtesy runner Jaylah Greene, and she later scored on an RBI single from freshman Madison Martinez for a 4-1 advantage.
SJ Haines then put Gallup into Saturday’s final by retiring the side as she surrendered four hits while fanning seven batters and issuing four walks.
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Gallup ace SJ Haines winds up a pitch to a Silver batter Friday at Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, N.M. The Lady Bengals posted a 4-1 to advance into Saturday’s championship game.
“It’s just about trusting each other,” SJ Haines said. “Once we go into our lineup we trust each other that we’re going to bring each other in.
“We also made some big plays on defense,” she added. “I think some of the plays we made brought us back up and it gave us some momentum. It’s just my team having my back.”
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow