MV, Alchesay both take win in doubleheader

KAYENTA

The Alchesay softball team traveled to Kayenta to dual Monument Valley High last Friday.

It was a day of surprises for the softball team as the Lady Falcons lost the first game to Monument Valley 17-7. Alchesay got its revenge, though, in the second game, in which the team won 20-15.

Heavy hitters

The Lady Mustangs caught Alchesay off guard in the first game with its heavy hitters. Monument Valley made eight runs in the first inning of the game – nearly everyone on the batting roster.

Alchesay tried to adjust, but the hits kept coming while MV’s defense held firm, with its pitcher making eight strikeouts. The Lady Mustangs eventually won 17-7, much to their coach Armanda Gamble’s delight.

“We’ve come a long way. We did have some girls that have really improved, and that’s what I like to see as a coach,” Gamble said. “Coaches like to win but, in my case, as long as the girls have fun, as long as they’re stepping up, as long as they’re making corrections.

“There is talent there,” she said. “And, just coming back from the pandemic, two years of not playing, that really played a factor into a lot of the games we played out there.”

However, by the start of the second game, the Lady Falcons readjusted to Monument Valley’s aggressiveness.

Niaomi Benally took the pitch, but the Lady Falcons started the game strong. Mikaela Colby hit a double, resulting in two RBIs, the game’s first points.

Alchesay ended its first inning with 5 runs, but MV responded immediately with Shree Yazzie hitting a home run for the Lady Mustang’s very first bat.

Alchesay steadily made its way around the bases through most of the game, making multiple steals.

Yazzie came in as the new pitcher for MV in the third inning.

During the fourth inning, MV started to close in on Alchesay, just four points from the lead. Lady Mustang Kalanie Blackwater hit another home run in the sixth inning, bringing them closer to the lead with 18-15. Alchesay was nervous, but they held steady and pulled ahead, ensuring its win with the final score of 20-15.

“We came around the last two games with our hitting, and even the underclassmen are learning to adjust to the pitches, but overall I think we started better the first game with our hitting, second game, I think we’ve kind of laid back a little too much,” Gamble said.

Teamwork

Despite the loss in the second game, she said she is proud of her girls and that as a coach, nothing makes her feel better than seeing the team learning and adapting after each game.

She praised the team for their strong hitting, the pitchers for their efforts, and their players who recovered from injuries to come back to the team.

In turn, coach Brianna Enfield for Alchesay was glad that her team won the second game after being caught off guard by MV.

“Pretty intense,” Enfield said. “I think that the main part of it is that we’re learning about growth mindset and making sure that no matter what – whether our backs are against the wall or not, we’re always moving forward and never looking back.

She highlights Sierra Lister’s pitches for striking out her opponents and Jaylyn Nashio for making good hits that helped bring their score up.

Lister made multiple strikes through both games with a total of 11 strikeouts. In the fifth inning, Nashio took over and got one strikeout.

Enfield congratulates MV for a good game, saying the team was the most challenging hitting team they’ve met all year and got the girls to play an intense game and have an opportunity to improve.

“Our goal every single game is just to do better than we did the game before,” Enfield said. “We remember what rock bottom feels like, and so we just don’t want to be at rock bottom anymore.

“We just want to grow every game,” she said, “and whether we win or lose, we fight every day until the finish.”

Team hope

For Monument Valley, Adrianna Dominguez was the pitcher for most of the first and second games. Yazzie stepped up in the third inning and got two dropped strikeouts and one strikeout.

The schools’ respective baseball teams were also playing that day. The Falcons would win both games with 13-3 in the first game and 19-6 in the second.

The Alchesay baseball team is ranked No. 3 in the 3A North and has won 7-10 games this season. Meanwhile, the Lady Falcons is No. 4 in the region, with 5-12 wins this year.

Lister, a Lady Falcon pitcher, said the team’s biggest hope is that they make it to regionals and potential state.

“So, we never gave up,” she said. “Everyone kept adding, and it took them a while to adjust to the pitcher and everything.

“And I’m really proud of them outfielders; they did really good,” she said, “The balls are coming to them, and the pitchers are really good.”

She believes the team has potential, admitting the beginning of the year-needed improvement, but they are eager to continue playing since then.

“The season’s going good,” Lister said. “I think that at the beginning of the season, we struggled a little, especially on our batting, but now that we found our lineup, everything’s going good.

“I love being around the team because they make everything fun,” she added. “They make the season fun, all the jokes, and the laughter, which is what it’s all about.”

For Monument Valley, the Mustangs are No. 6 while sporting 4-14 wins this season and the Lady Mustangs are No.5 with 6-11 wins.

Almost all the teams had a shaky beginning this year as most of their ranks are filled with new players, an aftereffect of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have also begun to accumulate wins in the later season as they gain experience.

The teams will potentially face each other again this week as they play in the 3A North Tournament in Chinle.

---