Lady Bengals hold off Broncos in chilly district opener

By Lee Begaye
Special to the Times

GALLUP — On a frigid spring evening with wind chills near 30 degrees, the Gallup Lady Bengals (6-7, 1-0) opened their District 1-4A title defense with a narrow 10-9 victory over the Kirtland Central Lady Broncos (8-10, 0-1) on Thursday night.

Gallup scored 10 of its runs in the first four innings, including a four-run burst in the fourth. The Lady Broncos clawed back into the game with a four-run fifth and continued to chip away, but ultimately fell just short under the lights.

Gallup junior Morgan Belone pitched a complete game, throwing 117 pitches while allowing nine runs on 17 hits and striking out five. For the Lady Broncos, junior Rory Benally started the game and pitched 3.2 innings, giving up 10 runs on 12 hits—including two home runs—while recording four strikeouts. Hailey Loyd came in as relief and quieted Gallup’s bats, allowing just three hits and no runs over the final 4.1 innings.

Kirtland Central struck first in the top of the first when freshman Easton Myhers smashed a leadoff home run over the left field fence. Belone settled in to strike out freshman Elaina Hosteen for the final out.

Then at the plate, Belone answered back with a two-run home run of her own, scoring sophomore Madison Martinez and giving Gallup a 2-1 lead.

The Lady Broncos retook the lead in the second, highlighted by Loyd’s aggressive base running and a steal of home, putting Kirtland up 3-2. But Belone locked in, shutting down the Broncos over the next two innings while her team continued to build a lead.

In the third, Gallup added two runs to go up 6-3. The fourth inning was the turning point: Kirtland Central struck out twice and went scoreless while Gallup exploded with four more runs, capped by a home run from McKenzie Notah that drove in two RBIs.

That outburst earned the Lady Bengals a 10-3 cushion.

Kirtland made a pitching change late in the fourth, bringing in Loyd, who quickly recorded the final out of the inning.

From there, the Lady Broncos mounted their comeback. In the top of the fifth, Myhers hit her second home run of the game to lead a four-run rally, cutting the deficit to 10-7.

Gallup’s bats went cold, going three up, three down in the bottom half. Kirtland added one more run in the sixth and a final score in the seventh, pulling within one at 10-9. But Gallup held firm, closing out the final inning for the win.

“We were hot at the bat in the first couple of innings, but after Rory Benally went out, I think our girls kind of relaxed a bit,” said Gallup head coach Chris Belone. “We started struggling at the plate. Our girls know Rory from summer travel ball. Plus, the cold weather definitely cooled off our bats.”

Reflecting on his team’s current three-game win streak, coach Belone added, “Since the beginning of the season, we’ve played a lot of 5A schools. We lost some of those games, but it showed us where we needed to improve. We’re still a young team, but we’re starting to come together.”

Kirtland Central head coach Dillon Mason took pride in his team’s resilience.

“We started off strong, but that fourth inning is where we began to struggle,” he said. “We bounced back and came within one. If we had tied it, I think we could’ve won it in the eighth.”

Mason also explained the decision to change pitchers.

“The switch had nothing to do with Rory’s performance,” the KC coach said. “Gallup was hitting the fastball well, and our fielding got sloppy, so we went with a change-up pitcher and challenged our defense to step up—and they did.”

As for the weather, Mason wasn’t fazed.

“This cold is just part of the game,” he said. “I don’t believe it was a factor. We’ll always play at 110%—no matter the conditions.”

The Lady Bengals extended their win streak to four games on Saturday afternoon with a 17-0 road victory over the Chinle Lady Wildcats. They will travel to Bloomfield (4-11) on Tuesday evening for their next district matchup.

As for Kirtland Central, the Lady Broncos will return home to host the Miyamura Lady Patriots (8-5) on Tuesday evening as district play continues.

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