MV softball evens region record with 12-8 win over Chinle

KAYENTA – This was much-needed win for the Monument Valley Mustang softball team.

On Monday afternoon, MV exacted some revenge on 3A North foe Chinle on the softball diamond as the Mustangs pulled out 12-8 win.

“This is a good win for us,” said MV coach Armanda Gamble, whose team improved to 6-5 overall and 3-3 in region play. “When we played (Chinle) at the beginning of the season, we lost by one run, so we had to make some adjustments.

“We had a lot of good batting, and some good defensive plays, so it was a really huge win for us,” she added.

The biggest defensive play came in the top of the seventh when senior shortstop Adrianna Dominguez completed a 6-4 double play with second baseman Meya-Raye Bahe.

“That’s probably our first double play of the season, but we do practice that,” Gamble said. “Luckily, our shortstop caught the ball and threw it to second. Sometimes they’re unsure of should I take it myself or should I throw to the person covering second.

“She was there, and she got that double play,” the MV coach added.

Dominguez, who pitched the 1.2 innings, sensed that the ball was going to come to her based on where Chinle was placing the ball.

“They were hitting right in between second and short, so I positioned myself to be closer to second,” Dominguez said.

The Wildcats opened the game with two runs scored, but MV came right back to cap the first frame leading 3-2.

In the next frame, Chinle took advantage of three walks as the Wildcats plated five runs on two hits for a 7-3 cushion. Of those two hits, Chinle second baseman Tatum Tom drove in three runs with a triple as she hit her third offering in left field.

MV got four of those runs back, including a two-run single from Lenaya Chief as MV tied the contest at 7-all heading in the third.

The game was tied once more in the top of the fifth, but MV took the lead for good when it completed its bat for a 11-8 cushion heading into the sixth as Dominguez nailed a run-run single. Chief then followed with an RBI single that scored Dominguez.

“We started off strong, when we got that 7-3 lead,” Chinle coach Myron Haskie said. “After that I don’t know what happened to our bats. We tried to keep encouraging them, and we tried to get them back up there. We just couldn’t manage to get those bats going again.

“We got a few hits, here and there, but they were little hits made in the infield,” he added. “We just couldn’t get anything to move our girls who were on base.”

In that last inning, the Chinle team had its 4-5-6 batters up, but that double play doomed their chances for a comeback.

“That hurt,” Haskie said. “With our lineup, we try to spread them out evenly. Some girls, you know, can hit and get on base more than the other girls so we try to space it out.”

Hitting-wise, Chinle finished with nine hits with Tatum Tom, Bryonna Hoskie, Skylar Dean and Charmayne Charley getting two hits each.

Sophomore ace Charmayne Charley went the distance as she gave up 12 hits on 19 hits.

Of those hits, MV had five batters – Hailey Etsitty, Nannabah Haskan, Blessing Bitsuie, Chief, and Dominguez – connecting on three hits each.

MV freshman Blu Peterman earned the win as she pitched 5.1 innings. She surrendered three runs on nine hits as she relied on her defense to back her up.

“I feel like our batting got better, and our pitching is getting more accurate,” Peterman said. “It’s getting there, and our fielding has improved a lot.”

The Chinle coach acknowledged the loss puts them out of contention for the No. 1 seed in the 3A North Region tournament. Earlier this season, the Wildcats had beaten Page 7-4 as the two teams had one loss each before Monday’s game.

The Wildcats are now 4-2 in the region race while Page sits at 7-1 with a few weeks left in the season.

“When we played them, we took our A-game to Page,” Haskie said. “You know, we’re not always going to have a perfect game, but they were pretty much on point with defense, especially our bats on that day.

“That was how we managed to get by Page,” he added. “Yeah, that was a pretty good win for us and I was hoping it would boost our confidence to get it going.”

The rematch with Page will take place on Apr. 21 in Chinle.

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