Saturday, March 22, 2008

The 4-1 Lady Eagles take on Capital, Los Alamos

Duane Barbati News-Bulletin Staff Writer; dbarbati@news-bulletin.com

Albuquerque The Belen Lady Eagles softball racked up one more in the win column bringing their winning streak to three. Belen, already posting a better record then last year's 2-4 start, defeated Albuquerque High 5-4 Tuesday.

Jasmine Gabaldon got on base with a walk in the seventh inning followed Rhianna Trujillo hit a single, which put Gabaldon in scoring position. Chavez smacked a shot to centerfield for a double, which brought Gabaldon home for the winning run.

The Eagles (4-1) scored four runs in the second inning only after the Bulldogs had scored one run in the first. Trujillo smacked a double to center to get the second inning going for Belen. After BHS loaded the bases, Catherine Baca hit a single to bring in Trujillo and RaeAnn Chavez. Justine Gallegos came up to bat and hit a triple to score Amber Jaramillo and Baca. The Class 4A Eagles did leave Gallegos on base, but had a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the second.

Albuquerque High scored two runs in the second inning, which left them only one run behind Belen 4-3. The Class 5A Bulldogs (0-6) tied the game 4-4 in the fourth when Mariah Morris hit a triple to score base runner Abby Rubio after a pitch hit her, but Morris was left on third at the end of the inning.

Belen loaded the bases in the sixth inning, but was unable to capitalize with runners in scoring position. After the Eagles took a 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh, Baca, Belen's pitcher, set the Bulldogs down in order in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win.

The Eagles stranded a total of 10 base runners in the game.

"It was a good win," said BHS coach Ken Zamora. "Our defense held tough even though we left a lot of runners on base. We got the hits when we needed them. I am really proud of them."

The Eagles are scheduled to host Capital on Saturday in an 11 a.m. game. Belen is scheduled to travel to Los Alamos on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Though Capital lost its first seven games of the season, all by 10 runs or more, Zamora knows any team on the Eagles' schedule can get hot one day.

"They're all good teams," said Zamora. "One game at a time."

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