Softball: Rodriguez no-hits Alamo, Centennial wins 5A title; Gallup's 4A run continues

May 18—Zantelle Rodriguez lost her beloved cross ring on Saturday at the UNM Softball Field.

The Centennial High School pitcher and future New Mexico State Aggie will have to settle for a Class 5A state championship ring as a replacement.

The senior ace pitched a no-hitter, striking out nine while driving in five of her team's six runs, including a three-run blast into the left-field bleachers of Game 1 Saturday to help No. 3 Centennial (31-3) beat top-seeded Alamogordo 6-0 and later beat the Tigers 6-5 in the a decisive Game 2, clinching the school's second state championship.

"I haven't had many like that I can remember," Rodriguez said of the Game 1 performance. "I'm sure I've never had a game like that one with what the game meant for this team, especially."

The stellar Game 1 performance gave the Hawks a second chance in the double-elimination tournament to beat Alamogordo, a team that defeated Centennial two out of three times in the regular season.

And before that second game could happen, Rodriguez needed to find her ring.

While the Class 4A championship was going on, and her teammates were resting, thinking about Game 2, Rodriguez retraced her steps, walked around the dugout and UNM's softball field, her team bus and dug through several bags, several times, looking for the ring.

No luck. And now it was time for Game 2.

"I think maybe it took my mind off playing," Rodriguez said. "Maybe it was a good thing so I didn't get overwhelmed."

Rodriguez, who pitched two of Centennial's four games on Friday to get to the championship series and having just thrown seven no-hit innings earlier in the day, pitched the first five innings of Game 2 before she clearly had nothing left in her arm.

Class 5A's No. 1 Tigers and Texas A&M signee star pitcher Sydney Lessentine were hitting Rodriguez hard, including a two-run blast from Lessentine that landed in the same spot in the left-field bleachers as Rodriguez's Game 1 homer.

"I probably rode her a little too much," Centennial coach Fernie Valles admitted. "But she was throwing good game after good game. There was no way I was going to take her out. Now she has all summer to rest now," he chuckled.

In the sixth inning, though, future UNM Lobo Caprice Barela took over for her future in-state rival in the pitching circle.

With a 6-5 lead in the top of the seventh, the Tigers were threatening with runners on first and second and one out.

Alamogordo freshman Daviana Gonzalez laced a rocket right back at Barela, who somehow got her glove up in time to catch the ball for the second out and instantly spun around and threw to second base to double-up Alamogordo's Hailey Evans for a championship-clinching double play.

All that's left now is the ring shopping.

Class 4A

The title of "softball powerhouse" isn't handed out to just anyone in the state of New Mexico.

It's an exclusive club that the Gallup Bengals decided they were done waiting to be invited into.

The No. 1 seeded Bengals clipped No. 5 Artesia 7-1 in the Class 4A state championship deciding Game 2 on Saturday at UNM, giving the program that had never been to a state title game before 2021 its second championship to go along with two runners-up trophies in the past four seasons, capping a stellar run for a graduating class that had its sights set on changing the perception of the program years ago.

"I've coached these girls in travel ball since they were 9, 10 years old — mostly all the same girls that are seniors now," said Gallup coach William Haines. "This is hard work and all the credit goes to these girls."

Seniah Haines, the coach's daughter, was 4-for-4 with a double and scored two runs in Game 2 while striking out four from the pitcher's circle, allowing just one run.

Artesia, owners of seven softball championships of its own, didn't make things easy for Gallup.

In Game 1, Artesia sophomore Kayden Apodaca hit a second inning home run to centerfield for all the offense in a stellar defensive game.

With Gallup threatening to tie in the bottom of the seventh inning trailing 1-0 with a runner on third and one out, Jayla Greene hit a fly ball to shallow center field. Artesia's hard-charging McKenna Morrison caught the ball for out No. 2 and fired a bullet to home to put out a tagging Bengals runner from third base for out No. 3, forcing the deciding Game 2.

That's where Seniah Haines took charge.

After winning her school's first softball title in 2022 thanks in part to the three-hitter she pitched in a win over Lovington, the then-sophomore ace told the Journal, "Everything we do is for each other and for the little girls in Gallup who look up to us."

So, are those little girls going to be able to carry on the tradition now that this senior class is moving on?

"Yeah, I think so," William Haines said. "Yeah, I'd say softball starting to be a thing in Gallup."