Alchesay downs Window Rock
for Joseph City Invite crown

JOSEPH CITY, Ariz. – A 12-hit effort and solid pitching from senior Alex Cosay helped Alchesay to the team title at the Joseph City Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

The Falcons trailed Window Rock 1-0 in the bottom of the second, but a second-inning, six-run rally gave Alchesay all the momentum to close out a 10-1 win.

“This is a good momentum builder that we have going,” said Alchesay coach Ramon Acosta, whose team improved to 5-1 overall. “It all comes down to the pitching, and I have to credit my pitcher Alex Cosay. He did a real good job and he kept them off-balance. I was about to take him out because he was reaching about 85 pitches left and you could tell he was struggling, you know, throwing strikes.

“Everything was either high or low, so I was about to make a change,” he added. “But then he settled down and he was able to finish off the game.”

Cosay gave up one run on three hits while fanning out 10 Window Rock batters.

“He’s one of my top two pitchers on the team, and I was saving him just in case we got to a championship game,” Acosta said.

Offensively, Cosay was one of three batters to record two hits as freshman Chez Massey and junior Kyrin Ivins matched him.

The Falcons opened Saturday’s title game with some solid cracks on the bat, but Window Rock played some superb defense for a 1-2-3 inning. The Scouts got the first out when leadoff hitter Japeth Henry tried to extend his hit in left field for a double.

“He got thrown out a second and Window Rock made a good defensive play there,” Acosta said. “Our next guy, he hit a sharp hard ground ball to second and their second baseman made a good play and threw him out. Our third batter hit a line shot and the outfielder caught it.

“We made contact in the first inning, but we couldn’t score,” the Alchesay coach added.

The Fighting Scouts were the first to score as sophomore Logan Perry opened the top of second with a single. Two batters later, freshman Desean Morgan put Perry at home with a sacrifice ground out for a 1-0 lead.

Alchesay, however, plated six runs to cap the inning as Window Rock senior Xavier Young issued three walks and gave up four hits. The biggest hit came from junior left fielder Liam Thompson as he cleared the bases for a 4-1 advantage.

“He took it a pitch outside, and he drove it to right field, over the right fielder,” Acosta said of Thompson. “He actually hit it well and the right fielder didn’t have a chance, so that is how he got his three RBIs in that inning.”

With the momentum, Alchesay plated three more runs to close out the second. The Falcons added two more runs in the fourth and fifth for its 10-1 win.

“We put the ball in play, and Window Rock made a couple of errors, so it gave us a chance to get some guys on the bases,” Acosta said of their scoring spree. “Little by little we made contact and we were able to score.”

To reach the championship game, Alchesay edged the co-op team of El Capitan/Fredonia in Friday’s semifinals. The Falcons won 14-13.

“We were up 10-4 going into the fifth inning,” Acosta said. “But they had a big inning, and they came back and scored seven runs and they went up 11-10. We came back in the bottom on that inning and we jumped ahead by a run.

“In the top of the seventh, El Capitan took the lead and they were up 13-12,” he added. “I had the top of the lineup coming up and, needless to say, we were able to score a couple of runs to score a walk-off win.

Acosta will be without one of his ace pitcher in senior Brett Cosay (no relation to Alex Cosay) as the Falcons will resume regular season play by hosting Globe on Thursday before traveling to play the Chinle Wildcats on Saturday. Last season, Alchesay defeated the Wildcats 4-3 in a walk off victory in the 3A North Region Championship game.

“I think I’m going to save Alex for the Chinle game because that’s more than of rivalry game for us,” Acosta said. “You know, we beat them last time during the tournament and we ended up first in the region. I think they’re wanting to get after us.

“They want to give us a hard time and try to beat us,” he added.

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