Alchesay’s Rueben Cosay hits walk-off single in Falcons 4-3 win over Chinle

PAGE – A walk-off single from second baseman Reuben Cosay capped a remarkable come-from-behind 4-3 win for the Alchesay baseball team.

The top-seeded Falcons (18-6 overall) trailed second seed Chinle 3-0 in the championship game of the 3A North Region tournament on Saturday at the Page Sports Complex, but Alchesay found some new life in the bottom of the sixth to tie the contest.

Alchesay evened the score thanks to a two-run double by first baseman Brett Cosay that gave the Falcons the momentum it needed to clinch the region title.

After a scoreless seventh, Alchesay batted three consecutive singles in the eighth frame, with Cosay’s RBI single bringing in leadoff hitter Chauncey Newhall home.

“It wasn’t really a good hit,” Cosay said. “It was inside, and it jammed me, but I got a good swing on it.”

The game winning hit dropped in the right field as Cosay was met by high-fives and hugs from his teammates when the umpires called the game.

“This is what it’s all about,” Alchesay coach Ramon Acosta said. “We had the first and second place teams battling it out for the region tournament. We went extra innings and, you know, luck played a small part in the final outcome.

“We were lucky to bat (the eighth inning) at the top of our lineup,” he added. “I thought we would have a good chance there and Rueben made contact. He’s my go-to-guy because he’s always making contact no matter what. I told the guys that if we can get Chauncey on, we should be there, and it worked out.”

Alchesay had a tough time hitting off Wildcat starting pitcher Hage Tsosie. Through six-plus innings, Tsosie gave up four singles and retired 17 batters before he was relieved.

The Falcons did load the bases in the bottom of the first frame, but the Chinle right-handed pitcher forced the first out at home plate. He then caught Alchesay’s Alex Cosay off the bag at third base for another out.

Tsosie ended Alchesay’s threat by striking out midfielder Kyrin Ivins for his first of nine strikeouts.

“He’s a good pitcher and we couldn’t hit off of him,” Rueben said of Tsosie. “I’m glad that they had to change him out. We finally found our bats after Chinle changed him. We needed a different look to get our bats going.”

After Tsosie walked the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth, Chinle replaced him with backup pitcher Koen Kee. The Falcons got on board with an inadvertent balk from Kee.

Two batters later Brett Cosay nailed a two-run double a few yards away from the warning track in midfield that tied the contest at 3-all.

“I have to give a shout out to my cousin, Brett, for hitting that double,” Rueben said. “We really needed that hit. It was really good and that got us the momentum. It was just a good hit.”

Despite coming up short in the championship game, Chinle coach Charles Kimbrough was pleased that his team made the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) play-in game.

The Wildcats earned their spot after beating Page, 10-0, Saturday morning in the first of two semifinals. In the final AIA statewide rankings posted on Tuesday, Chinle garnered the No. 26 spot as the Wildcats bumped No. 24 Tonopah Valley for the final play-in spot of the 3A tournament.

“I think we showed our true colors on how we played,” said Kimbrough, whose team dropped to 15-12 overall. “We played some outstanding teams here with Alchesay and Page. We’re going to regroup and go forward from here.”

Chinle would have played at No. 9 seed Tucson Tanque Verde Wednesday afternoon. Alchesay, meanwhile, earned the No. 18 seed and the Falcons traveled to No. 15 Blue Ridge.

Results for the play-in games were not available as the paper went to print.

“I’m really proud of the guys,” Kimbrough said. “We really didn’t make any errors other than a bobbled ball. We had some outstanding plays from Morgan Mitchell, Koen Kee, Hage Tsosie, LJ Gray and Duane Ayze.”

As for Tsosie, the Chinle coach said his starting pitcher had not pitched in a while.

“Hage did really well,” Kimbrough said. “He’s got some breaking speed and they couldn’t hit off of him”

The Chinle coach expects to have ace pitcher Morgan Mitchell back on the mound, with Tsosie moving back into the catcher’s position against Tanque Verde.

“We’re going to have some guys ready to play and Morgan is going to be off the pitch count,” he said.

In Saturday’s finale, the Wildcats scattered 10 hits with Hage Tsosie going 3-for-4 at the plate and scoring two runs. Morgan Mitchell added two hits and an RBI.

Alchesay finished with eight hits with Alex Cosay leading the way with three hits while Rueben Cosay added two.

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