Chinle ends drought, wins region trophy

TUBA CITY

It took five years for a Don Kimbrough coached team to win a 3A North Region tournament crown.

Since taking over the Chinle baseball program at the start of the 2015 season, winning the regional tournament always seemed to wiggle out of their reach. On Saturday, the Wildcats ended that drought in dominating fashion as they upended Page by a 16-1 count.

“It means everything for us,” Kimbrough said. “This has eluded us – the region trophy – for five years. We’ve always gone to state but we haven’t won this thing until now. We finally have that region trophy.”

The Wildcats scored seven runs in the second and fourth to run-rule the Sand Devils in five innings.

“Our hitting came alive,” Kimbrough said of the 13 hits his team registered.

In four plate appearances, junior shortstop Myren Hoskie scored three runs as he finished the contest with three hits, including a pair of doubles.

“They just tell me to get on base any way I can,” the teams’ leadoff hitter said. “I just run the bases and my teammates do their jobs to get me home.”

Junior Anthony Yazzie went 2 for 3 with a two-run double and a single. Freshman Jake Guy was also 2 for 3 with a pair of singles while sophomore Jermaine Jones added a pair of singles.

The Wildcats also got a nice swing from senior Nelson Lynch who brought in two runs in the second inning. The left outfielder brought in another run in the next inning as he finished with 3 RBIs.

Three other players got on base as the Wildcats got contributions from the entire lineup. Of the 16 runs, half of them were earned as Page rotated four pitchers.

“Our defense just fell apart,” Page coach Chuck Sharp said of his teams’ nine errors. “We struggled with pitching as well but we really struggled with our defense.”

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