Chinle improves to 6-0 in 3A North

KAYENTA – The Chinle baseball team ran its 3A North Region record to 6-0 on Monday afternoon.

The Wildcats (7-5 overall) nailed 11 hits en route to a 11-0 five-inning shutout win over the Monument Valley Mustangs (1-9) as Chinle was coming off a 12-9 win over New Mexico’s Miyamura High School on Saturday afternoon.

“Things were actually really slow for us today, coming off that game last Saturday,” longtime Chinle coach Charles Kimbrough said. “I think the guys were a little tired. The pitching was excellent. We threw two relievers at them.”

Chinle led 1-0 after two innings but its bats came alive in the top of the fourth with the Wildcats stringing together five singles. The Kimbrough-coached team also took advantage of three balks committed by MV freshman Joshua Madison. One of those infractions led to a run-scoring bulk.

In that inning, senior Kennon Sorrel led off with a double as Chinle plated seven runs for an 8-1 advantage.

“At the beginning, we kind of started off slow,” Chinle catcher Hage Tsosie said. “We were just kind of watching the ball, just trying to get a feel of their pitcher.”

And when they did, Tsosie said they were able to hit more groundballs, which produced more runs.

“He was throwing some sliders and curves,” Tsosie said of MV’s Madison. “His off-speed really messed up our batters quite a bit, so that was one thing we struggled with. But when we made those adjustments, it really helped with our confidence, especially with some of our younger guys.”

Junior centerfielder Mackaden Arthur agreed.

“We just had to regroup,” Arthur said. “I mean, we struggled but all of sudden we picked it up because some of us were not hitting there at the start.”

In the top of the fifth, Chinle put the game out of reach as Tsosie homered to left field, scoring three runs to enforce the 10-run rule after MV completed its turn at bat.

“It felt pretty good,” Tsosie said of his three-run homer. “I’ve been hitting OK, but it brought my confidence back up. It was a nice line drive.

“When it came off my bat, I knew it was gone,” he added.

Tsosie, Arthur, and Sorrell led Chinle’s attack with two hits each.

In the circle, junior Covington Jones got the start and pitched three innings while Arthur came in relief and hurled two innings for the Wildcats. The two pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts with five each.

For MV, Madison pitched five innings as he surrendered 11 hits, three earned, on 11 hits. He finished the contest with four strikeouts.

“He’s our ace pitcher,” MV assistant coach Chance Littleben said. “We have three more years with him, which is great. He threw a lot of fastballs, and he was painting them where we wanted him to.

“He was throwing inside and outside,” he added. “With his curveball he would chase hitters.”

Littleben, who is an alumni of MV, spoke on behalf of head coach Andrew Cutler. Cutler was not available for comment as the first-year coach left the field immediately after the game.

“We played solid defense from the first inning to the third,” Littleben said. “We were playing really good defense, and then we our errors happened. We have a young team. We have four juniors, and the rest are freshmen so when we start making errors, it’s a snowball effect. We just try to encourage them to keep going.”

Both teams will be playing at this weekend’s Epic Tourneys Baseball Classic down in the Valley.

Following that tournament, the Mustangs will have four 3A North Region games starting with Ganado on Apr. 14. MV will then host Window Rock in a doubleheader on Apr. 17 before traveling to Tuba City on Apr. 21.

Chinle, meanwhile, has Tuba City on Apr. 14, Ganado on Apr. 16 and Page on Apr. 21.

In the latest Arizona Interscholastic Association rankings, Chinle is sitting No. 23 while Monument Valley is at No. 41.

The 3A North Region tournament is scheduled for Apr. 25-26 at the Page Sports Complex. The two teams that make the championship game of the six-team 3A North tournament will earn at least a bid to the AIA 3A Play-In game.

“We just got to play normal ball, relax and get after at it,” Kimbrough said of finishing off region play as the Wildcats are seeking to earn the No. 1 seed. “We just have to get our act together and started focusing. When these guys are on task, they’re unbeatable.”

---