Connie Mack City Tournament

Posted by Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi | Jul 9, 2015 | Baseball |

Naa’taanii Pack, NM/AZ Halos battling to survive

A Naa’taanii Pack player makes his way to home plate during the opening round of the Connie Mack City Tournament game with the NM/AZ Halos team on July 6. Naa’taanii defeated the Halos, 21-4. The tournament started on Monday and will end on July 11. (Times photo – Sunnie R. Clahchischiligi)

FARMINGTON

It has become a do-or-die situation for the two Navajo teams competing in the Connie Mack City Tournament.

As of deadline, both teams were in the losers’ side of the double-elimination bracket that will conclude on Saturday with some of the games being played at Farmington Sports Complex and Ricketts Park.

Naa’taanii Pack picked up their first win of the tournament in the opening round when they defeated NM/AZ Halos, 21-4.

With the win they advanced into the next round, losing to StrikeZone-Morrissey by a 6-1 count.

Naa’taanii Pack head coach Dineh Benally said his team didn’t carry the momentum over from their first game.

“Tonight was a tough loss, we needed to win this game, we need to come back,” he said. “But it’s double elimination, so we still got a long tournament.”

Naa’taanii Pack got off to a good start Tuesday night after putting the first run on the board and leading for three and a half innings.
Benally said Naa’taanii Pack pitcher Taylor Serna held the team together on defense but their offense didn’t match up.

“We made some errors, Taylor, our pitcher did well for about four or five innings, but our hitting needs to come around,” Benally said. “We didn’t play every well today.”

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