Page wins doubleheader against Chinle

CHINLE

On Saturday, Chinle hosted Page High for a doubleheader. It was close.

Both teams have had games where they won in the double digits, but their defense was on par that day as Page won by 4-1 in the first and 6-4 in the second.

In the first game, Chinle played tough defense, but the Sand Devils slipped through and scored four runs, with Hunter Richardson scoring twice. For Chinle, Isaac Kee ran in one run for the Wildcats, and the team struggled to get men on the bases.

During the second game, the Wildcats attempted a comeback. Page took the lead at the start of the game, but Chinle got ahead by making three runs during the third inning. Page responded in the seventh inning, though, tying the game 4-4 and extending the game into the eighth. Chinle tried to catch up, but Page scored twice more and won the game 6-4.

Page coach Ty Bennet said his team did great, especially in the second game, where they had to work to win.

“It scared me,” Bennet said. “It came close, Chinle’s a good team. “That’s a good ball team right there, and it was a tough game, the hard-fought battle going in the eighth inning,” he said. “But we pulled it out; the team did amazing.”

He added, “They kept their heads like they’re supposed to do like they’ve been trained and taught.”

He said Norman Cormack did awesomely, pitched shutout innings, made a double catch, and ended the game with a double play for the Sand Devils.

Sand Devil Collin Joe made a lot of strikes that kept Chinle from advancing during the second game.

“It’s a major win, especially against a good baseball program like this,” Joe said. “Both games are both really good games; we all fought to the end outcomes to W’s.

“Honestly, we did good; our second half of the lineup just did their job today,” he said. “They got the balls out there and got on base and scored what we needed.”

He said Chinle had some great hitters, but through the Page team’s camaraderie, the team pulled together and relied on one another to win. The team would cheer one another on through the game from the dugout, which helped, said Joe.

Joe said it feels great to be playing again in the Navajo Nation. Page continued its sports program through the pandemic but had to play bigger and unfamiliar schools from the south last year since many regional schools were closed.

He feels like this will be a great season as, to date, the Sand Devils is undefeated.

Chinle coach Charles Kimbrough said his team did excellent that day. They made some errors that accumulated to the loss, but it was still close.

“The season is really looking good for us,” Kimbrough said. “We’re getting tougher and tougher,” he said. “We’re just getting into it.

“It’s been cold this winter, hard to work out, but we’ve been coming out here on this all-season field and working in the cold and stuff,” he said. “They’re looking good to me. It was a couple of points between us.”

The past few games for Chinle have been close and Kimbrough can only see his team improving from here.

Wildcat Isaac Kee pitched during the second game and got some strikeouts. He also scored one run during Chinle’s previous game.

“I’d say that we did good, there was some errors we need to fix. Overall, I think we did good, and we played our best, but we have so much room from improvement, and I know that we can do much better.”

He felt like the team’s defense was good, but they needed to work on batting. Still, he feels they can improve, saying that the team is new, but they have all played together off-season, so they know one another well.

Kee was happy he did his part in Saturday’s game in which the Wildcats came close to pulling a win.

He gives credit to his entire team, believing there is a better season ahead of them.

Kee also gave a shout-out to Shaydin Tsosie, who pitched in the first game, made strikeouts, and hit a home run during the second, raising morale for both the teams and the fans.

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