Window Rock, Page, Chinle are playoff bound

WINDOW ROCK

Making the finals of the 3A North Region baseball tournament paid dividends for the Page Sand Devils and the Window Rock Scouts.

With no chance of earning an at-large bid to the Arizona 3A state baseball tournament, the two squads had to reach the championship game to make this year’s field.

Last Saturday, both teams earned wins over the conference’s two top seeds. In the first game, Window Rock went the distance with Monument Valley and edged the 3A North’s top seed with a 7-3 win when junior Phillip Perkins hit a stand-up triple in the top of the 10th that scored three runs.

Page, meanwhile, overtook Chinle in the top of the fifth with six runs, winning 7-2.

“Because of the rankings our guys were real focused,” Window Rock coach Murray Shirley said. “The guys went in there with a higher confidence level and their expectation was to beat Monument Valley.”

Shirley said the game was played like a chess match as both teams had runners in scoring positions.

“It was real intense,” he said. “We were going back and forth and a few times they (Monument Valley) threatened. They loaded the bases twice and at the end they had two base runners on second and third but we got the third out.”

As for Perkins’ timely hit, Shirley said his pupil was looking to hit a grand slam.

“He really wanted to hit a home run,” he said. “We told him to just get those runs in and when he hit the ball it unexpectedly rolled out to centerfield and we logged those three runs.”

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