With eye on playoffs, WR, Page win 1 each

Posted by Quentin Jodie | Apr 4, 2019 | Baseball |

FORT DEFIANCE

With less than three weeks left in the regular season, finishing strong is taking precedence.

Just ask Window Rock baseball coach Murray Shirley and his counterpart Justin Smith of Page High, albeit Smith was filling in for head coach Chuck Sharp.

Going into this past Tuesday’s doubleheader, both teams were sitting No. 21 and No. 25 in the latest Arizona Interscholastic Association 3A statewide rankings. With state playoff ambitions, both teams are hoping to get invited to the big dance with the AIA taking the top 24 teams.

So Tuesday’s split seemed to bode well for both squads as they remain in the hunt to make the playoffs.

Window Rock won the opening game 7-2 but in the nightcap they saw a three-run lead evaporate as Page plated nine runs in the sixth to pull out a 15-9 victory.

The Sand Devils took advantage of a couple of bases on balls but a triple from Cheyenne Richardson gave Page a big boost as the senior outfielder cleared the bases for a 13-9 advantage.

“I think that was the turning point,” Shirley said of Richardson’s big hit. “After that you could tell the momentum changed.”

With it being a doubleheader, Shirley said his team went through its entire pitching staff and in the sixth they inserted senior Aaron Morgan as relief.

“We were trying to hang in there,” the Window Rock coach said. “And with how the rules goes – once you use your pitcher you can put them back in unless you’re in the same inning. We couldn’t change our pitchers but we tried to hang in there. We also had some problems with our defense catching the ball.”

That mental aspect played a factor in his team trying to regroup in their last at-bats.

In addition to those bases on balls, the Sand Devils pounded six hits, a welcome sight for the Page assistant coach.

“Our bottom lineup was hitting well,” Smith said. “Hunter cleared the bases with that triple so I’m just happy that we came alive. I don’t know how many teams can defend us when we’re hitting the ball with a lot of confidence.”

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