Chinle outlasts Sand Devils for regular season crown

By Quentin Jodie
Navajo Times

CHINLE – Things got a little hairy on Monday afternoon for the Chinle baseball team.

The Wildcats trailed early before they opened a three-run cushion midway through the 3A North Region showdown with the Page Sand Devils.

Despite leading by a considerable margin, the Wildcats had to withstand a late Page rally to secure a 5-4 win as Chinle capped the region with an unblemished 10-0 record.

“We’ve been working on that bouncing back stuff,” said Chinle coach Charles Kimbrough, whose team improved to 16-9 overall. “We started out slow as usually, but it wasn’t that long when we got right on it. We then closed the door on them.

Heading into the seventh, Page (13-11 overall, 8-2 in region play) put some pressure on the Wildcats with senior Shaine Begay reaching first on a throwing error by Chinle junior shortstop Duane Ayze with one out. On that same error, Begay advanced to second.

Next-at-bat, Kevin Sam nailed an RBI single near the warning track in midfield as the Sand Devils closed within a run.

“Anytime we play Chinle, we know it’s gonna be a grind,” Page coach Jordan Halvorsen said. “We knew it was gonna be a seven-inning game. We knew we were going to come back towards the end, so I’m happy with our response. Like I said, we always know it’s going to be a close game. We just have to grind it out.”

With the tying run at first, Chinle reliever Hage Tsosie finished out the highly competitive contest with his fifth and sixth strikeouts.

“I know that I can depend on my defense out there, but it feels great to close out a game like that,” said Tsosie, who pitched three innings in relief. “It feels good to get strikeouts like that, especially in a close game like today. I mean, this game was for the top of the region, so I really wanted this game.”

Things didn’t start out rosy for the Wildcats as Page pounded out a pair of doubles from Mason Yazzie and Mckyle Manygoats on Chinle starting senior pitcher Kennon Sorrell in the top of the first.

In between those extra base hits, Page got a sac-fly from sophomore Cole Tate that scored Begay, the leadoff runner, who earned a walk. The line drive from Manygoats put courtesy runner Matteu Perry at home for a 2-0 lead.

The Wildcats tied the contest at 2-all in the second as back-to-back RBI singles from Wyatt James and Mackaden Arthur put Chinle on board.

In the third, a two-run homer from Sorrell earned the Wildcats a 4-2 cushion. In the next frame, Chinle added an insurance run behind an RBI single from Tsosie.

“We just had to believe,” Arthur said of his team’s rally. “It took us a while to get warmup. We found the open gaps to get that lead.”

The Chinle coach agreed while adding that his club stayed patient at the plate to produce nine hits total in the second, third and fourth frames.

“We got in a lot of hits,” Kimbrough said. “We got a lot from the lower part of our lineup, and they’re coming around. A lot of the guys are spreading them hits out and that was good.”

After that hitting outburst, Page closer Jaren Scott shut down the Wildcats in his two innings of work. Meanwhile, Sand Devil starting pitcher Kevin Sam surrendered four earned runs on 10 hits while fanning out eight batters.

“Kevin jumped out quick and had a quick first inning,” Halvorsen said. “You know, he had a couple of that kind of fell into spots.

“Obviously, they hit a home run there, but he did a good job of bouncing back in the next inning, and getting us through,” the Page coach added. “He gave us four good innings and then we had Jaren Scott come in with six-up, six-down, which was great.”

Offensively, the Halvorsen-coached team produced seven hits with Sam and Yazzie finishing with two hits each.

“Kevin hit a couple of singles and Mason hit a double in the first to score us a run,” Halvorsen said.

For Chinle, the Wildcats were led by Tsosie as he went 3-for-3 at the plate. The Wildcats also received two hits each from Arthur and Sorrell as they finished with 10 hits.

“We had a couple of good base hits, and we scored,” Tsosie said. “We came back from 2-0 down and we tied up, so after that we knew it was a different ball game. We got the rally going, which really brought up our confidence. That is what really helped us win the game.”

Despite coming up short, Halvorsen likes where his team is playing at.

“Like I told the kids, the top two teams in the region played a closely fought game,” the Page coach said. “You know, one team is going to win and one team is going to lose. On a different day, maybe the ball drops in there for us and we get the win.”

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