Hosting their own tournament over the weekend, the Wildcats went 3-1 over the course of the three-day event. Joseph City opened the tournament with a 10-0 shut out win over Rock Point on Thursday. Friday morning they again faced Rock Point and again were victorious although this game was closer with the Cats prevailing 10-8. Friday afternoon Joseph City took care of Hopi in five innings by a final of 18-2. The Wildcats lone loss of the tournament came on Saturday afternoon with an 11-14 setback against St. Johns.
Prior to their tournament, Joseph City swept both games of a double header against visiting Greyhills, with both games counting towards power point rankings. The Cats outscored the Fighting Knights a combined 48-3 over both games.
The first lopsided contest saw Joseph City score nine first inning runs, then pile on an additional 16 in the second and six more in the third. The lone run they gave up came in the third inning of the 31-1 win.
The Wildcats amassed 35 hits in the game, led by Rance Haddox with 6; followed by Cameron Baldwin with 5; KJ Kinlicheenie and Jay Edwards had 4; Jesse Hulsey, Colter Westover and Toby Ballew each had 3; Stephen Woody finished with 2; and Avery Buckley, Manny Vargas, Kaden Moss, DJ Beatty and Rhett Beard each had 1 hit.
Avery Buckley had a home run; Haddox tripled once and doubled four times; Jay Edwards and Baldwin each had a pair of doubles; Manny Vargas and Kinlicheenie each had one double.
Kinlicheenie, Hulsey and Edwards all saw action on the hill where collectively they allowed one run on three hits with 12 strikeouts and walked four.
Game two went much the way of the first game, although the Wildcats managed just 14 runs through the first two innings then finished off their scoring with three more in the third frame to win the game 17-2.
There were just 12 hits this time around led by Kinlicheenie with 3; Jesse Hulsey had 2; while Woody, Buckley, Westover, Edwards, Haddox, Beatty and Baldwin each had one hit.
Buckley, Kinlicheenie, Hulsey, Edwards and Baldwin each had triples; and Kinlicheenie, Woody, Westover and Beatty all hit doubles in the win.
Buckley and Baldwin split the five innings of work on the hill. They combined to give up two runs on three hits with 12 strikeouts and walked only two.
After taking time off for their spring break the Wildcats will return to action on March 20 when they travel to St. Johns. On the 22nd they will be at Show Low, then the following day they host Round Valley.
