Holbrook’s softball team officially claimed the 3A east region title with Monday’s 12-1 home-field win over visiting Blue Ridge. That win tied Holbrook with Payson and Snowflake with identical 7-3 region records. With each of the three teams beating the other two during the season the tie-breaker system moved to the second option where Holbrook was named region winner due to finishing the season ranked higher in power points. Holbrook finished 10th, Payson was 13th and Snowflake was 16th.
In the Blue Ridge game, the Jackets scored once in the top of the first inning but from that point, the game belonged to Holbrook. Four runs in the first followed by three in the second and five final runs in the fourth ended the game early.
Macy Moore went 2 for 2 with a home run. Angelique Tyler was 2 for 3 with two doubles. Tamryn Baldonado went 1 for 2 with a double. Madison Moore was 1 for 4 with a double. Riley Reidhead went 2 for 2. Kamele Shelendewa was 1 for 1.
Natalie Patterson pitched all five innings, allowing just one run on two hits with five walks and six strikeouts.
Holbrook entered the 3A play-in game as the 10th seed and hosted No. 23 Chinle on Wednesday afternoon. The two teams had played three times this season with Holbrook easily prevailing in each case. Like the first three meetings, the play-in game quickly went to Holbrook sending them to the 3A state playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season.
Holbrook scored twice in the first inning only to see Chinle briefly tie them with two in the top of the second. The Birds then played long ball, pushing across four runs in the second inning. Chinle tried to make a game of it with one in the third. Holbrook answered with a five-run fourth then ended the game with two runs in the fifth advancing to the state tournament with a 13-3 win.
Baldonado went 2 for 3 with a pair of home runs. Macy Moore was 2 for 3 with two doubles. Sarah Slim went 2 for 3 with one double. Reidhead went 2 for 3. Patterson was 2 for 2. Madison Moore went 1 for 4. Elizabeth Paschal went 1 for 2, and Tyler was 1 for 3.
Baldonado pitched all five innings giving up three runs on three hits with five walks and six strikeouts.
Holbrook enters the 3A State bracket as the No. 10 overall seed. They will travel to face the seventh-seeded Northwest Christian Crusaders at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. The Crusaders had a regular season record of 15-3 compared to Holbrook’s 12-6 mark. The two teams did not meet in the regular season. Northwest Christian won the 3A North Central Region with an 11-1 region record.
If Holbrook can get past the higher-seeded Crusaders on Tuesday they will more than likely have to face No. 2-seeded Empire in the quarterfinal round which would be played at 7 p.m. on Friday at Papago Sports Complex.
