The Lady Wildcats are the lone remaining local team still in action and they will more than likely be the only team in the area claiming a state championship on Tuesday in 1A softball.
Joseph City has put together quite a run through the first three rounds of the state tournament. Collectively, they have outscored their first three opponents 67-3, including one shutout.
They opened the tournament with a 23-0 win over No. 16 Desert Heights Prep. After scoring just 2 runs in the first, they opened the game up with 15 second inning runs and 7 final runs came in the third.
Joseph City pounded out 24 hits. April Neill had 2 home runs. Audrey Neill had 1 home run, with a double. Amber Neill had a triple. Staisha Murdock had 2 doubles. Gabby Jesmer and Lorelai Sander each had a double.
Sahzira Schoby pitched four innings with 6 strikeouts and gave up only 1 hit.
Hosting eighth-seeded Duncan in the second round on Wednesday, the Wildcats again controlled the game throughout, eventually winning 20-1 in five innings.
In the semifinal round, Joseph City handled Hayden 24-2 to advance to the state title game on Tuesday.
The championship game will be a matchup of top-seeded Joseph City and second-seeded St. David. The Wildcats are 26-4 overall, having only lost to larger schools.
St. David is 21-5 and comes in riding a 14-game winning streak. The two teams did not play this season. They are both 6-0 in common opponents they played this year, with the Tigers having a slightly higher per-game scoring average.
Joseph City is expected to cruise to a big win in the title game. St. David is a solid team, but Joseph City just has too much firepower and has great pitching to go with it.
