Joseph City has once again advanced to the 1A state championship game in softball. Monday’s title game vs Superior marks the Lady Wildcats fourth consecutive trip to the championship game. They are looking for their third straight title, having lost in the 2023 season to Williams. In 2024 they soundly defeated Bagdad 26-3. Last season they won a nail biter over St. David 11-10.
This year the Wildcats are the No. 2 seed and will face top seeded Superior Monday afternoon starting at 1 p.m. at Grand Canyon University. The Panthers have just one regular season loss on their schedule, which came at the hands of Joseph City on April 15, by a final of 9-0. Superior has won seven straight while the Wildcats are on a four-game win streak, with three of the four coming in the state tournament.
Joseph City arrived at the state final after surviving a quarterfinal win over Hayden on Wednesday. The Lobos gave Joseph City a scare but the defending champions pulled out a 5-4 win to advance to the semi-final game.
That semi-final on Friday afternoon was a rematch with Williams. The Vikings had defeated Joseph City on April 22, by two runs, but this game belonged completely to the champs. Joseph City held Williams to just 1 hit in a 10-0 five inning win to advance to Monday’s final game.
Superior made the title game with a first round 19-0 win over Duncan. They beat Ray 18-6 in the quarterfinal round, then got past No. 4 St. David 4-2 in the semifinal round.
Joseph City is the two-time defending state champion and despite being a lower seed they were favored to make it a three-peat last Monday afternoon. The story will be in the May 20 edition.
