By Greg Perkins Joseph City lost their first seven games of the season but with four wins last week they have now won six in a row and pushed their overall season record to 6-7. The Wildcats played all four games at home last week against just two opponents. On Tuesday they played host to Mayer in a doubleheader, then Saturday they swept a doubleheader contest over visiting Fredonia. The first game with Mayer went seven innings with the Wildcats doing most of the gains in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames where they scored eight runs to break a 2-2 tie with Mayer. Joseph City won the game 10-2. Bannon Johnstun went 3 for 4; Owen Beatty, 1 for 4; Avery Buckley, 1 for 4 with a double; Karter Lampsa, 1 for 3; Tyler Penrod, 1 for 4 with a double; Mason Hancock, 1 for 1; and Jay Edwards was 1 for 3. Buckley pitched all seven innings giving up just two runs on five hits with a walk and he struck out six. The second game saw Joseph City score six runs in the third then they held on to win the game 9-5. Mayer made a run with three in the top of the fifth but the Cats held them scoreless from that point. Blake Palmer went 4 for 4 and had two doubles, Johnstun and Tyler Penrod also hit doubles. Johnstun was 2 for 5, as well as Buckley. Tyler Penrod went 2 for 4. Lampsa pitched 4.1 innings giving up three runs on five hits, with a walk and four strikeouts. Hosting Fredonia in a doubleheader on Saturday Joseph City made short work of both games. They won the first game 23-0 in five innings. Joseph City scored 18 third-inning runs to put the game well out of reach. Lampsa and Tyler Penrod each had home runs. Buckley hit two doubles and Jeyrell Billie had a triple. Brody Penrod pitched five innings of no-hit baseball. He had full control walking none while striking out 11 batters. The second game of the twin bill was nearly as bad, with the Wildcats prevailing 21-4. This time the first inning was the key one with Joseph City scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the first taking complete control of the game. They finished things off with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. Colter Westover and Edwards both homered. Johnstun had two doubles, Jareon Miller, Lampsa, Palmer, Billie and Edwards each had doubles. Collectively Bannon Johnston, Lampsa and Palmer gave up four runs on nine hits, with no walks and ten strikeouts. After playing in Williams on Monday the Cats will host Show Low on Wednesday. On Saturday they host Mogollon, then next Tuesday they will close out the regular season at Heber against the Mustangs. Joseph City entered Saturday’s game ranked 15th in the 1A rankings so will need a strong close to the season in order to make the 1A state playoffs. Only the top 16 teams get in. The first round of the playoffs begins on May 7 and will be played at the site of the high seed.
