Wildcats Show Improvement, But Fall To Northland Prep, St. Johns

By Greg Perkins
   Through the first nine games of the baseball season the Joseph City Wildcats have struggled, but heading into last weekend’s conference matchup with Northland Prep and non-league game with St. Johns, the Cats were hoping to find their stride, but someone forgot to tell their opponents.
   On Friday, visiting Northland Prep exploded in the first inning with 10 runs to effectively take control of the game early on. The Spartans added two more in the second before the Cats were able to muster their first run of the game in the home half of the second. Four more Northland runs by the fourth inning placed Joseph City in danger of being 10-run ruled, which is what happened as the Cats scored just two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, not enough to offset the offensive onslaught by the Spartans, who took the win 19-5.
   “Northland has really improved their program. They did what they were supposed to do, and it seemed like every time they hit the ball it found the gaps. We made some mistakes and then got down on ourselves, which didn’t help matters,” said Coach Steve Marquez.
   PJ Jaquez went one for one at the plate. Mitchell Elmer went two for three and scored. William Bain was one for two and scored. Braden Hansen was one for three with a two-run home run. Zach Warner went one for three and scored.
   Bain took the loss on the hill. Jaquez came in for relief and did a good job, tallying six strike outs.
Northland        10 2 1 3 3   19
Joseph City        0 1 0 2 2    5
   Playing at home once again on Saturday, the Cats were hoping for a different outcome, but unfortu-nately they suffered a very similar loss to the St. Johns Redskins.
   St. Johns pounded out 12 runs in the top of the first and just like that the Wildcats again found them-selves trailing by a large margin before they ever came to the plate. Once at the plate Joseph City was able to push in four runs, but still trailed by eight.
   In the third the Redskins added three more to their total, then piled on four more in the fourth, forcing the Cats to try to avoid a second straight 10-run rule loss. In the bottom of the fifth the Wildcats did their best to extend the game, but their four runs weren’t enough to avoid the double-digit loss as St. Johns headed for home with a 19-8 win.
   Warner worked all five innings with four strike outs.
   At the plate Warner helped himself by going two for two with a double and scored twice. Taylor Pogue came off the bench and went one for one and scored. Jaquez went two for three, including a home run. Hansen went two for three and scored twice. Bain went one for two and scored. Elmer was one for three and scored a run.
   “After the Northland game we knew we needed to improve on our efforts and, despite the second loss, I felt like we showed improvement. Mentally, we were able to make up for some of the mistakes we made. If we can continue to show improvement, hopefully we can pick up some wins in our conference,” concluded Coach Marquez.
St. Johns          12 0 3 4 0   19
Joseph City       4   0 0 0 4    8
   The Wildcats are now 1-10 overall and 0-2 in conference play. They will host Tuba City on Thursday, March 20, then head to their spring break. Following the break they are scheduled to play Winslow’s junior varsity team on Thursday, April 3, then travel to Ashfork for a doubleheader conference game the follow-ing day.