Lady Cats Face Valley Union Today In Bid For State Championship Berth

By Greg Perkins
   Joseph City's Lady Wildcats will face Valley Union in the 1A state softball semi-finals at 5:30 p.m. today (May 9), with the winner headed to the state championship game on Saturday.
   The Lady Cats cruised through the first round of the playoffs with a 13-2 win over the South’s No. 4 seed, St. David, in just 4½ innings.
   Megan Poudrier earned the win with nine strike outs and gave up just one hit.
   At the plate, Ivorie Cochran went two for two with a double and a triple. Kristjana Carlisle also went two for two with a single and a double. Shealynn Hill was two for two with two singles. Tahlisa Blosser was two for three with a pair of singles. Brianna Massey, Jaci Penrod and Poudrier all hit singles in the win.
   The St. David squad scored its first run in the top of the first inning, but didn’t cross the plate with its second run until the fifth. The Lady Wildcats took control of the game in the second inning with seven runs. Joseph City added three runs in both the third and fourth innings to close the game out early under the 10-run rule.
   With that win, the Lady Wildcats moved into the quarterfinal round, where they got a great pitching performance from Cochran, who pitched a no hitter with 17 strike outs against Valley Lutheran, the No. 2 seed from the West Conference.
   The Lady Cats didn’t need many hits to get the 6-0 win, and they only had six in the game. Penrod doubled, Morgan McLaughlin hit a pair of singles and had three RBI’s, and Massey, Blosser and Carlisle each had one single in the game.
   “I was disappointed in our hitting. We have been hitting the ball pretty well all season, and this was not a good hitting game for us. The win felt much closer than the score showed, because we just did not make good contact,” said Coach Teddi Baird.
   Today’s game against Valley Union matches up two No. 1 seeds. Much like Joseph City, Valley Un-ion’s Lady Blue Devils had comfortable wins in their first two rounds. In the opening game they dispatched Ash Fork 18-0 in five innings, then in the quarterfinal round they took down Salt River, 12-2.
   West No. 1 Bagdad faces East No. 1 Pima in the other semi-final game this afternoon.
   Today’s winners will meet in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, at the Rose Mofford Complex, located at 9833 N. 25th Ave. in Phoenix.