Mingus Rams bunt, run their way to league title

Joel Rosenberg, left, the first-year head softball coach at Clarkdale-Jerome School, worked with assistant coaches Janae Gordon, second from right, and Nate Dixon to win the Verde Valley League tournament. After having won just one game the year before, the Mingus Rams completed their turnaround from worst to first by defeating Camp Verde Middle School for the first time Saturday, April 25, at the Oak Creek School in Cornville.
Courtesy photo

Ultimately, Clarkdale-Jerome School’s softball team proved it was banner-worthy.

The pitching of seventh-grader Mikayla Brogdon and production of eighth-graders Delaney Hartnett and Lindsey Jones denied Camp Verde Middle School’s attempt to repeat its Verde Valley League softball title Saturday, April 25.

In the Mingus Rams’ 7-6 victory over the Cowboys at the Oak Creek School in Cornville, they not only completed a full turnaround from a one-win season last spring, they walked the talk of first-year volunteer head coach Joel Rosenberg.

“Some coaches have this attitude, ‘I just want a winning season,’” Rosenberg said March 26. “My goal for the end of the year is to hang a banner with the girls’ names on it in the gym.”

Although Clarkdale did it on the field with a four-run first inning and three-run fourth — coming back to also beat Mayer Elementary School and host Oak Creek along the way — the confidence to step up to Camp Verde’s challenge was established by Rosenberg and his staff by the end of the first week of practice.

For the full story, please see the Wednesday, April 29, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.

George Werner

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