Camp Verde High School took a step closer to its third straight sectional softball title Friday, April 8, while a rainout put one more game between the CVHS baseball team and its first state playoff berth since 2013.
Day-long rains left mud too deep for head coach Will Davis’ Cowboys to play Monument Valley High School, but head coach Henry Smith’s team managed to squeeze in five innings, dispatching the Mustangs, 15-3.
Although baseball’s game with the Mustangs will be rescheduled, the final two weeks of the regular season present their biggest test beginning Thursday, April 14, with the first of two games against rival Sedona Red Rock High School.
Although a yearly scheduling quirk means only the Friday, April 22, home game with the Scorpions counts in the sectional standings, every game counts on the diamond for both Cowboys teams seeking to prove they are legitimate postseason forces.
Softball
The two games against SRRHS, in fact, are the best sectional competition the Cowboys [15-5] will face in their final six games of the spring.
“I’m actually excited,” said sophomore infielder Claudia Escobedo, who replaced right fielder Serenity Garcia after she scored in the first inning, in a double switch with fellow freshman Melissa Barnes for sophomore Jade Oium. “They’re a good team, and they’ve always been a good team.”
Senior Paige Church’s three-run home run in the third inning put away the Mustangs after an eight-run first inning allowed the Cowboys to never look back.
“It’s not about how hard you swing or how much power you have,” said Church, whose blast to right-center field equaled her 10 total home runs collected last season. “It’s just about hitting the ball in the right spot and making good contact.”
The Cowboys bounced back from their first divisional loss April 4, 6-0, at Payson High School, with wins over the Mustangs and Round Valley High School.
“They were both decent teams,” Church said. “We just came out and played our really good game.
“Payson was a really ugly game for all of us, [but] after that day, I think everybody had already forgotten about it. That’s exactly how the game’s supposed to go: Make an error; keep going. Think about it, reflect and then it’s gone.”
Starting pitcher Taya Smith needed to only throw three innings for her 11th divisional win this spring. Freshman Carlee Oesterreich struck out three over the final three innings for the save after being batted in by shortstop Rachel Stockseth, who scored twice in the first frame as CVHS batted around.
Baseball
Whenever the 14th-ranked Cowboys’ game with the Mustangs is rescheduled prior to their Wednesday, April 27, finale at Tuba City High School, their game at SRRHS will be at least the third in four days for CVHS [11-9] — all against top-eight opponents.
“Sedona, they’re about same as us,” Davis said. “They hit the ball pretty well through their top five.”
The difference is, the Scorpions are undefeated atop the sectional standings, unlike the Cowboys after a 4-1 loss April 6 at Round Valley High School.
“We just didn’t hit well that day,” Davis said. “The long bus ride didn’t help.”
The rivalry road game comes after back-to-back games Monday and Tuesday, April 11 and 12, against the top- and sixth-ranked teams in Division IV, Joy Christian and Chinle high schools.
“It won’t be good when we only have two pitchers,” Davis said. “The reality is, I don’t see us losing more than one of those three games and staying in the playoff picture. We’ve got to win at least two.”
So he will try to find a way to get senior staff ace Logan Conrad, one of Section I’s top five fielding, strikeout and earned-run average leaders, on the mound for as many of the Cowboys’ final five sectional games as possible.
“[Junior] Darren Franklin is our only other true pitcher,” Davis said. “He controls more of the strike zone and has better off-speed stuff.”
The Cowboys will face the same kind of off-speed ace who only junior catcher Easton Braden could touch for an RBI April 6. Still, the Cowboys’ struggling third and fourth hitters should be aided with the return to the lineup of sophomore Rafael Zapata, who hurt his ankle April 1 in a 10-9 loss at Northland Preparatory Academy.
“That kid can hit anybody,” Davis said. “That’s a big hole in the middle of our lineup. He would make pitchers pitch around him; that gives us baserunners and Raffie an opportunity to drive in runs if guys are on in front of him.”
For more photos, please see the Wednesday, April 13, issues of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
