Coming into the season, Camp Verde baseball coach Will Davis knew that the Cowboys were a young team that lacked significant experience. The growing pains that he expected didn’t show in the results of the season’s first six games, which were all Camp Verde wins. Unfortunately for the Cowboys, it was a different story when they met an experienced Northwest Christian team.
The Crusaders handed Camp Verde its first loss of the season on Tuesday, April 6, winning 9-1. Davis hoped that loss might serve as a wake-up call that would prompt the Cowboys to come out and play better in the rematch at home on Friday, April 9. That didn’t happen. Camp Verde made six errors and lost to Northwest Christian, 10-1.
Davis acknowledged that — unless the Cowboys make the playoffs — the Crusaders will be the toughest team they see on the season. And with the exception of seniors Peyton Kelley and Mason Rayburn, as well as junior Cole Gillespie, the Camp Verde players were not used to the quality of their opponents.
“My older guys are ready to play against anybody,” the coach said. “But I only have three of them. That kind of hurts. Three experienced players going against a team that’s all upperclassmen that plays year-round baseball. This is a travel club that plays 100 games a year. I don’t expect to be as good as them. I just expect that they play hard. That’s all I ask.”
The third inning was really the turning point of the game. Rayburn had delivered two shutout innings on the mound and staked Camp Verde to a 1-0 lead with an RBI double to score Kelley in the bottom of the first inning. But in the third inning, the Northwest Christian hitters began to make better contact and the Cowboys defense struggled.
Two Crusaders hitters recorded singles but wound up on third as a result of errors. When it was over, Northwest Christian had scored four runs — only one of which was earned. Davis felt that the struggles at the plate carried themselves out onto the field for the younger players.
“When a kid loses his confidence it follows him everywhere he goes — then the first ball finds him,” Davis said. “They showed up and they saw pitching that they’ve never seen in their life — 85 to 90. Other than the three older guys, they didn’t know what that was. It scared them and they played bad. They let it get in their heads.”
The Cowboys were back in action again on Saturday, April 10, against Payson. While that game went better for Camp Verde than either of the two Northwest Christian games, it still ended in a 4-2 loss. The Cowboys now sit 6-3 overall, 4-3 in the 3A Conference and 2-2 in the 3A North Central Region.
Camp Verde will next take on Chino Valley in a pair of games. The Cowboys will be on the road on Tuesday, April 13, and home on Thursday, April 15. Both games will start at 3:45 p.m.
Going into Friday’s game, Camp Verde was seeded at No. 9 in the AZPreps365.com rankings. With the top 16 teams reaching the playoffs at the end of the season, the Cowboys are still very much in contention, although the losses to the Crusaders and Longhorns will certainly cause a drop in the rankings. The rankings are updated every Tuesday through Friday at 12 p.m.
Following the second loss to Northwest Christian, Davis said that he’s going to try to figure out ways to help bolster the confidence of the Camp Verde players, especially the young ones. But he also lauded the effort of the team and hoped that it can help the Cowboys against teams closer to them in talent and experience.
“I know they were a little overmatched,” Davis said. “They have played hard all year and I hope that will carry into the games against teams that aren’t so stacked.”
