Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Nevaeh Aguilar connects with the ball during a batting drill. Her contributions have largely been as a base runner, stealing seven of seven bases while playing in 15 games.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – The Joseph Garcia-coached No. 9 Morenci Wildcats take on the No. 4 Benson Bobcats on Friday, April 21. The teams met in Benson on March 7 with the Bobcats having a 4-run win over the Wildcats.
Also on Friday, No. 2 Willcox visits No. 14 Bisbee.
Non-region games include Tucson San Miguel Catholic at Tombstone on Saturday, April 22.
Willcox 15-1 (5 inn.) over Miami on March 28, Benson edged Round Valley 7-6 on March 29, and Pima defeated Miami 16-6 on March 30.
Next week, Bisbee visits Tombstone and Morenci visits Pima on Monday, April 24
East Region Standings
The region standings after April 20 have Willcox (23-5-1 overall, 14-3 seeding, 8-1 region) first, Benson (18-9-1, 12-4, 8-1) second, Morenci (15-9, 11-4, 5-3) third, Pima (9-10, 6-9, 3-6) fourth, Bisbee (8-11, 4-7, 2-6) fifth, and Tombstone (4-18, 2-13, 0-9) sixth.
To date, Willcox (8-1) has region wins of 9-6 over Morenci (March 3), 8-7 over Benson (March 14), 18-1 in five innings over Tombstone (March 21), 9-3 over Bisbee (March 29), 14-4 in five innings over Morenci (March 31), 21-1 in five innings over Tombstone (April 7), 16-0 in five innings over Pima (April 18), and 11-1 in five innings over Pima (April 18).
Benson (8-1) has region wins of 11-0 in five innings over Bisbee (March 7), 14-10 over Morenci (March 8), 19-3 in four innings over Pima (March 10), 21-2 in four innings over Tombstone (March 31), 16-1 in four innings over Tombstone (March 31), 26-8 in four innings over Bisbee (April 4), 11-1 in five innings over Pima (April 7), and 6-5 over Willcox (April 10).
Morenci (5-3) has region wins of 19-1 in five innings over Bisbee (March 4), 16-0 over Pima in five innings (March 28), Bisbee 10-0 in five innings (April 6), Tombstone 18-1 in four innings (April 18), and Tombstone 23-1 in four innings (April 18).
Pima (3-6) has region wins of 16-2 in five innings over Tombstone (March 7), 6-5 over Bisbee (April 10), and 8-5 over Tombstone (April 14).
Bisbee (2-6) has region wins of 11-10 over Pima (March 14) and 24-3 in four innings over Tombstone (March 28).
Benson Bobcats (18-9-1, 12-4, 8-1)
The Bert Cardenas-coached Bobcats have won 18 of 28 games played through April 20.
Benson (18-9-1) faces Morenci with a .344 (263-692) batting and .908 (444-166-62) fielding average. The Wildcats have driven in 219 of 266 runs, and posted 53 doubles, nine triples, and 22 home runs as well as struck out 160 times, drawn 128 walks, were beaned 15 times, had six sacrifice flies, nine sacrifice hits/bunts, and stole 28-30 bases.
In the circle, a 2-member pitching corps has a 2.92 earned runs allowed average. Willcox has allowed 63 earned runs of 124 scored, yielded 174 hits in 695 at-bats (.250) with 10 home runs, struck out 155, walked 45, and beaned eight while facing 713 batters during 151 innings.
Defensively, eight double plays have been turned in.
Morenci Wildcats (15-9, 11-4, 5-3)
The Wildcats have gone the regulation length only thrice in eight seeding games played thus far, each ending in losses. They have also gone 3-2 and 1-3 in nine time-limited tourney games.
Morenci has seeding wins of 22-2 during five innings over Miami (Feb 27), 19-1 in five innings over Bisbee (March 11), 31-2 in four innings over Miami (March 10), 22-0 in five innings over San Carlos (March 14), 16-0 in five innings over Pima (March 28), 10-0 in five innings over Bisbee (April 6), 23-1 over Tucson Palo Verde Magnet (April 10), 31-0 in four innings over Sam Miguel (April 12), 28-10 in five innings over Queen Creek San Tan Foothills (April 13), 18-1 in four innings over Tombstone (April 18), and 23-1 in four innings over Tombstone (April 18). The losses were 6-9 to Willcox (March 3), 10-14 to Benson (March 8), 5-6 to Round Valley (March 22), and 0-20 in five innings to Willcox.
The Wildcats posted wins of 12-7 over Apollo in three innings (Feb. 23), 18-3 in three innings over Avondale La Jolla Community (Feb. 24), and 2-1 in five innings over Apollo (Feb. 24) during the 3-day Glendale Apollo Cool Nights Tourney. The losses were 6-7 in four innings to Florence (Feb. 23) and 5-10 in five innings to Avondale West Point (Feb. 25).
Morenci defeated Saint Johns 6-1 in five innings (March 23) during the 2-day Chandler Prep tourney. The losses were 0-1 in five innings to Page (March 23), 9-12 in five innings to Bagdad (March 24), and 0-18 in six innings to Santa Cruz (March 24).
The Wildcats (15-9) face Benson with a .444 (236-552) batting and .813 (169-83-58) fielding average. The Wildcats have driven in 229 of 272 runs and posted 65 doubles, six triples, and 18 home runs as well as struck out 1-3 times, drawn 118 walks, were beaned 33 times, had six sacrifice flies, nine sacrifice hits/bunts, and have stolen 48-49 bases.
In the circle, a 4-member pitching corps has a 4.06 earned runs allowed average. Morenci has allowed 62 earned runs out of 124 scored, yielded 98 hits in 497 at-bats (.197) with 11 doubles, and eight home runs, struck out 132, walked 55, and beaned 13 while facing 540 batters during 107 innings.
Defensively, 14 double plays have been turned in and opponents have 18 stolen bases in 23 attempts.
