Wildkats take on Vikings in Williams on Saturday

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: The Wildkats lift Taygen Jensen (1) after he scored the deciding run against Baboquivari on April 24. The Duncan freshman singled on, advanced to second, and was driven in by senior Benjamin Harris’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth. The No. 15 Wildkats face No. 2 Williams on Saturday, April 28.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: The Wildkats lift Taygen Jensen (1) after he scored the deciding run against Baboquivari on April 24. The Duncan freshman singled on, advanced to second, and was driven in by senior Benjamin Harris’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth. The No. 15 Wildkats face No. 2 Williams on Saturday, April 28.

WILLIAMS – The Brett Jensen-coached Duncan Wildkats have logged a great deal of miles to get here, and still remain one of 16 teams contending for a state title. The No. 15 Wildkats (9-9, minus 4.7260) face the No. 2 Williams Vikings (16-2, 10.0414) at 2 p.m. It will be the fourth home game for the hosts.

Whether they return to Greenlee County to inventory equipment or continue practicing in the next few days is in their hands. The rankings and ratings will be meaningless when the game begins. It is only a starting point indicating enough was done to get to this point.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: The Duncan team members cheer as they break away from a team meeting following the game with Baboquivari. The Wildkats fell by a lone run the next day, 7-8 against Desert Christian, or nine fewer than the prior meeting two weeks earlier.

The Wildkats will be told as daunting as the task is, anything in life worth having is hard to attain. Their experience to this point, hard work, and practicing fundamentals until they become routine and something not requiring thought will allow them to succeed.

In short, they are as capable and prepared as they can be, if they believe in themselves as their coaches do.

Williams Vikings (27-5 overall, 16-2 seeding, 6-0 region)

The Ethan Johnson-coached Vikings won 16 of 18 seeding games and six of nine tourney games.

Williams has seeding wins of 21-7 over Camp Verde (Feb. 28), 9-5 over Superior (March 10), 9-3 over Superior (March 10), 4-0 in four innings Fredonia (March 14), 16-1 in four innings over Fredonia (March 14), 7-5 over Chandler Lincoln Prep (March 21), 11-4 over Joseph City (March 23), 14-0 in four innings over Teec Nos Pos Red Mesa (March 24), 18-0 in four innings over Red Mesa (March 24), 17-2 in five innings over Heber Mogollon (March 25), 12-10 in six innings over Kingman (April 5), 12-0 in six innings over Ash Fork / Seligman (April 18), 4-3 over California Needles (April 19), 18-0 in six innings over Ash Fork / Seligman (April 21), 10-8 in six innings over Wickenburg (April 22), and 7-6 over Bagdad (April 26). The losses are and 5-6 to Kingman (April 5) and 6-8 to Winkelman Hayden (April 7).

The Vikings went 3-2 during the 3-day Colorado River tourney. The wins were 5-4 in six innings over Bullhead City Mohave (March 2), 9-2 in four innings over Nevada Spring Creek (March 3), and 9-8 in three innings over Nevada West Wendover (March 3). The losses were 7-8 in five innings to Nevada Winnemucca Lowry (March 4) and 0-11 in four innings to Mohave Valley River Valley (March 4).

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: A Duncan base runner is safe at second having touched the base ahead of a tag. The Wildkats totaled 10 stolen bases for the game.

Williams also went 3-1 during the 3-day Chandler Prep tourney. The wins were 13-0 in five innings over Kearny Ray (March 30), 15-4 in four innings over Kayenta Monument Valley (March 31), and 13-7 in five innings over Scottsdale Prep (April 1). The loss was 5-8 in five innings to San Tan Valley Combs (March 31).

Through 27 games, the Vikings are batting .396 (278-702) with 229 RBIs, 51 doubles, 12 triples, and 11 home runs. They have driven in 229 of 278 runs scored, and also struck out 134 times, received 151 walks, and were beaned 29 times. Williams has averaged a 6-run margin, 10-4 (276-120) per game.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Brody Waters (10) keeps his eye on the target as he delivers a pitch. The Duncan senior struck out four, walked four, yielded four hits, and allowed one earned run while facing 30 batters during six innings.

Defensively, Williams has a combined .935 (364-123-34) fielding average and turned in six double plays

The 10-member pitching corps has a combined 3.77 earned runs allowed average, yielded 81 earned runs of 114 scored, struck out 205, walked 104, yielded 123 hits, and beaned 24 while facing 707 batters during 150 1/3 innings.

Duncan Wildkats (11-13, 9-9, 7-7)

The Brett Jensen-coached Wildkats won nine of 18 seeding games and two of six tourney games.

Duncan has seeding wins of 4-3 over San Manuel (March 20), 15-5 in five innings over Elfrida Valley Union (March 22), 11-0 in five innings over Patagonia (March 24), 21-6 in five innings over Patagonia (March 24), 11-0 in five innings over Kearny Ray (March 27), 17-0 in four innings over San Carlos (March 29), 10-5 over San Manuel (March 31), 12-0 in five innings over Fort Thomas (April 11), and 5-4 in eight innings over Sells Baboquivari (April 24). The losses are 0-10 to Saint David in five innings (March 3), 12-19 to Tucson Saint Augustine Catholic (March 7), 01-11 to Baboquivari (April 6), 5-6 to Heber Mogollon (April 8), 2-12 in six innings to Valley Union (April 13), 0-10 in six innings to Tucson Desert Christian (April 14), 0-11 in six innings to Saint David (April 17), 5-10 to Ray (April 18), and 11-12 to Desert Christian (April 25).

The Wildkats went 1-2 in abbreviated games played during the 3-day Joseph City tourney. The win was 11-0 in five innings over Tuba City (March 9) and the losses were 2-12 in five innings to host Joseph City (March 10) and 6-16 in five innings to Chinle (March 11).

Duncan also went 1-2 during the 3-day Morenci tourney. Five-inning losses of 3-11 to Pima (April 20) and 11-12 to Mogollon (April 21) were recorded, before a 10-4 win over Saint Johns (April 22) occurred, also in five innings.

Through 24 games, the Wildcats are batting .403 (241-598) with 148 RBIs, 46 doubles, 14 triples, and four home runs. They have driven in 148 of 191 runs scored, and also struck out 175 times, received 100 walks, and were beaned 40 times. Duncan averaged an 8-8 (190-185) score per game.

Defensively, Duncan has a combined .856 (401-116-87) fielding average and turned in 11 double plays

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Ethan Hernandez (22) begins his relief delivery. The Duncan freshman struck out two, walked one, and gave up no hits while facing seven batters during two innings against Baboquivari.

The 7-member pitching corps has a combined 6.00 earned runs allowed average, yielded 42 earned runs of 86 scored, struck out 95, walked 42, yielded 85 hits, and beaned 18 while facing 334 batters during 63 innings.

1A State Tourney

The 1A state tourney’s first round is Saturday, April 29 at the site of the higher seeds, as is the second round a week later on May 6. The semifinals and final are at Tempe Diablo Stadium on May 12 and May 13, respectively.

The upper bracket has No. 16 Ash Fork / Seligman (4-8, minus 6.5481) at No. 1 Winkelman Hayden (14-2 seeding, 10.6563 rating), No. 9 Glendale Desert Heights Prep (11-4, 1.6047) at No. 8 Joseph City (10-7, 1. 0488), No. 12 Mayer (6-7, minus 3.0725) at No. 5 Anthem Prep (13-4, 3.8717), No. 13 Valley Union (8-9, minus 4.1226) at No. 4 Saint David (15-3, 6.7611).

Lower bracket pairings are No. 14 Salome (5-9, minus 4.5886) at No. 3 West Region Bagdad (15-3, 7.6567), No. 11 Superior (7-9, 0.2016) at No. 6 Desert Christian (16-3, 3.8310), No. 10 Heber Mogollon (7-6, 1.5684) at No. 7 Chandler Lincoln Prep (10-7, 2. 4687), and No. 15 Duncan (9-9, minus 4.7260) at No. 2 Williams (16-2, 10.0414).

Final 1A State Rankings

Rankings for the 1A Class number 5-of-7 (.714) from the East Region, 4-8 (.500) from the South Region, 5-7 (.714) from the West Region, and 2-4 (.500) from the North Region in the Top 16.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Scoreboard numbers before Duncan stepped to plate during the bottom of the eighth inning.

The final Top 16 1A teams are East Region Winkelman Hayden (14-2 seeding, 10.6563 rating) No. 1, North Region Williams (16-2, 10.0412) No. 2, West Region Bagdad (15-3, 7.6567) No. 3, South Region Saint David (15-3, 6.7611) No. 4, West Region Anthem Prep (13-4, 3.8717) No. 5, South Region Desert Christian (16-3, 3.8310) No. 6, East Region Chandler Lincoln Prep (10-7, 2. 4687) No. 7, and East Region Joseph City (10-7, 1. 0488) No. 8.

West Region Glendale Desert Heights Prep (11-4, 1.6047) is No. 9, East Region Heber Mogollon (7-6, 1.5684) No. 10, East Region Superior (7-9, 0.2016) No. 11, West Region Mayer (6-7, minus 3.0725) No. 12,

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald:Scoreboard numbers after Duncan sent two batters up during the bottom of the eighth inning.

South Region Valley Union (8-9, minus 4.1226) No. 13, West Region Salome (5-9, minus 4.5886) No. 14, South Region Duncan (9-9, minus 4.7260) No. 15, and North Region Ash Fork / Seligman (4-8, minus 6.5481) No. 16.

The other South Region member rankings are Baboquivari (7-11, minus 6.8365) No. 19 and Patagonia (0-8, minus 18.8216) No. 24.

Final South Region Standings

The final region standings are Saint David (17-5 overall, 15-3 seeding, 14-0 region) first, Desert Christian (15-5, 15-3, 12-2) second, Valley Union (9-12, 8-9, 7-7) third, Duncan (11-13, 9-9, 7-7) fourth, Ray (10-15-1, 7-11, 6-8) fifth, Baboquivari (7-11, 7-11, 5-9) sixth, San Manuel (6-15, 6-12, 5-9) seventh, and Patagonia (0-15, 0-15. 0-14) eighth.

Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Isaac Harris (5) is safe at first. The Duncan sophomore batted 1.000 (4-4) against Baboquivari.

Saint David (14-0) has region wins of 10-0 in five innings over Duncan (March 3), 15-1 in five innings over Baboquivari (March 16), 16-1 in five innings over Patagonia (March 22), 10-0 in six innings over Baboquivari (March 24), 10-2 over Desert Christian (March 29), 15-2 in five innings over Valley Union (March 31), 14-0 in five innings over Patagonia (April 3), 7-4 over Ray (April 5), 5-0 over San Manuel (April 12), 11-0 in six innings over Duncan (April 11), 14-0 in five innings over Valley Union (April 19), 15-1 in five innings over San Manuel (April 20), 11-0 in six innings over Desert Christian (April 21), and 13-4 over Ray (April 25).

Valley Union (7-7) has region wins of 14-1 in five innings over Patagonia (March 28), 16-7 over Baboquivari (March 29), 6-2 over Baboquivari (April 3), 15-5 in six innings over San Manuel (April 10), 18-5 in six innings over Patagonia (April 12), 12-2 in six innings over Duncan (April 13), and 15-14 over Ray (April 21).

Duncan (7-7) has region wins of 4-3 over San Manuel (March 20), 15-5 in five innings over Valley Union (March 22), 11-0 in five innings over Patagonia (March 24), 21-6 in five innings over Patagonia (March 24), 11-10 over Ray (March 27), and 10-6 over San Manuel (March 31), and 5-4 in eight innings over Baboquivari (April 24).

Ray (6-8) has region wins of 20-0 in five innings over Patagonia (March 7), 16-8 over San Manuel (March 22), 9-4 over Valley Union (April 14), 10-5 over Duncan (April 18), 9-2 over Baboquivari (April 19), and 23-10 in six innings over Patagonia (April 24).

Baboquivari (5-9) has region wins of 15-14 over Patagonia (March 20), 19-8 in six innings over Patagonia (March 31), 11-10 over Duncan (April 6), 16-8 over Ray (April 10), and 7-2 over San Manuel (April 17).

San Manuel (5-9) has region wins of 15-4 over Baboquivari (March 27), 10-6 over Ray (March 28), 9-2 over Patagonia (March 29), 15-4 over Patagonia (April 14), and 17-0 over Valley Union (April 25).