PHS softball and baseball teams add two wins each

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The Sand Devils softball team hosted Ganado in a double-header Friday and defeated them 16-1 and 31-1, improving their season record to 8-1.

“The girls are doing really well,” said Head Softball Coach Sunni Crank. “We are making adjustments to the opposing pitchers and we’re finding our flow.”

Crank has four goals for her team every game: First, playing hard from the game’s first pitch to when umpire calls ball game; second, winning every inning; third, communicating on defense; and fourth, smart base running.

Leah Bigthumb pitched both games for the Sand Devils Friday, racking up eight strikeouts the first game and 18 strikeouts the second game.

“She did an amazing job for us,” Coach Crank said. “And when the ball was put in play, the defense was there to back her up.” 

Shanelle Tallsalt brought her big bat with her Friday. She hit three home runs, with seven RBIs, in the first game, and added another home run in the second game. Grace Jump, Miakoda Whitehorse and Traidyn Sutherland also had home runs in the second game.

Coach Crank is happy with the way her team is playing and doesn’t want to shake up what’s already working. “We’re on a roll and we’re just going to try to keep that momentum going.”

Sand Devils baseball increased their season record to 5-2 after posting two wins in Friday’s double-header against Ganado. Page took the first game 12-2 and the second game 16-1.

“We had some solid pitching today, and are bats are coming around,” said Head Baseball Coach Ty Bennett. 

But Coach Bennett added that his team still has several areas where it needs to improve before he’ll be satisfied.

“We’re still making mental errors and today we made some base-running errors, but we’re improving,” he said. “And our pitchers are walking and hitting too many batters, giving the opposing team too many free bases.”

Jaren Scott was the player of the game in the first game. Scott came on as pitcher in the second inning and had seven strikeouts. Offensively, he had one hit and an RBI. Shane Begay also played a great first game. He hit three for three at the plate and brought in several runs for the Sand Devils.

In the second game, Vance Gardner came in as the relief pitcher in the last two innings. He faced six batters and struck out five of them.

On the offensive side, Emmanuel Manygoats hit a single, a double and a triple, bringing in six RBIs.