It was a breezy day, blowing endless fleets of clouds over the Vermilion Cliffs which caused the cliffs to morph between pink and gray as they passed on towards Page. The winter-yellow grass on the baseball diamond had a pinch of green, perfect for St. Patrick’s day. But the luck of the Irish wasn’t with the Sand Devils as they took on the Chinle Wildcats in a double-header last Saturday.

The Sand Devils lost to the Wildcats 8-2 in the first game, but they came back swinging in the second game.

The Sand Devils got the game’s first score in the first inning.

The Wildcats responded quickly scoring two runs in the second inning.

The Sand Devils scored another run in the third inning to tie the game at two. It began when Sand Devils pitcher Ian Lane hit one to the second baseman that took him longer than usual to corral. By the time he made the throw to first Lane was already there. A few pitches later Lane stole second base.
Two pitches later Jonah Larson hit the ball straight back to the pitcher, who threw Larson out at first, but advanced Lane to third base, with two out.

The Sand Devils had another big inning in the fourth, but they already had two outs when the rally happened. Ezra Larson was the first Sand Devil to get a hit in the fourth inning, hitting a looper over the first baseman’s head for a single.

Anthony Tom earned an RBI when he hit a double to deep center field. Kimball Begay followed Tom with a double of his own which also brought Tom home.
The Sand Devils close-out the inning leading 5-2.

The Wildcats had a successful fifth inning scoring two more runs of their own, to bring them within one of the Sand Devils.

The Sand Devils offense went cold for the last three innings while the Wildcats continued to plug along. They scored another run in the sixth inning, which would be enough to give them the 6-5 victory.

“They don’t quit, and they keep playing hard regardless of the score,” said head baseball coach Ernie Rivers.

Moving forward Coach Rivers says his team needs to clean a few things up.

“We still need to get better at hitting the ball and move aggressively to reduce some of our defensive errors,” said Coach Rivers. “We have the potential to do it. We played toe-to-toe with 4A and 5A teams during the [Big Red Construction] Tournament at the beginning of the season.”

Their next game is Tuesday, March 27. It’s a home game against the 6-3 Tuba City Warriors.