Royalty on the diamond: Both Kofa baseball and softball sweeps push them to top spot in Central Valley Region
Kofa baseball and softball each sweep Washington with ease to extend win streaks
YUMA, Ariz., (KYMA, KECY) - Entering Wednesday afternoon, both the Kofa Kings baseball and softball programs sat in second of the 5A Central Valley Region with two weeks left in the regular season.
At the end of they day, they each slid safely into the top spot of the region - after sweeping Washington easily in afternoon doubleheaders.
The Lady Kings cruised from first pitch to last in both games - taking the first one 17-0 and going on to win game two 23-5. They now improved to (11-2) overall and (8-1) in region play, sneaking a half game above Buckeye who they split with. So now they wait to see how the Hawks will fare at Copper Canyon Friday.
In the meantime, the Lady Kings move up to No. 21 in the conference, setting themselves up to be in the 5A play-in round if the season were to end today. But first, the Kings will play a couple cross town games with Cibola and Gila Ridge - then wrapping up region play with a trip to Copper Canyon and a home-and-away with Youngker to end the season.
On the baseball diamond, the Kings took care of business over Washington after holding onto a small lead in the fourth inning of game one and then exploding for seven runs between the fourth and fifth innings - before walking it off on a run-rule from a wild pitch in the sixth.
Then the bats stayed hot, scoring nine runs in the first inning to cruise to an 11-0 win - moving their way to the top spot in the Central Valley, as well.
But whether a Region title is in their fate or not, coach Gabe Ortiz explained after the game that they have to take care of their own destiny.
"It's one of those things where we take it day by day," said Ortiz. "We can't control anything that goes on outside of us. The mathematics are out of our control. We control the first pitch of the next game. And that's something, like I said, we have to take care of what we need to take care of."
Luckily, Ortiz has himself a special group of players that are hungry to add 2023 to the banner in right field that lists the program's state playoff teams.
"When people ask how the season is going, the first thing I say is we have really good human beings," said Ortiz. "They're a great group of kids. We started in August and they come out, they post up and they put in work. It's a fantastic group of kids and it's a pleasure to come to the field or "work" so to speak and work with them each day."
