Carter, Kings silence Criminals

In Thursday's game against Yuma High at Doan Field, Kofa found plenty of exotic ways to scores - balks, wild pitches, even strikeouts.

The Criminals couldn't so much as find the most mundane manner of scoring.

Three Kings pitchers combined to strike out 12 Criminals in a 7-0 win.

Travis Carter started and got the win for Kofa (10-6 overall, 6-1 AIA power points, 2-0 Gila Valley Region) allowing Yuma's only two hits andwalking two batters. He struck out six. Julio de los Reyes pitched two perfect innings of relief, then Preston Burrell struck out three straight after a leadoff walk in the seventh.

"Carter didn't feel great, but he competed," Kofa coach Richy Leon said. "The de los Reyes came in and did a great job. We went to Preston trying to get him a bullpen session since he hasn't thrown in a while. ... He did a heck of a job."

Carter, staked to a three-run lead before throwing his first pitch, threw 57 pitches. Leon said he thought about pitching him longer, but wanted to get other pitchers work.

"I knew from the get-go he wasn't feeling 100 percent," Leon said. "But he competed and threw strikes, which is what we asked of him. He actually got us to where we wanted, where I had in mind."

Yuma coach Judd Thrower said the Criminals (4-8, 0-5, 0-2) struggled against a tough Kofa pithing staff.

"They did a good job pitching," Thrower said, "and we didn't make the proper adjustments we needed to."

Jarrod Helms blasted a solo homer of Yuma starter Gibby Hemmer to pad the lead to four in the fourth. The Kings added two runs without a hit in the fifth. Sergio Sanchez - who scored twice and had a first-inning double - walked and came around to score on a balk. Tyler Owl - who scored three times - reached on a fielders' choice and scored when Mark Wright struck out with two outs. But the ball got away from the catcher, allowing Wright to first and Owl to cross the plate.

No player had a multihit effort in the game as Kofa finished with a 6-2 hit advantage.

So even though Cibola and San Luis haven't played any region games yet, Kofa sits at 2-0.

"It's a short region, only nine games," Leon said. "Any win you can get, it's great."