MONTEREY, La. &045; With the District 3-B race as cloudy as river water, the Monterey Wolves took advantage of the situation at hand the best way they could.

After drawing the bye in the three-team deadlock for first, the Wolves disposed of Harrisonburg 9-4 in one of their best games of the season to nail down the top spot and a home game to open the playoffs against a wild card.

&uot;We just played a super game on defense,&uot; Monterey head coach Hank Zizzi said. &uot;The first time all year long we got seven innings of fielding, seven innings of pitching and seven inning of hitting. It’s the best game we’ve played all year, really. It was something to behold. It really was.&uot;

The Wolves struck early with a run in the first before exploding six in the third to break the game open with a 7-0 lead. Beau Shively and Max Green got on base, and Gary Evans singled in Beau Shively for the first run before Matt Shively singled in Green for the second.

Jordon Tiffee singled in Evans, and Billy Metcalf got a hit to put runners on the corners. After Jared Emfinger walked to load the bases, Beau Shively doubled in Tiffee and Metcalf for the 7-0 lead.

That gave Matt Shively plenty of room to work against a good hitting Harrisonburg team. The Bulldogs &045; who beat Forest Monday to lock up at least second &045; didn’t get on the board until the fourth with a run and tacked on another in the sixth.

Matt Shively went the distance while walking only one and scattering seven

hits.

&uot;He pitched an excellent game,&uot; Zizzi said. &uot;His fastball was moving real well, and his curve was just out of sight today. They didn’t get a solid hit against him. A lot of just easy outs &045; ground balls and easy fly balls. And they’ve got a good-hitting team.&uot;