Canyon View 9-11 baseball team (Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

GAME TOTAL: 103

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DISTRICT 5 9-11 BASEBALL

Canyon View beat Western 16-2 Thursday night at Mehl Park to win the District 5 9-11 Baseball championship. Canyon View advances to the state tournament scheduled to start July 14 in Mesa after Canyon View battled back through the elimination bracket after losing to Western on June 19.

“I was really nervous after Western beat us,” Canyon View pitcher Nate Shoemaker said. “We kept going and pushing and never gave up.”

Canyon View faced elimination six times and had to beat Western twice in the double elimination format. Shoemaker came up big in the final game, throwing a 2-hitter with eight strikeouts in only four innings of work. He started out a little shaky, however, giving up back-to-back walks and a 2-RBI hit to Jorge Castro to start off the bottom of the second but he settled down and, at one point, collected five strikeouts in a row.

Canyon View gave Shoemaker a big lead to work with after plating five runs in the top of the first and the team poured in eight more in the second to go up 13-2. A run in the third and two more in the fourth ended the game with the 16-2 score.

Shoemaker went the distance for Canyon View while Castro, Omar Rodriguez and Louie Rodriguez took the mound for Western.

“I just love my team,” Shoemaker added. “They are full of laughs and smiles and they play ball well.”

Max Lopez came up with a late double in the game to go along with the RBI single from Castro. From the top of the Canyon View order, Bryce Weege had a 2 RBI single, Coby Bergthold had a deep sacrifice fly, Shoemaker had a double, Cooper Kruk had an RBI single, Ari Schiller picked up a hit, Adis Wesson had an RBI, Seamus McKenna had a single, Cole Pritz had an RBI double and Matthew Seifert finished with an RBI and a single.

NOTE: Bergthold is the grandson of former University of Arizona football coach Dick Tomey.

Western Little League (Courtesy Photo)

DISTRICT 5 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL

Maggie Morales
allsportstucson.com

CDO and Western competed for the District 5 Little League Baseball championship on Thursday night at Kriegh Park in Oro Valley. Western forced this winner-take-all game with a 10-6 victory over CDO on Wednesday night. It was a back and forth battle on Thursday, but Western claimed the title with a 10-8 victory.

Chris Humphreys started the game off for CDO with a single to left and he took second on a passed ball. Sam Martinez scored Humphreys with a two-out single to left field and he advanced to second on the throw home. Stayton Brooks singled to right, but Western threw out the runner at the plate ending the threat by CDO.

Jose Guero Arias followed up his pitching performance with a double to centerfield. Andres Castro and Maddox Jones reached base with a walk and a hit-by-pitch respectively. However, CDO turned a double play to get out of the bases loaded situation with no damage done.

James Nunnallee ripped a shot to right field that ended up clearing the fence to widen CDO’s lead. Braden Franz followed with a single to right. Humphreys, Ernie Alvarez and Jackson Kokoskie hit back-to-back-to-back two-out singles. Kokoskie’s single plated Franz and Western threw out another player at the plate to end the threat.

Rueben Carreon reached base on a drop third strike and back-to-back singles by Miguel Traslarina and Xavier Torres loaded the bases for Western. Carreon scored on a walk to Jaden Leon and Jose Arias plated Torres with a ball to short. Andres Castro singled to center to score Torres to tie the game at 3-3.

Nunnallee’s two out double started a rally for CDO and Franz reached on a grounder to short to score Nunnallee. Joshua Carroll followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Grant Young capitalized with a single to the pitcher to score Franz. Western got out of the inning giving up two runs.

Jones led off the bottom third with a double to right-center and a passed ball allowed Jones to get to third. Anthony Taylor plated Jones with a ball to short. Western cut CDO’s lead to one.

Kokoskie walked and Daniel Kaminski homered to put CDO back on top by three. Nunnallee hit a two out single to right to put him a triple shy of the cycle but nothing came of it. Brooks picked up two strikeouts in the bottom of the fourth to help keep Western off the base paths.

Chase Tackett-Pierce singled to right field and two pass balls allowed him to advance to third before Humphreys plated him with a ball to short. CDO took an 8-4 lead into the bottom of the fifth.

Western beats CDO 10-8 to win the District 5 Little League championships. pic.twitter.com/k4JQAgMUPo

— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) June 29, 2018

Andres Castro was hit by a pitch to start a big inning for Western. Max Leyva hit a single to left to put move a runner into scoring position. Jones reached on a fielder’s choice moving Andres Castro to third. Taylor, Adrian Castro, and Traslarina all singled to right field. Taylor’s hit scored Andres Castro and Traslarina’s scored Jones. A double for Torres plated Taylor and Andres Castro to tie the game at 8-8. With Leon batting, Traslarina scored on a pass ball to take a one run lead. Leon ended up walking to put runners on the corners and Jose Arias plated Torres with a ball to short. Western came back and took a two-run lead into the sixth inning.

Martinez singled to short to keep CDO alive, but Leyva picked up two strikeouts to end the game. Western held on for the victory and the six-run bottom of the fifth was enough to capture the District 5 title. Western advances to the state tournament in Scottsdale, scheduled to start on July 17. CDO ended another great all-star season with a second place finish. The championship game will be the last All-Star game played at James Kriegh Green Field for a while, as it is set to start a renovation in July.

NOTE: This is the fifth championship in a row for Western.

Maggie Morales is a senior at the University of Minnesota Crookston where she is a three-time Academic All-American on the softball team. Maggie grew up in Tucson and played softball at Canyon del Oro where she won a state title.

Tucson Mountain Little League (Courtesy Photo)

D-5 LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

Tucson Mountain beat Marana 10-0 Thursday night to win the District 5 Little League Softball championship. Tucson Mountain advances to the state tournament in Flagstaff scheduled to start on July 5.

D-12 LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL

San Xavier beat Copper Hills 8-7 Thursday night at Mission Manor Park to force a winner-take-all game for the District 12 Little League Softball championship on Friday night at 7 p.m. The winner will join Tucson Mountain in Flagstaff for the state tournament.

GAME RECAP FROM JAVIER MORALES

Arianna Flores recorded 12 strikeouts in the first 13 outs she recorded for San Xavier on Thursday night (Javier Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

CHAMPION ROLL CALL
D-5 8-10 SOFTBALL: Thornydale
D-5 8-10 BASEBALL: Oro Valley
D-12 8-10 SOFTBALL: Copper Hills
D-5 9-11 BASEBALL: Canyon View
D-5 9-11 SOFTBALL: Marana
D-5 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL: Western
D-5 LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL: Tucson Mountain
D-12 JUNIOR BASEBALL: Sunnyside

THURSDAY, JUNE 28

D-5 9-11 BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Canyon View 16, Western 2

D-5 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Western 10, Canyon del Oro 8

D-5 LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Tucson Mountain 10, Marana 0

D-12 8-10 BASEBALL
Sunnyside 10, Rincon 0
Copper Hills 10, Palo Verde 0
Freedom 10, San Xavier 6
Santa Rita 20, Pantano 4

D-12 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL
Santa Rita 8, Randolph 7
Rincon 12, Copper Hills 9.
Palo Verde 5, Pantano 3.
Sunnyside 24, San Xavier 0

D-12 LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL
San Xavier 8, Copper Hills 7

FRIDAY, JUNE 29

D-12 8-10 BASEBALL
Rincon vs. Santa Rita, Anamax 7 p.m.
Copper Hills vs. San Xavier, Anamax 7 p.m.

D-12 9-11 BASEBALL
Copper Hills vs. Rincon, Rincon 6:30 p.m.

D-12 LITTLE LEAGUE SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
San Xavier vs. Copper Hills, Mission Manor 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, JUNE 30

D-12 9-11 BASEBALL
Sunnyside vs. Santa Rita, Rincon 6:30 p.m.

D-12 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL
Freedom vs. Copper Hills, Perry 6:30 p.m.
Randolph vs. American, Perry 6:30 p.m.

MONDAY, JULY 2

D-12 8-10 BASEBALL
Freedom vs. Sunnyside, Anamax 6:30 p.m.

D-12 LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL
Santa Rita vs. Palo Verde, Perry 5:15 p.m.
Sunnyside vs. Rincon, Perry 7:45 p.m.

Nate Shoemaker (Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

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Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014 and he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017 and he has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Contact Andy Morales at AMoralesMyTucson@yahoo.com