Santa Rita beat Sunnyside 13-3 Friday night at Field of Dreams to force an “If Game” for the District 12 8-10 Baseball championship. Sunnyside beat Santa Rita 3-1 on Monday to send Santa Rita to the elimination bracket where the team knocked off Rincon 10-2 to set up the championship series with Sunnyside. The championship final will be played tonight at Field of Dreams starting at 6:30 p.m.
Tempe will host the 8-10 Baseball tournament starting on July 12. District 5 will be represented by Canyon View.
In District 12 Little League Baseball action, Southwestern and Rincon advanced in the elimination bracket and the two teams will face off at 7:45 p.m. at Field of Dreams and Sunnyside and Copper Hills will play each other at 5:15 p.m. in the final of the winner’s bracket.
Across town at Udall Park, Sierra Vista scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Tucson Mountain 6-5 in the first round of the State Intermediate tournament. Sierra Vista will play Sunnyside today at 5 p.m. for a shot at Scottsdale Mountain View.
Scottsdale Mountain View beat Glendale Cactus Wren 12-8 in the other first round game. Tucson Mountain will face Glendale Cactus Wren at 7:30 p.m. in an elimination game.
Tucson Mountain took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on a leadoff single from Josh Menchaca, an RBI single from Nano Brito, an RBI double from Tommy Padilla and an RBI single from Nickolas Soto. Cipri Moran followed with a double but Sierra Vista pitcher Max Pitts settled down and picked up a pop fly to end the inning.
Pitts went on to scatter three hits until Brito hit a triple to leadoff the top of the fifth. Meanwhile, Sierra Vista scored a run in the bottom of the third after Isaac Torres led off with a walk, stole second base and scored on a throwing error and the team added two more in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game up 3-3.
Davian Estrada led that inning off with another walk and Brodyn Harrington hit a double one out later. Adam Plantillas entered the game and he came through with a 2-RBI single for the tie.
With Brito at third, Ramses Mada reached on a fielder’s choice and Brito was thrown out at home trying to score on the infield ball. Mada would score later in the inning to give Tucson Mountain a 4-3 lead.
Mada come up with an RBI single in the top of the sixth to increase the lead to 5-3 but Sierra Vista took advantage of another leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh to set up the win.
Torres drew his second leadoff walk of the game and Pitts drove him in on a single to cut the lead down to 5-4. Seth Spier came up one out later and he singled in Pitts to make it 5-5 and Estrada delivered on a walk-off single to score Spier.
Pitts, Torres and Estrada saw pitching action for Sierra Vista while Mada, Brito, Moran, Padilla and Tanner Thornton threw for Tucson Mountain.
Menchaca went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, Brito went 2-4 with a triple, RBI and run scored, Mada had an RBI single and a run scored, Padilla went 2-3 with a double, RBI and walk, Soto had an RBI single, Moran went 2-4 with a double and Thornton recorded a single. Padilla collected four strikeouts.
For Sierra Vista, Torres walked twice and scored twice, Pitts had an RBI single, scored and walked, Damian Jackson had a single, Spier had an RBI single and a walk, Estrada had an RBI single a walk and a run, Harrington had a double, walked and scored and Plantillas had a single and two RBI. Pitts collected five strikeouts.
FRIDAY, JULY 5
D12 BASEBALL 8-10
Santa Rita 13, Sunnyside 3
D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Southwestern 5, San Xavier 4
Rincon 13, Santa Rita 2
STATE BASEBALL 50/70
Sierra Vista 6, Tucson Mountain 5
Scottsdale Mountain View 12, Glendale Cactus Wren 8
SATURDAY, JULY 6
D12 BASEBALL 8-10
Santa Rita vs. Sunnyside, 6:30 p.m. Dreams (Championship)
D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Sunnyside vs. Copper Hills, 5:15 p.m. Dreams
Rincon vs. Southwestern, 7:45 p.m. (Elimination)
STATE BASEBALL 50/70
Sunnyside vs. Sierra Vista, 5 p.m. Udall
Tucson Mountain vs. Cactus Wren District 2, 7:30 p.m. Udall (Elimination)
SUNDAY, JULY 7
STATE BASEBALL 50/70
Scottsdale Mountain View vs. TBD, 7:30 p.m. Udall
THURSDAY, JULY 18
WEST REGION JUNIOR SOFTBALL
(Arthur Pack)
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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
