Tucson Little League Baseball & Softball

Little League All-Stars Day 16 Results: Santa Rita wins 8-10 Baseball Championship; Sierra Vista dominating at state playoffs at Udall Park

Santa Rita Little League (Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

Santa Rita beat Sunnyside 6-4 Saturday night at Field of Dreams to win the district 12 8-10 Baseball championship. This is the first district championship for Santa Rita Little League since 2008. Santa Rita advances to the State Tournament to be played at the Tempe Sports Complex starting on July 12.

Sunnyside beat Santa Rita 3-1 on Monday and Santa Rita beat Rincon 10-2 the next night to set of a rematch with Sunnyside in the championship series. Santa Rita beat Sunnyside 13-3 Friday night to force the second game championship game.

Santa Rita wins the District 12 8-10 championship over Sunnyside. This is kinda huge pic.twitter.com/qW9m310m9E— Andy Morales (@AndyMorales8) July 7, 2019

Santa Rita scored three runs in the top of the first after Mikey Tanori drew a leadoff walk and Julius Salvador was hit-by-pitch to set up Jason Canez. Canez connected on a double to score Tanori and then Canez scored on an error at the plate. Blaine Kirkman reached on a fielder’s choice later in the inning and he came around and scored to make it 3-0.

Sunnyside responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning thanks to three straight singles from Jaylee Abraham, Diego Garcia and Ezequiel Lorta but Santa Rita posted three more runs in the second to increase the lead to 6-2.

Tanori reached on an infield hit and Canez singled one out later. Both runners would score on passed balls and Kirkman reached on an error and he would score on another error for the 6-2 score.

Sunnyside got one back in the bottom of the third on a leadoff walk from Lorta and a single from Luis Zazueta. Lorta stole home on a double-steal situation to make it 6-3.

Sunnyside made it 6-4 in the bottom of the fourth after Abraham walked with two outs and Garcia knocked him in. Alek Leyva shutdown the last seven batters to preserve the win.

Tanori, a nine-year-old cousin of Sahuarita softball standout Hailey Tanori, went 2-for-3 with a walk.

“We’re like brothers on this team,” Tanori said. “After we lost to them we just got more confident that we could win this and it feels good to win.”

Across town at Udall Park, Sierra Vista beat Sunnyside 11-0 to advance in the State Intermediate Baseball Tournament. Sunnyside will face Tucson Mountain at 5 p.m. in the elimination phase.

MORE ON SIERRA VISTA HERE

In District 12 Little League action, Sunnyside beat Copper Hills 11-0 to advance to the championship series scheduled for July 9. Rincon will face Copper Hills on Monday for a shot at Sunnyside.

SATURDAY, JULY 6

D12 BASEBALL 8-10
Santa Rita 6, Sunnyside 4 (Championship)

D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Sunnyside 11, Copper Hills 0
Rincon 17, Southwestern 4

STATE BASEBALL 50/70
Sierra Vista 11, Sunnyside 0
Tucson Mountain 13, Cactus Wren 0

SUNDAY, JULY 7

STATE BASEBALL 50/70
Sunnyside vs. Tucson Mountain, 5 p.m. Udall (Elimination)
Scottsdale Mountain View vs. Sierra Vista, 7:30 p.m. Udall

MONDAY, JULY 8

D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Rincon vs. Copper Hills, 6:30 p.m. Dreams (Elimination)

TUESDAY, JULY 9

D12 BASEBALL LITTLE LEAGUE
Sunnyside vs. TBD, 6:30 p.m. (Championship)

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 

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