Sunnyside’s 10U Little League Softball All-Stars team stayed alive in the state tournament by beating Gilbert 3-2 on Saturday night, its third straight victory in the elimination bracket.
Sunnyside held on for the win after taking a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third of the six-inning game at Cottonwood. Sunnyside avenged a 7-4 loss to Gilbert in the first round of the tournament Tuesday.
Sunnyside advances to play Cactus Foothills of Cave Creek in the next round in the elimination bracket on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Cactus Foothills eliminated Flagstaff 17-3 earlier Saturday.
The winner of the Sunnyside-Cactus Foothills game plays on Monday at 7 p.m. the loser of Sunday’s 8 p.m. winners bracket final between Canyon View (from District 5 in Tucson) and Arcadia.
Simayah Arriola went 2 for 3 with two RBIs to lead Sunnyside against Gilbert on Saturday. Anyssa Pacho, who threw a no-hitter Friday in a 22-0 win in five innings over Blythe, was the winning pitcher with 11 scattered hits in six innings. She struck out eight batters and walked one.
Arriola’s RBI single in the bottom of the first inning with one out scored Carissa Palomarez, who hit a leadoff double.
Camila Vargas tripled with one out in the third inning and scored Arriola’s second RBI single. Arriola later scored on an error by Gilbert to put Sunnyside ahead 3-0.
After Gilbert cut the lead to 3-2 in the top of the fourth, Pacho retired seven of the last nine batters, not allowing a runner past second base in the process.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
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