Sunnyside and Oro Valley relied on power hitting and dominant pitching to defeat their opening-round opponents Friday in the Arizona Little League Majors State Baseball Tournament at the Tempe Sports Complex.
Sunnyside defeated Chino Valley 16-1 in three innings behind three-run home runs by Josue Espinoza and Santos Lopez. Ezequiel Lorta, Jayden Guadarrama and Yostin Cazarez Ramirez each pitched an inning and limited Chino Valley to one hit with five strikeouts and three walks.
Evan Wheeler hit two home runs and Sito Graves added another in Oro Valley’s 10-0 win over Lake Havasu. Graves also pitched five innings for the win. He allowed only three hits with 11 strikeouts and no walks.
Oro Valley will play Phoenix Arcadia (which had a bye in the first round) on Saturday at 6 p.m. Sunnyside will play at the same time against Mesa Red Mountain, which defeated Globe Pinal Mountain 13-2 on Friday night.
Oro Valley tallied 18 hits with eight batters producing at least two hits against Lake Havasu. Wheeler, Fabian Acuña, Daniel Armenta, Braden Arellano had three hits and Graves, Izdrel Delgado and Kiki Whitney finished with two hits.
Wheeler had five RBIs and he also tallied three stolen bases.
In Sunnyside’s win, Espinoza, Lopez, Diego Garcia and Christian Moran each had two hits. Espinoza finished with four RBIs and Santos three. Lorta, Moran and Garcia each had two RBIs.
Nogales lost to Anthem High Desert 10-0 on Friday and will next play in the elimination bracket Saturday against Casa Grande at 8 p.m. Casa Grande lost to Queen Creek 11-1.
Majors (11-12)
Tempe Sports Complex
e-elimination bracket game
Friday, July 16
G1: Oro Valley 10, Lake Havasu 0
G2: Anthem High Desert 10, Nogales 0
G3: Queen Creek 11, Casa Grande 1
G4: Sunnyside 16, Chino Valley 1
G5: Mesa Red Mountain 13, Globe Pinal Mountain 2
G6: Chandler North 7, West Flagstaff 2
Saturday, July 17
G7: Oro Valley vs. Phoenix Arcadia, 6 p.m.
G8: Anthem High Desert vs. Queen Creek, 8 p.m.
G9: Sunnyside vs. Mesa Red Mountain, 6 p.m.
G10: Chandler North vs. Goodyear, 8 p.m.
e-G11: Chino Valley vs. Globe Pinal Mountain, 6 p.m.
e-G12: Nogales vs. Casa Grande, 8 p.m.
Sunday, July 18
e-G13: G6 loser vs. G8 loser, 6 p.m.
e-G14: G1 loser vs. G9 loser, 8 p.m.
e-G15: G11 winner vs. G7 loser, 8 p.m.
e-G16: G12 winner vs. G10 loser, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, July 20
G17: G7 winner vs. G8 winner, 6 p.m.
G18: G9 winner vs. G10 winner, 8 p.m.
e-G19: G13 winner vs. G15 winner, 8 p.m.
e-G20: G14 winner vs. G16 winner, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, July 21
e-G22: G20 winner vs. G17 loser, 8 p.m.
e-G23: G19 winner vs. G18 loser, 6 p.m.
Thursday, July 22
G21: G17 winner vs. G18 winner, 6 p.m.
e-G24: G22 winner vs. G23 winner, 8 p.m.
Friday, July 23
e-G25: G24 winner vs. G21 loser, 7 p.m.
Saturday, July 24
G26: Championship — G21 winner vs. G25 winner, 7 p.m.
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